DREAM THEATER’S BLACK CLOUDS & SILVER LININGS IS STOCK DREAM THEATER
Monday, July 13th, 2009 at 1:00pm by Vince Neilstein
Most Dream Theater fans consider the band’s peak to have spanned the era starting with 1994’s Awake and extending through 2002’s double-disc opus Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (excepting 1997’s bland and boring Falling Into Infinity). I’d actually argue that the band’s “golden” era extended one album further through Train of Thought, unquestionably the band’s heaviest offering ever, if not just because of the good songwriting but for the fact that this was the last album on which the band pushed themselves forward. Since then (Octavarium, Systematic Chaos) Dream Theater have settled into cruise control, pumping out decent but ultimately unspectacular prog metal albums that don’t so much tread new ground as walk confidently atop terrain already explored. The band’s latest, Black Clouds and Silver Linings, continues in this vein; it’s the third album in a row to show little to no musical progression (isn’t this supposed to be “progressive” metal?) and as such ends up feeling mostly same-sounding and… meh. Still, it’s hard to knock anything Dream Theater do too heavily; the band already indelibly changed the metal landscape once, and anything they do warrants at the very least a rating of “pretty good.”
To quote the great Lars Ulrich, much of Black Clouds and Silver Linings feels “stock.” John Petrucci could shit “pretty good” Dream Theater-style riffs out his ass for all of eternity, and the band could string them together into epic-length opuses atop Mike Portnoy’s gifted drumming ad infinitum (4 of the record’s 6 songs are longer than 12 minutes). Album opener “A Night to Remember” and “The Best of Times” are about as musically stock (Dream Theater-wise) as they come, though Portnoy’s touching lyrics for the latter — a tribute to his recently deceased father — certainly warrant a few tears. “Wither” is the stock Dream Theater ballad of the record. It’s not that any of these tunes are bad — they’re just fine. But that’s all they are, just fine. Nothing to get excited over.
Not all the songs fall short, though. “The Shattered Fortress” is a fantastic finale to Mike Portnoy’s suite about the Alcoholics Anonymous 12-steps program, spanning 5 songs over 5 different albums. “The Shattered Fortress” expertly reprises and modifies musical and lyrical themes from the previous 4 parts of the suite and ties them together tidily in a way that only Dream Theater can. “The Count of Tuscany” — John Petrucci’s recanting of a harrowing experience he had while abroad in which he met a true Italian count — is a true Dream Theater epic, succeeding in originality and that X-factor where the album’s other long-players fail. It’s got everything you’d want — long instrumental intro, heavy parts, soft parts, good riffs, a million twists and turns, sparring guitar and keyboard shred-fests, gang vocals and a sing-along chorus… and, best of all, it’s not stock.
Still, it’s time for Dream Theater to challenge themselves again. Finally on a record label that fully supports them and allows them full creative freedom, I call upon Dream Theater to push themselves a bit harder, to progress once again. They’re certainly capable. These run-of-the-mill Dream Theater records are alright, but I’d hope for and expect something more.
-VN
(two and a half out of five horns)
So, long, pretentious, lots of obnoxious doodling, very little worth bothering with, no meaning.
Stock Dream Theater.
“To quote the great Lars Ulrich”
Oh, let me correct that for you.
“To quote the great drummer Lars Ulrich”
Yeah, better.
Saying the great drummer Lars Ulrich is like saying the great lyricist Don Dokken…
But I do agree with the reviewer. I am a DT fanboy from wayback, but their last few just didn’t do much for me…..
Yeah, I only really found one of the tracks to be worth listening to…definitely a step in the wrong direction guys…
Try some http://www.promofm.com/MALICIOUS_DISORDER
http://www.malice420.com
It’s their best album since Scenes From A Memory. Fortunately, the overall response towards the record is great. The reviewer got bored with DT sound? Tough luck, to me the songs sound fresh and exciting. The Count of Tuscany is one of their best songs ever.
