Да, да, новый альбом Dream Theater - "Systematic Chaos" Рекорд по длительности побит: 25 минут - In the Presence of Enemies Говорят крутой будет! Но лучше Вам прочитать ревью (да, уже!!) с мелодикрок.ком:
FIRST INSIGHT INTO THE NEW DREAM THEATER ALBUM!: One of the companies I work closely with is re-issue label Rock Candy Records. The label is run by the legendary journalist and A&R duo of Derek Oliver & Dante Bonutto, who are also now working in conjunction with Roadrunner Records to bring new releases from classic bands to the market place. Their first signing is Dream Theater, as announced a month or so ago. Of course the guys are very familiar with the band, having signed them to Elektra all those years ago. Dream Theater have just turned in their new album Systematic Chaos to their label, and Derek Oliver was kind enough to forward me his thoughts on the album after living with it for a while and gave me the ok to run this as your exclusive first look into the album from someone who has a long and lasting passion for the band.
Says Derek: "Systematic Chaos is pretty full-on. You'll all be very surprised. It's undoubtedly the best record that they've recorded in many years - very accessible, very heavy and very melodic. They've managed to combine a sense of the past with the future and, unlike Rush, haven't dumped their glorious past in favour of annoying skinny tie affectations or garage rock pretence. There are two absolutely killer tracks, Constant Motion and The Dark Eternal Night, the former is like Metallica with keyboards and the latter showcases the most intense and heavy musicianship that they've ever recorded - think Pantera jamming with Iron Maiden. Those tracks will be regarded as master classes in progressive metal for years to come. And they both boast lashings of melody. The most accessible track is titled Forsaken, a blindingly obvious radio song that mixes contemporary modern rock ala Evanescence with the old school power balladry of Queensryche's Silent Lucidity whilst still packing a progressive rock punch. Do I smell a potential radio smash? Quite possibly. Surprise contenders for classic status include Repentance, a brooding 10 minute creepy crawler that seeps its way into one's inner psyche from the first few seconds of playback. The impact of this track is enhanced by an abundance of unexpected spoken word contributions from a number of well known musicians. I won't spoil it by revealing exactly who they are as its a lot of fun trying to decipher for yourself. Musically think Pink Floyd duetting with Metallica on a decidedly trippy space rock epic. The other major surprise is Prophet's Of War a magnetic and compelling six minute romp that appears to be a combination of electro pop and classic arena metal and it works brilliantly. Imagine walking into a Berlin discotechque at 2 in the morning with 2,000 nutters jumping up and down to a wild electro mash-up of the Prodigy, Queen, Robbie Williams, Metallica and Ramstein whilst Dita Von Teese dances in a cage. Trad DT faire is offered up with The Ministry Of Lost Souls. Initially a piano driven ballad which builds into a colossal prog rock hoedown allowing Jordan Rudess to utilise every keyboard that he's acquired through the ages amongst a cacophony of wild jamming. Once the battle has been won, its all back to the main theme for a piping hot cup of cocoa and bed. The 25 minute epic In The Presence Of Enemies is indeed a pleasure to experience. Split into two parts, which bookend the album, the vibe here is dark and distant. The song is driven by a particularly impressive bass riff and a full, open chorus with evil lyrics delivered convincingly by a more assured and focussed James LaBrie. Then, in the blink of an eye, it all kicks off as Portnoy jumps in with double kick drums thumping at an alarming speed and its heads down for the final push with swords, guitars, knives and keyboards re-enacting the Charge Of The Light Brigade.
Man of the match? Impossible to say as all of them are at the top of their game on this one. Portnoy? Well, he's just being Portnoy - crucially the most accomplished drummer of modern times. Petrucci? He's off his head on virtually every track delivering the heaviest riffs this side of Black Sabbath and the fastest most precise plank spanking I've ever heard. Myung? The guys doesn't have much to say for himself in interviews but his playing on this record speaks a thousand words. Rudess? Possibly the bastard child of Keith Emerson and Rachmaninov. His playing is historic and, understandably, quite perplexing. LaBrie? I have great pleasure in announcing that he, out of them all, has risen most magnificently to the challenge. Its clear that he's taking this particular moment in the bands career to up his game considerably, approaching each track with an intelligence that belies his previous output. By adapting his delivery to suit the mood of each song this fine fellow has breathed new life into an old frame. A great and significant accomplishment. I came away from this album thinking that - and I'm not taking a pot shot here - if Iron Maiden and Metallica were currently writing and performing to this level of excellence then the world of rock would indeed be a far better place."
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Продолжаю публиковать мнения западных фанов об альбоме. Вот тоже интересная рецензия одного из авторитетных участников жж-сообщества _dream_theater_
"Dream Theater are, perhaps, the only band in the history of rock music to make an attempt to please all of their fans all of the time. Of course, this meets with miserable failure, as the old adage goes. You know the drill, When Dream And Day Unite has the wrong singer, Images And Words has the wrong production, Awake is too dark, Falling Into Infinity is too commercial, Scenes From A Memory is too "masturbatory", Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence is too "cheesy", Train Of Thought is too heavy, and as for Octavarium? Well clearly the band is just recording covers at this point, right? It's a wonder the band hasn't quit with the constant stream of criticisms not coming from music critics, radio or other musicians, but from their own fiercly loyal fans. Sometimes I find myself perplexed and wonder if any Dream Theater fans actually you know, *like* the band.
