And here it is, the sixteenth studio album from the standard bearers of progmetal, Dream Theater. The album is called Parasomnia, but more of that later. I have to admit that I still really, really enjoy the previous album, A View From The Top Of The World (2021, see review). As you can read in my review, I gave this band the title of standard bearers of progmetal, as I gave it in my review of Distance Over Time (2019, see review), the album before A View From The Top Of The World. If I look at my iTunes I heard A View From The Top Of The World for more than 90 times and is the most listened album since I have my iPod, and that is since 2014. So I think I can say that I am addicted to that album. Especially the songs The Alien, Awaken The Master and the title song A View From The Top Of The World became my favorite ones because that songs are the trademark of the band. Now I have to take you back in time. It was 2010 and drummer Mike Portnoy needed to take a break from Dream Theater because it was getting a bit too much for him. The band did not want that break and Mike had to decide to quit his role as drummer at that time. If I go back to that time, I was inconsolable. Dream Theater meant everything for me, with Portnoy. I was upset for weeks. Slowly I got used to it that Dream Theater went on, without Portnoy. The band turned on with Mike Mangini and made a few great albums, under which the before mentioned albums. What I did not know at that time was that Portnoy had the opportunity to make a lot of fantastic albums with bands as The Neal Morse Band, Flying Colors, Sons Of Apollo and The Winery Dogs. He also played in Metal Allegiance, but that was not my cup of tea. If Portnoy had stayed in Dream Theater, all of these albums would not have seen the light of day in the way they have. After the previous album a lot happened in the camp of Dream Theater. Slowly it became clear that the split between the band and former band mate Mike Portnoy disappeared. Portnoy played on John Petrucci's solo album and they toured together to promote that album. That felt so good for them that it was unavoidable that Portnoy had to be in the band again, thirteen years after he left the band. And now we can say that the circle is round again, Portnoy reintegrated in Dream Theater and now the golden line up arose again. Here are my thoughts of the songs on the new album. In The Arms Of Morpheus In the intro you hear several sounds and your ears are directly focused on what is happening? After a minute the music comes in and is becoming more to the foreground. It all sounds heavy and grabs you by the throat. Mike Portnoy teaches us how to play a double bass drum, how cool! Halfway thru the song John Petrucci shows us how to play the dark guitar tones and then the wizard of the keys, Jordan Rudess takes you on his first ride of the album. It all sounds as classic Dream Theater with a few solo's from the various instruments. The first one is an instrumental and is really melodic. Night Terror This is a song whose chorus will always be stuck in your brain. Night Terror... hysteria... nocturnal trial by fire... eyes open wide but I can't see. I love this phrase a lot and can repeat it a thousand times. The song itself lasts about ten minutes and is a joy to listen to. There is a lot of time to improvise for the musicians. In this one you can hear the bass purring quietly now and then. There are a lot of various guitar solo's from John Petrucci. This makes him such a master of the guitar. The song has a good ending too, the rush has been reached, and how! A Broken Man The song starts really aggressive and dark and continues into a cinematic episode. It sounds so Dream Theater, heads off! The way James Labrie sings and how the guitar sounds remind me of the songs of Six Dregees Of Inner Turbulence (2002), nice to hear the parallels. Does that irritate? No, not at all. It's so classy that a band can sound that varied in one single song without losing your attention. Dead Asleep Another great intro, now on violin. It immediately draws your attention. After the intro heavy guitar riffs are coming your way and then Portnoy closes the holes in a spectacular way. But don't get used to it because Petrucci also can play melodious solos, after which the heavy parts return again. So you can read the music is going everywhere again, and again without losing the whole. There is also time for Rudess to draw your attention on his keyboard solos. The way the song is composed keeps you on your toes. For me this is a classical Dream Theater song because so much happens that you have to listen a dozen times to discover all that is hidden in the song. And if you think you know all the details, wrong. That makes this music so special. Midnight Messiah Lovely guitar tunes enter your ears as the song starts and for a little while you think that this could be a ballad, but you are wrong, the song develops rapidly towards up tempo without losing the melodics. You can summarize this song in musical craftsmanship. A pleasure for the ears. Lyrically this song is written by Portnoy and it is nice to see that there are a lot of repeated lyrics of former songs of the past are used. As if the circle is round again. Are We Dreaming? This little piece of music is a bit mysterious, you are focused on hearing all the details, nice to hear. It is a short one and flows into the next one. Bend The Clock As said above Bend The Clock continues where Are We Dreaming? ends. A soft played guitar comes your way and James sings as in his most early years, caressing your ears. Lyrically it has a deep theme, just let it touch your soul. This song is the only slow song on the album with a beautiful guitar solo at the end of the song, wow! The Shadow Man Incident The longest track is reserved for the last one on the album. It is nearly 20 minutes long. This is a song that has everything in it to be a classic song. From extremely left to extremely right, heavy, slow, subdued to the most high you can possibly imagine. For me this is next level and the best song of the album. I can say a lot about the song, but experience it yourself, give yourself that present. As you can read in this review, this album is top notch again. The musicianship between all the bandmembers is incredible. It feels so good that this band is in the best possible line-up again. I hope that they will make records like this for at least another forty years, but only time will tell. For now enjoy the album of the year, it is such a fantastic one, just wow, wow and another time, WOW! ***** Michel Stolk (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
