therealmach5's Full Review: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence by Dream Theater
First, a brief (or as brief as I can make it) bio of the band:
Dream Theater formed from the jam sessions of core members drummer Mike Portnoy, guitarist John Petrucci, and bassist John Myung. The recruited Kevin Moore for keyboards and Chris Collins for vocal duties, and formed Majesty. They changed their name to Dream Theater and replaced Collins with Charlie Dominici after signing to Mechnic Records. Their first album, "When Day and Dream Unite," was released in the summer of '88. Afterward, they spent 2 years looking for a better vocalist than Dominici, and found that in James Labrie, who has been their lead singer since. "Images and Words" was their follow up to their first album, and "Awake" succeeded it. Mid-way through recording "Awake," Kevin Moore left the band, and they replaced him with Derek Sherinian. Derek Stayed on with the band through "A Change of Seasons," "Falling into Infinity," and "Once in a Livetime," but was replaced prior to the recording of "Scenes from a Memory" with Jordan Rudess, who had previously worked with members of Dream Theater in a side project known as Liquid Tension Experiment. Still with me? "Scenes from a Memory" went on to be a massive hit and they followed it up with a 3 CD Live album and a DVD. On January 29th, Dream Theater releases their 7th studio album, title "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence." Dream Theater is loved by a die-hard fanbase worldwide, and is known for putting on phenomenal live shows. In addition, drummer Portnoy and guitarist Petrucci are world-renowned for their chops on their respective instruments.
There's something to be said about finding a band when they've hit the apex of their existence. Will the next album represent a step forward from their last release, or a step back? Will it be able to live up to the standards set by their last release? I can remember each time this occurred with almost every band I've ever been fond of, and more often than not, I was a little let down when that album came out.
Regardless, such was the case when I discovered my love for Dream Theater - They had just released the masterpiece "Metropolis Part 2 - Scenes from a Memory" when I began to pick up their CDs. "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" marks their first CD of all-new material since then.
The undertaking - epic, in true Dream Theater fashion - Is 6 songs spanning 2 discs. That may sound like a small amount of material, but rest assured, it is not. The first 5 songs, comprising the whole of the first disc, span 53 minutes by themselves. The second disc consists of one song, clocking in at just over 42 minutes, which is separated into 8 sections. The complete track list is as follows:
Disc 2
06....(42:02)....Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
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
At the time of this review, the album was not available yet in stores, so I couldn't evaluate the album art or packaging, but based on Dream Theater's past treatment of CD contents, I've no doubt it'll be top-shelf.
The entire first disc paves a sonic landscape that, though building on Dream Theater's roots in progressive rock and various genres of metal, is certainly new territory for the band. It's the same ingredients, but a different recipe altogether form previous works. This is both a good and a bad thing - On one hand, everything is fresh, new, and begs to be listened to over and over. On the other hand, there is the risk that it may turn off previous fans. I for one enjoyed what I heard though, from the heavy, thrashing opener 'The Glass Prison' to the almost radio friendly (if you chop 4 minutes off of it) 'Misunderstood.'
'The Great Debate' continues Dream Theater's rich history of coloring their songs with soundbytes is upheld, in this instance from people regarding the stem cell issue. The song debates the issue, asking the question, "Are you justified in taking life to save life?" Although it debates the issue back and forth, it doesn't end up reaching a conclusion. It does, however, bring to mind Tool's 'Disgustipated,' when they said "Life, feeds on Life, feeds on Life, feeds on..." The song's content aside, it's also an excellent piece.
'Dissappear' is too beautiful of a song for words; the only way to come close to describing it is to call it ethereal and haunting. It's very reminiscent of 'Space Dye Vest,' off of "Awake," but still manages to come off totally fresh, and without a doubt moving.
'Overture' is a fitting beginning of the epic title track, managing to sound extremely symphonic and larger than life. This instrumental truly shows off the extreme versatility of keyboardist Rudess. Its classically influenced harmonies and metal tendencies blend together to make it my favorite track off the whole album. Also, it contains some rather whimsical parts, and some rather disturbing parts, which set the stage for the rest of the song.
The rest of 'Six Degrees' goes on to tell a story about 6 people with mental problems, hence the album's title. I won't spoil the rest of the story, but as a whole piece, it's wonderful; 'The Test That Stumped them All' and 'Solitary Shell' stand remarkably well on their own as well.
All in all, I'm hesitant to give this album 5 stars. It's definitely a more massive undertaking than "Scenes from a Memory," and the technical prowess and creativity displayed matches and possibly exceeds "Scenes." However, it does have a different feel than previous Dream Theater albums, and due to the complexity and quality, it's not the sort of thing which the masses would find palatable. Where your Creeds and Godsmacks are the Budweisers of the music world, Dream Theater is the Guiness - Thick, rich, textured, finely crafted, and ultimately tenfold more satisfying than any quantity of Bud.
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