With that aside, it almost seems that with their ninth release, "Systematic Chaos" the band have stopped bothering to please all of their fans. Since the fans are so diverse and differentiated (some want to hear melody, some want to hear metal, some want to hear progression) and from so many walks of life, countries, ages, races and creeds; the band is going to have to just take their lumps as they come, and write whatever works for them at the time.
Systematic Chaos, which will be released by Roadrunner Records on June 5th, in both normal and snazzy formats (the latter coming with a DVD that Portnoy promises will absolutely knock your socks off), is both the cumulation of their previous eight albums, and a step above. In some ways, it's no different, as the band continues to do what they've always done: mix hard hitting and hook driven metal with virtuostic writing and great mlodies. In other ways, the band is almost completely unrelated with who they were when they recorded their first few albums all those years ago. If I had to compare the album stylistically to another one of their albums, it would have to be the fourth album "Falling Into Infinity" but there's also bits and pieces of other parts of their history there, as well as bits of other bands and artists. It's no different, it just seems so many steps beyond what they've done.
In some ways, "Systematic Chaos" works as a sequel to their last album, "Octavarium" both albums seem to attempt to share a theme and bring forth a strong cohesive album that has a variety of sounds and influences and defines for any average fan or newbie what the band is all about, without being too overwhelming. It's just that this album succeeds so much more.
"In The Presence Of Enemies, Pt. 1" just simply BEGINS, with an immedite onslaught of guitar and keys that seems reminiscient of a full band rendition of "New Millenium" but quickly builds into a sort of overture that has a slightly Ayreon-esque flavor to it, but with less style and more urgency. Even when the band slows down and Petrucci plays a pseudo-solo above it, the images start soaring through one's mind, but the sort of melancholy energy the song demonstrates and the simple storytelling the notes give off almost make you wonder if the first part will be instrumental, until the wonderful part where Petrucci and Myung usher in the first verse, rolling out the musical red carpet for LaBrie, who immediately comes off as confident as one could imagine him, his vocal melodies intertwining with Jordan Rudess' keyboard sounds, creating an anthem that will please all but the most jaded prog-rockers. The kicker is, although this is the first part of a song split into two, even near the end of the track it still feels like the song is just starting to kick into gear. The song also utilizes technique such as spoken word and duet, something that Dream Theater have used before on Awake and Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, but where always saddingly underused. Not so on this album. As the track closes, using a convienantly placed quiet spot to split, you can't help but feel like you're ready to really enter this album. (Rating: 94/100)
The second track, "Forsaken" begins with a piano intro leading into an epic riff that quickly intertwines with Jordan's keyboard and then makes way for the bass and guitar picking to usher in what is definately LaBrie's featurette. As James wails this darkly hookish vampiric lament, the band seems to be challenging themselves to write a song that could be both easily swallowed and appreciated for it's complexity. It's a delicate balance, and will undoubtedly draw comprisons with "I Walk Beside You" which suceeded admirably, but fails in comparison to this outing. Petrucci's work on this is competetant and yet subdued, as he lets LaBrie have the spot while still having fun, both with the chordal leads and quick punctuated solos. The song outros the same way it intros, giving it a delicate sort of symmetry. (Rating: 98/100)
"Constant Motion" is somewhat of an anomoly for Dream Theater, but fits in well enough with the pantheon of heavy metal songs such as "Lie" or "Honor Thy Father". For the first verse, LaBrie's punctuated rapid fire delivery is most reminiscient of Metallica's "Blackened" but the rest of the verses as well as the chorus feature LaBrie and Portnoy doing Slayer type shouts, the song's sort of jazz-thrash insanity and odd vocal distortions belie it's strong hook and single potential. The song also features more of the short picking Petrucci seems to have discovered on this album, a Zappa-esque solo that plays off against Portnoy's marathon running cymbal work and Myung's bassline. The spot is then given to Jordan who takes the Metal route, giving a bombastic performance. Jordan Rudess is buried, but upon careful listens is playing much more complicated work than is immediately apparent. The lyrics seem to be a continuation of the themes from "Never Enough" only with Portnoy pointing the finger now at himself and his own pathos. It's almost as if Never Enough lamented what the fans have done and then Portnoy derides himself for continuing to let it happen. The song does has intense potential, and will very clearly make a great show opener. (Rating: 96/100)
Almost by combination punch, "The Dark Eternal Night" begins with a Pantera-esque intro and modern metal drumming that about 45 seconds in goes jazzy for a bit before the entire thing gears up for the huge LaBrie/Portnoy distorted vocal verse. As the pair shout out the tale of an evil pharoah rising up to cause distruction and sew darkness you can't help but get sucked into the mixture of story and insanity, as the band does some of their heaviest and most insane work yet. This is broken up occasionally by a surprisingly anthematic chaos and largely by a long instrumental section that borrows some from "Beyond This Life" some from "The Dance Of Eternity" and mixed with the rapid fire zing of one of the better Liquid Tension numbers, Jordan Rudess' acrobatic will be the subject of much debate and discussion amongst fans as he does everything from pseud-harpsichord synth solos to a ragtime piece that the band joins in on to a guitar bender that would overshadow petrucci if he wasn't churning out one of the fastest torrents of chords ever. The song kicks in near the end to give us the chorus a few more times and a Pantera outro to match the intro complete with Jordan's groove solo, the song being exhiliratingly exhausting and a shockingly refreshing outing for Dream Theater. (Rating: 98/100)
