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Dream Theater
Black Clouds & Silver Linings
(RoadRunner Records)
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but do you really remember where you were the first time you heard Dream Theater? I do. In fact, I remember it as if it were just yesterday. The year was 1997, the weather was obscenely hot and the beer was ridiculously cheap and mind-numbingly cold. After several failed attempts at broadening my admittedly limited musical horizons, I at long last opted to purchase a copy of the inexplicably overlooked Falling Into Infinity) from the now-defunct BMG Music Service. Once the disc in questioned eventually landed on my doorstep (four weeks later, complete with a badly cracked jewel case), I wasted little time diving headlong into the swarming musical abyss that awaited me. Approximately seventy five minutes later, I found myself ‘…hopelessly hooked...’, leading to a series of a long and disturbingly intense love affairs.
On the brilliant Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009), an expertly assembled six (!) song collection of genre-defying, Progressive-tinged Heavy Metal, each track, beginning with the maddeningly infectious “A Nightmare To Remember”, and the relentlessly pummeling, Freemasonry-inspired “A Rite Of Passage”, immediately commands the rapt and undivided attention of all parties involved, myself most definitely included. Effortlessly swaggering through an ingeniously-honed collection of airtight material that showcases the group’s inanely lauded penchant for compositional intricacies, the improbably long-running quintet scores major points early and often. Arguably the group’s most widely accessible (and initially successful) efforts to date, the resulting archetypical onslaughts, while not specifically ‘revolutionary’, are truly nothing short of extraordinary.
Continuing with the thought-provoking, acoustic-tinged “Wither”, and the stunning “The Shattered Fortress (X. Restraint, XI. Receive, XII. Responsible), the steadfast--to say the very least--combination of vocalist James LaBrie, guitarist John Petrucci, keyboardist Jordan Rudess (Behold...The Arctopus, Dixie Dregs and Liquid Tension Experiment, to name only a few), bassist John Myung and drummer Mike Portnoy steamroll ahead like the well-oiled machine they have so obviously become. Wisely foregoing the embarrassing payola and chart-position-fueled ploys so often embraced by their few would-be contemporaries, the group deftly delivers an impossibly varied sonic cocktail laced with a mind-boggling array of razor-sharp riffs and solos and a virtual tidal wave of imaginatively punishing rhythms, much to the chagrin on the group’s few misinformed detractors.
Co-produced by Portnoy and Petrucci and mixed by Paul Northfield (as was the case with 2007’s woefully underrated Systematic Chaos), other standouts, including the refreshingly emotion-laden “The Best Of Times”, and the exhaustive, equally impressive closer “The Count Of Tuscany” (based on an actual encounter Petrucci experienced in Tuscany), offer a staggering wealth of indisputable evidence in support of the group’s already well-deserved reputation as a creative force to be reckoned with. With the majority--if not all--of the impressively multi-dimensional wares contained herein only further reinforcing the group’s quasi-groundbreaking ‘…thinking man’s…’ approach, the resulting behemoth that is the oft-overwhelming Black Clouds & Silver Linings is once again quite easily worthy of the highest of critical and commercial accolades.
But is it really that freakin’ good? Absolutely! Seriously, dude; do yourself--and thus those in your immediate vicinity--an indescribably huge favor and pick this little monster up. An absolute must-have for even the most casual of fairweather fans (or, for that matter, anyone with a genuine and sincere interest in all things Prog or Prog-related), the carefully calculated ferociousness and now-trademark precision at the epicenter of each undeniably exhaustive composition is seemingly guaranteed to leave all parties involved only wanting for more. Consequently, if you’ve once again found yourself in search of a refreshingly thought-provoking alternative to the painfully bloated, Hip Hop-infused excesses of the so-called mainstream, then this, my friends, might just be the ‘…high octane cures…’ for what ails you. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.
Select Discography
Black Clouds And Silver Linings (2009) **
Chaos In Motion 2007 - 2008 (DVD) (2008)
Greatest Hit…And 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs (2008) **
Systematic Chaos (2007) **
Score (2006) **
Octavarium (2005) **
Live At Budokan (2004) **
The Majesty Demos 1985 - 1986 (2003) ***
Train Of Thought (2003) **
Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (2002) **
Metropolis 2000: Live Scenes From New York (DVD) (2001) **
Live Scenes From New York (2001) **
Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory (1999) **
Once In A LIVEtime (1998) **
Falling Into Infinity (1997) **
A Change Of Seasons (EP) (1995) **
Awake (1994) **
Live At The Marquee (EP) (1993) **
Images And Words (1992) **
When Dream And Day Unite (1989) *
* features vocalist Charlie Dominici
** features vocalist James LaBrie
*** features vocalist Chris Collins