Dream Theater is an American Progressive Metal band formed in 1985. Originally named as Majesty the band now comprises of James Labrie, John Myung, John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy, Jordan Rudess. The technical proficiency, interesting time scales, long musical interludes and albums woven around stories have made them one of the best progressive metal bands.
Black Clouds & Silver Linings is their 10th studio album which comes as a regular as well as 3 CD edition. Unlike the previous album Systematic Chaos, this album is more balanced. They have reverted to the more balad like music as in the case of Octavarium. But, unlike Octavarium or Systematic Chaos, this has the best blend of both. A rite of Passage and A Nightmare to Remember are predominantly heavy while The Best of Times and Count of Tuscany are beautiful balads. The music is very 'DT like' filled with long interludes. The Shattered Fortress (Restraint, Receive, Responsible) is an impressive song which completes the twelve step suite:
* I. "Reflection"
* II. "Restoration"
* III. "Revelation"
* IV. "Reflections of Reality (Revisited)"
* V. "Release"
* VI. "Ready"
* VII. "Remove"
* VIII. "Regret"
* IX. "Restitution"
* X. "Restraint"
* XI. "Receive"
* XII. "Responsible"
Written by Portnoy to describe his fight with alcoholism, this definitely finishes off one of the best progressive pieces of music spanning five songs from five seperate albums. It is a feat that would leave anyone in awe.
Like most of Dream Theater albums, this one is also not easily digestible for people who have never listened to Progressive Metal. But given enough time, its an album which everyone would love. Though it is well balanced in many aspects, it does not match up to some of the earlier Dream Theater work mostly because of increased heavy metal influence in their songs. At times Rudess plays second guitar instead of a piano like in all albums post 2000.
Rating: (Lyrics - 8, Riffs - 9, Overall Appeal - 8) - 8.33/10.
In the 3 CD edition the 2nd CD has covers of famous bands like Rainbow, Queen, King Crimson, Iron Maiden etc. As usual, Dream Theater have done a great job with them. The 3rd CD contains the instrumental versions of Black Clouds & Silver Linings. For those who find Labrie's voice painful, the 3rd CD is what you want.
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