Dream Theater: Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009)

(Roadrunner Records)

1. “A Nightmare to Remember” – 16:11
2. “A Rite of Passage” – 8:36
3. “Wither” – 5:26
4. “The Shattered Fortress” – 12:49
5. “The Best of Times” – 13:09
6. “The Count of Tuscany” – 19:16

So Dream Theater’s latest album finally came out. After the horrible letdown that was Systematic Chaos, I couldn’t wait to see how hard they’d fail on their next attempt. I remembered eagerly waiting for Systematic Chaos’s release way back when, only to be horribly, horribly let down. It almost felt like Dream Theater had trolled me. It was a kind of disappointment that I simply couldn’t handle again. As a result, I listened to this new one expecting to be disappointed. Let me talk about this for a bit…

Dream Theater is a Progressive Metal band. They feature some of the most talented musicians on the planet: John Petrucci on guitar, John Myung on bass, Jordan Rudess on keyboards (and sometimes lap steel guitar), and Mike Portnoy on drums. It’s like a dream team, the likes of which you only see on all-star lineups that usually only release a cover song or something and then never work with each other again. Fortunately for us, Dream Theater has been together for more than twenty five years now and we have just now been blessed with their eleventh offering.

However, Dream Theater, since the release of Scenes from a Memory (1999), had noticeably been heading away from the “progressive” and more into the “metal”. They got heavier and heavier with each passing album with odd detours in one direction or another with each one. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002) was a heavier rather experimental album considering its direct predecessor that never liked to stay in one place. They then took a nose-dive into the Thrashy end of the metal pool with Train of Thought (2003). Octavarium (2005) went back in the more Alternative direction with a lot of influence from the likes of Muse and a lot of very standard and relatively unimaginative song structures. Systematic Chaos (2007) sort of mixed Train and Octavarium together, featuring both more accessible sounds (“Prophets of War”, “Forsaken”) as well as the heavy metal explored in Train (“Constant Motion”, “The Dark Eternal Night”).

To be honest, despite being a metalhead, I was fearing for Dream Theater. Their trend towards getting heavier and heavier was wearing me thin. In addition, they didn’t seem to understand that LaBrie’s voice was getting progressively worse and that he cannot pull off the James Hetfieldesque raspy thrash voice they so desperately want him to be able to. LaBrie’s last great performance on an album was Scenes From a Memory. His last decent one was Six Degrees. Since then, DT fans have been polarized into those in denial who cannot accept that DT has a weak link and declares LaBrie still a wonderful vocalist and those who have simply learned to tolerate him.

Like any other fan, I was anticipating DT’s newest release eagerly. However, I also expected them to fail and was even making predictions as to exactly how DT would fail this time around. The time finally came. I put on my headphones and hit play.

The first listen through blew me away. Let me be straight. This is, in my opinion, Dream Theater’s strongest release since Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. It’s as if they took every mistake they made between then and now and actually learned from them. This is a great album. Every song feels complete and whole and each is unique and stands out on its own. The songs are all epic ballads with complete concepts in and of themselves.

One of the things I love the most about bands like Dream Theater is that they absolutely refuse to put a filler song on an album. For this reason, I’ll briefly take a closer look at each song.

The album opens with the sixteen-minute epic, “A Nightmare to Remember”. It is apparently about a car crash John Petrucci experienced. The song chronicles it in dramatic exaggeration. It is, for the most part, a heavier and darker song with a lot of blast beats and fast solos. There is one part, however, where Portnoy does this cute little rap that nearly destroys the song. Barring that, however, it’s a great and energetic opener that, in trademark Dream Theater style, takes you on a journey.

The second song is the shorter, “A Rite of Passage”. In my opinion, this is the weakest song on the album that is half the length of the first track and is half as enjoyable. If you don’t listen closely, the song passes by in relative monotony and doesn’t really feel like it goes anywhere…but at eight minutes, a song like this HAS to do something with itself. It’s still not bad, but is disappointing compared to the punch in the face that “Nightmare” was.