That’s exactly the way I feel about it. This is better than anything they’ve done since Scenes. Even better than 6DOIT.
I really like this album, it may seem that they aren’t breaking new ground, but it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
A Nightmare to Remember and The Count of Tuscany are signature Dream Theater epics in the same vein as Octavarium and Trail of Tears.
The Shattered Fortress is a great ending to the AA suite that have been spanning the past five albums, tying all the loose ends together nicely, and The Best of Times is a touching tribute to Howard Portnoy with a badass guitar solo at the end.
I think this album has something for everyone willing to give more than a couple of spins.
Did you read the part above where I basically wrote everything you just said?
Nope:)
God I hate DT with a bitter passion. A Sense of Purpose was “meh”. Everything else – “bleh”
You hate DT so much you mistook them for In Flames instead?
A Sense of Purpose is In Flames
I would love to throw a fuckton of bad words and shit to you…. but what for
I thought Dream Theater’s St. Anger was utter rubbish.
lolz
Thats fucking hilarious!!!!!
At least Dark Side of the Moon was ok.
Great review – it’s good to see that you guys recognize what all the haters overlook; Dream Theater’s emotional capacity (as absent as it can be at times).
I have major gripes with The Shattered Fortress though – it’s 10 minutes of references to past songs, and about 2 minutes of new music. Melodically it’s fine, with heaps of good riffs, but the whole “hey? remember this from 2002?” mentality makes it a complete distraction from the rest of the album, and equally distracting as a not-very-epic finale to the 12-Step Suite.
I’d argue the last time they really pushed themselves was the title track of Octavarium – easily misunderstood by the shredder fanbase, but IMO so powerful it’s their best song to date. The ultimate truth about this album is indeed that Dream Theater are getting too comfortable with their songwriting/recording/production process. Something needs to be shaken up… bar the members from listening to anything remotely prog/rock/metal for a year? Change LaBrie’s name back to Kevin and put him back on his first instrument, the drums? Force John Myung to not just talk, but actually SING as the frontman? Restrict Jordan Rudess’ contributions to his blogged iPhone improvisations?
WHATEVER. IT. TAKES.
Nice, especially the Myung suggestion…
You don’t like the Shatttered Fortress? Do you know what a finale even is? It’s SUPPOSED to reprise earlier material. That’s the definition of a finale.
daniel thank you for being the only other person besides me that understands the musical arrangement for a finale in a piece.
ive always kind of liked dream theater but never enough to really get into them, what would be a good record to start with?
AWAKE is probably one of my favorite albums of all time by DT.
I’d also check out Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence which has a little bit of everything past and present.
depends on if you like the heavier stuff or the proggier stuff.. if you like the heavy, go with Train of Thought, if you like prog, go with Images and Words or Awake
This question is so hard to answer…. because it depends on what you are listening right now…. for example, I fisrt met and felt in love with DT with Images and Words, but it was the 90’s.
By the way, my personal fav is “Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory” but YMMV
Images and Words
Awake
Falling Into Infinity
Scenes From A Memory Pt.2
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Train Of Though
Octavarium
Systematic Chaos
All amazing albums!!!!!!!!!
Also, definitely check out “Liquid Tension Experiment”…Basically its the Drummer, Guitarist, and Keyboardist (Before he was in Dream Theater) and Tony Levin…….Amazing albums……..and there is another
i loved this album. i thought it was definitely a step up from systematic chaos (not to say systematic chaos was bad, it just wasn’t my favorite). a nightmare to remember and the count of tuscany are definitely going to be dream theater classics. however, i do agree with you vince that they have settled into somewhat of a rut, and i’d like to have my mind blown by them again. the album was really good, but it just wasn’t transcendent like some of their other stuff has been.
but dude, octavarium was a fantastic album. i don’t know what you’re smoking.
I thought Systematic Chaos’ Fantasy vibe was excellent, and The Title track from Octavarium was worth the price of the disc.
