 |
 |
|
| Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence |
 Released: 2002 Label: Elektra Cat. No.: 62742-2 Total Time: 96:19 | |
Reviewed by: Peter Fundeis, November 2002 Really, there is nothing that I could say here about Dream Theater that hasn't been said or written elsewhere before. On top of it all, there seems to be the community of DT aficionados out there who just love these prog metal gods whilst a few other fans of the genre simply don't like DT for whatever reasons. Given these circumstances, I will try to summarise the new album as simple and as broadly as possible. The first disc carries 5 tracks with an average length of about 10 minutes per song whilst track number 6, the title track, is just over 42 minutes long. That would hardly fit onto one disc and that's why this release is actually a double disc. The benefit here is that the last song is broken up into 8 parts, which makes the individual sections of this monstrous song more accessible. The album shows a slightly different direction of music as every Dream Theater release has had in the past. The good news is that Six Degrees ... is definitely not branching into the Falling Into Infinity direction, so no commercial material here. The better news is that DT have found their way back into the heavier side of music, reminiscent of the Images And Words and Awake days - at least on some of the songs. The bad news; if you didn't like DT in the past then this release won't change your outlook on the band. All the Jordan Rudess fans will be pleased to hear that his input on the album has had an incredible impact on the overall presentation and ambience and there seems to be a lot of sequencing going on in some parts which is different but well fitting. Being a heavier album, it was up to James Labrie to bring that certain element of melody to the songs and his vocals do this ever so beautifully but I don't know why Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci decided to (over-) produce his vocals in some places with distortions and panning about? The lyrics are a real treat, dealing with various subjects (e.g., alcoholism, stem cell research, and religion). I found the drums lacking some of the air and impact compared to Awake or Scenes From A Memory but overall, the sound and production is again way above standard. Dream Theater have remained self-indulgent show-offs with no thought of the more commercial straight-eared listeners and definitely don't give a hoot about what others (people, bands, labels, etc.) say or think. They seem to be in the music business just for the music's sake and that's what we all love about this band. PPO Rating: 8/10 [This review originally appeared at the ProgPower Online review site; see also Igor's and Clayton's reviews -ed.] More about Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence: Track Listing: The Glass Prison (13:52) / Blind Faith (10:21) / Misunderstood (9:32) / The Great Debate (13:45) / Disappear (6:45) / Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (42:02): i. Overture - ii. About To Crash - iii. War Inside My Head - iv. The Test That Stumped Them All - v. Goodnight Kiss - vi. Solitary Shell - vii. About to Crash (Reprise) - viii. Losing Time/Grand Finale Musicians: Contact: Website: www.dreamtheater.net Discography
| |
[Review Index] [Home] [Top]  © Copyright 2004 ProgressiveWorld.net/Peter Fundeis |