We then move on to “Wither”. This is, thankfully, a good song. It has a very alternative rock sound and even a very alternative rock length. While it’s short for a Dream Theater song, it is short because it needs to be. It does not overstay its welcome. Lyrically, it apparently talks about the frustrations of writers block, and is the strongest on the album in that regard, in my opinion. This song is a good and relatively soft intermission, so to speak, on the album.

The final song in Portnoy’s Twelve Step/alcoholism series is, “The Shattered Fortress”. This is the most fun song on the album solely because we finally get to see the series end. It has been years and years, and it has finally been concluded. It is a lot of fun and very nostalgic to hear melodies and riffs from all the previous songs play out together seamlessly in this one.

Next up, we have the melancholic yet light-hearted, “The Best of Times”. Written in honor of Portnoy’s father, who had been battling cancer and unfortunately passed away during the making of Black Clouds & Silver Linings, this song on the surface feels very light and happy. However, the melancholy written into the notes and lyrics makes itself evident. It is another longer song, clocking in at thirteen minutes, but most of that comes from the very long acoustic instrumental intro at the beginning.

The finisher on the album is definitely one of the strongest songs Dream Theater has ever released. “The Count of Tuscany” is an amazing nineteen-minute epic, telling the story of an encounter Petrucci had with an eccentric man while in Tuscany. The lyrics are equally quirky and entertaining. This song is a true journey in and of itself. The song is broken into four sections. The first and third are instrumental sections, the first reminiscent of “Hell’s Kitchen” from Falling into Infinity, and the second being a Rudess-centered one like the intro to “Octavarium” off of the album of the same name. The second and third sections are the parts with lyrics that tell the story. This is such a great song, I don’t know how I can do it justice in a single paragraph…it deserves a review on its own. Give it a listen, and you’ll know what I mean.

One of the things I enjoyed the most about this album was the amount of noticeable growth in Petrucci’s guitar playing. He has clearly gotten better and cleaner between Systematic Chaos and now, and it really shows. While his solos were less diverse than they have been in the past few albums, they are all still very enjoyable. His tones, however, are nothing but impressive on this album. I absolutely loved them all, and was taken aback by the amount of impact they had.

Portnoy’s drumming also matured a bit. It’s less showy than it was on Octavarium and Systematic Chaos. It’s a breath of fresh air, really, and makes the album feel a bit more balanced. Normally, I complain about drumming in metal having too little character and being too predictable. I can complain about the opposite only with a drummer of Portnoy’s caliber, who is unmatched in the world.

Myung is…Myung. His bass had its peak on “Metropolis” with his one solo and since then has stayed pretty much the same. This album is no different, though we do see more parts where the bass plays a melody independent from the guitar.

Rudess’s tones improve with every album, and this one is no exception. The tones he uses on solos on this album are particularly remarkable. The solos themselves are, as always, in trademark manic and abstract Rudess style, and they are fun as they always are. Everyone talks shit when a guitarist spews out too many notes, but never when a keyboardist does. Rudess knows that and abuses the hell out of that double standard.

LaBrie’s vocals have improved slightly from Systematic Chaos (where he was abysmal), but is nowhere near Octavarium’s level, while Images/Scenes/Six Degrees feel like a distant dream from another life.

I’ve said it already, but I’ll say it again. This is one of Dream Theater’s best albums. It’s difficult to rank them in any linear order, but it’s definitely up there with Scenes and Six Degrees. It is an epic album full of ballads. It maintains the heavier tendency DT has leaned towards since Six Degrees, but brings back the progressive all DT fans have been missing. I am so glad this album turned out this way, and so will you, if you haven’t listened to it already. Go pick it up right now.

This is an extraordinarily long review, I realize, and I apologize…but there’s just too much to say about this wonderful album.

Stephen’s mostly inane and irrelevant rating:

***** 5/5 Stars.