ProgBeat: Hopefully More Silver Than Black
When DREAM THEATER put out its Train of Thought album in the summer of 2003, I was its wildest defender. It was harder, and darker, went on more instrumental flights of fancy and was admittedly more over the top, and flatter, than most of their prior releases. But you know what? I was okay with that. To me, the album didn’t mark an evolution (or devolution) of sound, it wasn’t a sign of things to come; it simply was. It was its own piece. A harder, darker flight of fancy. And I was able to have a bit of fun with it, drumming hard on my steering wheel and making high-pitched noises with my mouth during guitar solos. I was giving it to them. The album might not have been a masterpiece, but it did its job well. It rocked, unabashedly.
Then in 2005 Octavarium came. I read all about it, listened to the audio teasers they posted online, got pumped about the 25-minute epic that closed out the album and imagined the chills I’d feel on hearing LaBrie scream that final “Trapped inside this Oc-ta-var-i-uuummm!” in context with the rest of the song. Long story short, I did get some chills–it’s hard not to with LaBrie’s range–and there were parts of the album that really did payoff. “Root of All Evil” was a great, rocking segue between this and Train of Thought; “These Walls” was a fun little song with a great keyboard line; “Octavarium” had its moments; and “Sacrificed Sons” was a grower, one that went from the trying-to-be-topical cheesiness of Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence’s “The Great Debate” to actually pretty powerful the more times you heard it. It wasn’t all a downer, but something was missing. The album felt incredibly conscious of itself, with uninspired “soft” songs placed in the mix to either make the CD “balanced” or appeal to wider audiences. Either way, it just wasn’t organic.
Then, after voicing their discontent with Atlantic, their then-record label, for not making them famous enough, DREAM THEATER knew it was time to get serious. They joined Roadrunner Records (the company behind SLIPKNOT, OPETH, MEGADEATH, NICKELBACK…), grew mustaches and beards and dyed their hair black–then made Systematic Chaos, their “metal” album. The problem with this piece is that DREAM THEATER simply isn’t a metal band. As much as I love LaBrie, he doesn’t have the voice for it. As much as I love Rudess, he doesn’t have the patience to just sit in the background making layers. And as much as I love Petrucci, I think he needs a structure to keep him somewhat boxed in, to allow him his complex and interesting riffs but cut him off before he goes into another solo.
Systematic Chaos was a bust. They did metal better in Train of Thought and hard/soft juxtapositions better in Six Degrees. It wasn’t that the record was devoid of all intrigue, only that it set out with the wrong goals. Prog musicians should stop trying to be accepted by the mainstream; it’s never going to happen, not really. They should only focus on making something new, testing their limits–isn’t that why they got into the business in the first place?
A song like “The Dark Eternal Knight” is a perfect example of them floundering. This is a “dark” song, a “metal” song, it’s got heavy distortion and anger in excess–all the elements are there for those Headbangers Ball fans. But it’s also nearly 9 minutes long, with solos one after the other that scream, “This is Prog/Metal! Can’t you tell? Watch how fast I can play…”
It’s just the thing DEVIN TOWNSEND satirized in his Ziltoid the Omniscient album, when Ziltoid proclaims himself “The greatest guitar player that has ever lived!” then goes into a wild and frantic, high-octane solo, telling us to “Check this out,” then confidently spouting, “Simple,” as if he were unbuckling his belt after a great meal.
But, DREAM THEATER did get into Rock Band and Guitar Hero. That must mean they’re doing something right. …Right?
So now it’s six years after Train of Thought, after they’ve put out their compilation album (complete with radio edits and “singles”)–Dream Theater’s Greatest Hit (…& 21 Other Cool Songs)–and they’re releasing their newest: Black Clouds and Silver Linings, on June 23. And I’m honestly trying to be optimistic.
I want to like DREAM THEATER again. I respect the hell out of these guys. When they’re on, they’re really on, there’s no doubt about that. But it’s just a matter of them deciding to spread their artistic wings again rather than their commercial ones. I think one of the worst things a group can do is decide who they are; and I’ve heard Portnoy tell interviewers on multiple occasions that DT is his “metal band.”
Is Images and Words metal? Is Scenes from a Memory? Is the second disc of Six Degrees?
Maybe I just don’t see it.
Along with their standard release of the album, they’ll also be offering a 3-Disc Special edition, including a full cut of instrumental mixes and a CD of six cover songs. They’ll also be shooting a video for their single, “A Rite of Passage,” in late March.
I like instrumental mixes. I just got FROST’s* latest record, Experiments in Mass Appeal, in Special Edition, and the instrumental mixes are surprisingly illuminating. It’s like a whole new album. But I still can’t shake the feeling that this is just another ploy–just like the concert CDs and DVDs they release after every tour, and their half-assed Greatest Hits release. And whether its strobe lights, black & white, whatever, music videos are lame, and DREAM THEATER music videos are lamer
But…I’m trying to stay optimistic.
DREAM THEATER made (probably)their best record when it was do or die. It basically came down to them either making an album that the public and the record company could believe in, or them getting new jobs. Scenes from a Memory is what DREAM THEATER should be. They should have restraint and build onto melodies; they should create a mood, not force one, not fall into one determined by the the amount of hair on their face or holes in their jeans.
I don’t think anyone can say that DREAM THEATER takes themselves too seriously (have you seen Rudess’s Halo Brute Shot Keytar, or heard the “Jingle Bells” interlude in “Octavarium”?), but I just don’t want them to turn into a spectacle. Sure, it’s about the show, and about technicle achievements and about the “wow” factor. But it’s also about quality music, plain and simple.
In this new release, I just want to be surprised. That’s all I ask. And maybe this new cover art, which is strangely remniscent of ones past (think Awake), is some kind of hint at a return to form? I really hope so.
I want to believe in these guys again. They have absolutely nothing to prove–except that they can keep moving forward.
Track List:
1. A Nightmare to Remember
2. A Rite of Passage
3. Wither
4. The Shattered Fortress
5. The Best of Times
6. The Count of Tuscany
This entry was posted on Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 at 12:35 am and is filed under music, prog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