Octavarium is one of my all time favorites by them. so many good songs on that album, the root of all evil, panic attack, sacrificed sons, and the title track is just absolutely fantastic. Systematic Chaos just didn’t do it for me like Octavarium did, i guess. it’s still a great album to me, just not at the top of my list.
i’ve noticed you like Awake alot. that album has some of the best lyrics by any band ever
Awake was pretty much it’s own entity.
It used a lot of metaphors lyrically, and was the next logical step from Images and Words.
Hmm I can’t say I agree with this review. To me, this is the most fresh and vital Dream Theater have sounded in a long time. While all their albums have some great tunes on them, they often tend to drift off and meander in places. However Black Clouds…is so tightly constructed, cutting away at the fat, even the ballad is good.
T
Agreed. It’s their best in years.
Everyone likes the count of tuscany, but I only liked a nightmare to remember.
Solid album for sure. Unlike a lot of Dream Theater albums, it really flies by. I’m not sure what that means, positive or negative, but I rarely feel like it’s meandering. Count of Tuscany is a long song, but it doesn’t feel like it. I guess that’s probably a good thing.
I love the new album. I do agree they are not pushing the limits like they used to though.
I rather enjoy the new album… I’d agree with the review, but I’d still end up rating it higher just because stock Dream Theater is still better than a lot of stuff out there. I think I enjoyed Systematic Chaos a little more, and Train Of Thought is my personal favorite just because it is their heaviest album to date, but this album is solid with some weak spots here and there, much like everything they release.
The good: Giving “Train of Thought” the props it justly deserves.
The bad: Writing a sentence including the words “Dream Theater” and “peak” without using the words “Images & Words.”
The ugly: Pretty much everything else. I’d agree that the single is relatively standard DT fare, but calling “A Nightmare To Remember” “stock” is absurd, as it’s by far DT’s heaviest track to date. “Wither” is another riveting exhibit proving wrong anyone who claims that this band doesn’t write “songs.” And “The Best Of Times” is losing some of its initial luster after repeat listens, but I wouldn’t have any idea what to say after my father died, much less be able to write a 15-minute progressive metal epic summing up my feelings, so it gets a pass.
Bottom line: Their best? No way, but for my money, better than anything else that will bear the “copyright 2009″ mark.
great drummer lars ulrich? who the hell is he to say ’stock’. Usually over time, ones ‘abilities’ get better. He has declined appreciably as a drummer. I am a guitarist and i can play better drums than him. metallica needs to kick that sh*tty drummer out and get some new blood.
New Blood? ….. would you empty a fine wine bottle to refill it with Carlo Rosy?
sure, since wine spoils over time.
yep, it’s a very good album, better than Systematic, but still agree with the review… maybe they are pioneers, but still, nowadays there’re some other bands doing this kind of sound with much much better results (see redemption or riverside, just to name a couple)
BTW, i’m taking the lars ulrich quote like a joke of course! (truly hoping so! otherwise there’s no moral authority to criticize DT’s work! jejeje)
I think the point was that “stock” is a term Lars used in some context or another… but not that Lars himself used it to describe Dream Theater.
aw. I liked it.
I think this disc ranks up among the best DT albums. Despite Portnoy needing to retire his growl-vocals, Nightmare to Remember slaughters. A Rite of Passage has one of the best choruses ever. I don’t think I’ll come across a better album this year… can’t wait to see these new ones played live :)
I thought this was the strongest album they’ve done in awhile. Maybe not “Six Degrees of Inner Turnbulence” awesome, but it ranks among some of their best.
Honor Thy Father is such a great track from imo their best album but the song the count of tuscanny just has something so captivating about it that ive become addicted to that song, the rest of the album doesn’t really make me feel anything though.
this is the only dream theater i listen to. bought it on a whim, never listened to the old stuff. familiar with their vrey accomplished musician finsgership, and all. but i was just in the right mood, and i’ve been repeatedly jamming this whole album. instead of banging my head, i find it more of bopping. they definitely know what they’re doing. maybe that’s what you seasoned folks are missing – that unhinged sense of the unexpected. but think about it, and this thought applies to some other bands y’all love to mention cough btbam: coming from people who can do pretty much anything, what can really surprise you?