"Repetance" makes heavy use of the intro from "This Dying Soul" only expanding it into a Peruvian Skies type melody that gives us a trippy and disconnected intro to possibly one of the most beautiful songs ever written. As the fourth part of a five part epic, it's hard to believe the story could end on a better note (although one hopes that DT are up to the task.) Some of the darkest, most melancholy work Dream Theater has ever done, complete with a plethora of surprises, including a great use of stylistic reverb, well placed key changes, and Jordan's use of the mellotron to create a unique texture. Portnoy's work on this song seems to be some of the most emotionally charged drumming he's ever done, as he seems to punctuate every piano note and hits all the right parts to make this song work, as well as his strong vocalizations that usher in the greatest emotional guitar solo I've ever heard, simply blowing away such choices as "Voices" or "Hollow Years" and Jordan's keyboard and accoustic guitar work give it a Rush meets Opeth type of feel. The song's centerpiece is the spectcularly haunting spoken word section, in which various people, some of whom you might recognize make repetance for past transgressions over the "Dying Soul" refrain. Simply not enough could be said of the impact of the apologies seeming to create their own melodies above Myung's lead and Rudess' noise solo. The second section of the song is a hauntingly beautiful symphony, with LaBrie and Portnoy simply vocalising sorrowfully with the piano and key changes playing an important role, the mellotron seems to come in again at the perfect moment, and the song builds to a crescendo with more spoken word. Simply put, "Repetance" is the best song Dream Theater has ever recorded and quite possibly one of the best songs ever created. (Rating: 100/100)
The band goes in a very different, though somewhat familiar direction for "Prophets Of War" a track heavily influenced by Muse that immediately shows Rudess and LaBrie as the stars. The Muse vibe is actually much stronger here than on "Never Enough" or "Panic Attack" and a reuse of a particular guitar line from "Forsaken" that is the centerpiece of the album and offsets perfect use of background vocals both from a multi-tracked Portnoy/LaBrie combo and four score and ten DT fans. LaBrie shows off his more-than-impressive range also, going from falsetto to baritone simply. The lyrics are introspective and politicaly ambigious as it asks as many questions as it answers. The spoken word section seems to be a sort of "You Bet Your Life" meets "Empire" type deal, and the haunting quiet section with accoustic guitar works perfectly, although it doesn't last long. Speaking of which, the song's major flaw is it's legnth, as six minutes doesn't do the song justice, it's full potential unreached. The song in the end is a throwback to the days when Dream Theater shared a lot in common with Queensryche, but adds in a hefty dose of Muse to offset this. The end comes too soon and rather abruptly, quickly ushering in the next song. (Rating: 95/100)
"The Ministry Of Lost Souls" is almost an opposing counterpart to "Prophets Of War" as it goes on a bit too long, but it is certainly not a weak track, beginning with hefty symphonics and a very "Octavarium" sounding accoustic section. The song is a story that mixes stylistically influences from Transatlantic, Ayreon and a very slowed down Dragonforce. The story is almost more interesting than the song, as it is both interesting thematically, highly singable and features more LaBrie than probably any other DT song for it's legnth. It's almost a shame DT used the orchestra before recording this one, as it would fit in perfectly. The song overall is probably my least favorite on the album, but still has me singing along fiercly and conducting in the air, showing that the weakest link in the chain is still quite strong. (Rating: 90/100)
"In The Presence Of Enemies, Pt 2" is the absolutely bombastic conclusion to the album, focusing heavily on bass and keys and led by LaBrie's creepiest and most enchanting performance to date. The second half of this epic is a series of crescendos with more fan-chants, a Metallica-esque section that reminds me heavily of "Creeping Death" mixed with a bit of "The Four Horsemen" only completely tripping balls. The song has a sort of insane perfection that is a mixture of so many stylistic changes, key changes (some crowding very close together), inspired performances from every member, more spoken word and the best use of a fantasy style theme that the band has ever used. The song then just ends, with a sort of Moody Blues flourish punchated by the end by a hard rock Period, a single power chord ending out the album. (Rating: 100/100)
So you're wondering...How do I really feel?
I feel that quite simply, Systematic Chaos is for many reasons the bands best effort, topping (finally) "Scenes From A Memory" and trumping other contenders such as "Train Of Thought" "Octavarium" and "Awake". The band near-perfect execution of their ideal mixed with more than enough strong songs, two instant classics and one that is definately my new favorite, Dream Theater have not only done it again, they've done it better.
Systematic Chaos (2007)
Mar 1 2007, 17:59