“coming from people who can do pretty much anything, what can really surprise you?”
Exactly…I couldn’t agree more!!!!!
I have been listening to them since they released Images and Words.
I own every DT album.
I have been listening to it a lot lately.
I think they sound like they are jamming out on stuff too much on the entire album. Sometimes I’m like why are they repeating this riff so many times?
The lyrics and vocal performances are seriously less then steller. That is my biggest issue. So I find myself putting in the instrumental disc. The parts where Portnoy comes in makes me cringe.
As far as a better sounding album this is better sounding then they have in years. (In terms of the actual sound of the album not performance wise)
I would like to see them revisit making some some shorter songs again. (Awake is their shining moment)
“John Petrucci’s recanting of a harrowing experience he had while abroad in which he met a true Italian count”
I think you mean “recounting.” What’s the source of this story? I figured the song was another of his fantasy epics, continuing the lyrics he did for Systematic Chaos.
on the news page on dream theater’s website, there is a link to some video where mike portnoy gives a track-by-track breakdown of the story behind each song. quite interesting
See, I knew I should have watched that. Thanks!
Absolutely meh. The songs feel long just to be long, there’s absolutely nothing connecting the songs on the album – it’s just like they did 6 random songs and tossed them onto a cd. There aren’t any individually impressive songs, either.
Yet another unimpressive offering from the much-vaunted “best prog band ever”.
I’m always amazed by the phenomenon where so many people can disagree on the quality of the music they’re hearing. Which is, of course, especially widespread on Internet fora.
For my part, I inaugurated this album during a hiking trip. There were three of us DT fans in the car and two of the three are very talented musicians (one metal drummer, one jazz guitarist, and then non-musical me). However, despite our diverse backgrounds, all three of us were in agreement–BC&SL is just not a very good album, basically DT on autopilot or “stock DT” as the reviewer accurately describes it.
As always with DT, there are moments of brilliance on the album, but the songs aren’t nearly as strong as on past albums. (I’m also amazed at so many people bashing “Systematic Chaos”–it’s not innovative, but there’s very solid songwriting there if you skip over the annoying single “Constant Motion.”)
On BC&SL there are a few VERY sloppy transitions between parts of songs (see “The Shattered Fortress,” which starts off with so much promise, but kind of leaves an unfulfilled feeling in the mouth by the end), uncharacteristic for DT and a sure sign that something is amiss. Also, sometimes songs need to be long to encompass all the musical ideas present, and sometimes songs are long for the sake of being long. Unfortunately, most of the songs on this album fall into the latter category. For example, take a look at the songs in the #2 slots on the past two albums. “Forsaken” and “Rite of Passage” both operate on a very similar compositional premise, but the second one is three minutes longer.
If there’s one unequivocally positive thing I can take away from the album, it’s that James LaBrie’s vocals are continuing to get better and encompass a wider range of possible styles (even if the other players in the band have stopped their musical evolution). The bonus disc of covers is a tour de force by LaBrie, handling the material of Dio, Dickinson, and Mercury while still sounding distinctly LaBrie.
I have to agree, Labrie sounds Excellent on the disc of covers.
the new album, BCSL, is anything but “MEH”. I think the best they’ve put forward in years. Heavy offering of metal!!!
Totally agree with the review. I’m a huge Dream Theater fan and this album although not their best by far, is still way greater than most of the shit coming out nowadays. I too urge them to continue to progress and push the limits of the genre for the next album, which I’m sure, as many others, that they can obviously still can by what they’ve shown recently.
LONG LIVE DREAM THEATER FROM US HERE IN THE PHILIPPINES!
in all fairness i think that this album is acctually really good. my favorite by far