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Rating: "Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence" is the sixth work by Dream Theater and, even though many may disagree, in my opinion, it is one of the most beautiful in their discography.
This work is in a double CD format (a bold choice given the prices...): the first has 5 tracks and the second the last one with 42 minutes of beautiful more melodic progressive metal. At first glance, "Six Degrees" seems unlistenable: too many solos and the excessive length of the sixth song risk putting everyone to sleep... but with a little patience, you can appreciate all the beauty of this work.
It begins with "The Glass Prison", very fast, a typical Dream song, the middle part needs revisiting, but the ending is really beautiful: the last 3 minutes have Petrucci and Portnoy unleashed, fast-paced rhythm that energizes. "Blind Faith" is the second track, (the worst on the first CD) it only stands out for the chorus, too repetitive and no emotion... only La Brie is saved with his extraordinary voice. With "Misunderstood", the true Dream finally returns, it opens with a very sad and melancholic melody but halfway through it changes: the song wakes up and starts to be enjoyable. Next is "The Great Debate", initially, you only hear Rudess's keyboard, gradually the others join in, increasingly picking up the pace, with journalists' voices in the background "debating" the stem cell issue, the main topic of the song. The last track is the beautiful "Disappear", poignant and melancholic, truly to be appreciated until the very last second... this song was truly needed to bring out the true progressive soul of Dream after 30 too lively minutes... the only off-note is an overly "confused" start: Rudess's keyboard and sound effects aren't great.
On the second CD, there's the Title Track featuring 6 different characters (Six Degrees) with mental disorders (Inner Turbulence): their problems and discomforts are told and sung by La Brie and company in 8 acts for a duration of 40 minutes... only fools would stop here: the news of having to listen for another good half-hour puts them to sleep... too bad the best part starts right now.
It starts with "Overture"; they wanted to give the impression of a "movie beginning", in fact, it strikes (often negatively) a lot when hearing it... it's strange... lovers of the classic Dream hate it... I'm sure, but this is part of them... they always want to change and surprise the listener with new ideas.
The second act is "About To Crash": after the initial fright (and whoever heard it knows what I'm referring to....) it continues with a really nice song, a pleasant melody (which will be reprised also in the finale) that stays in the mind, perhaps too "pop" but it fits well within the work.
Now it enters a more lively part which, however, decreases somewhat in quality: "War Inside My Head" lasts a few minutes, it's too repetitive in my opinion, but the fast rhythm helps make it more catchy. Next is "The Test That Stumped Them All", the lowest point of the CD: I'm not saying it's crap, but surely they can do better, there's no soul in this song, and La Brie's voice sounds a bit off mid-way... it could have been avoided. Fortunately, they change "path": "Goodnight Kiss" significantly slows down the rhythm, it's very calm and melancholic, the ending is beautiful: I find the transition to the next track that is, "Solitary Shell," truly perfect, though I find it too boring even if the melodies aren't bad. And now the best comes... "About To Crash" is brilliantly reprised with a faster rhythm (really a good choice..) and introduces the grand finale of "Losing Time": beautiful, truly fascinating with a melancholic atmosphere that gives you the desire to listen to it again and to be carried away once more by its so deep and touching melody. Only this final track is worth the price of the CD.
This concludes the work, only after many hearings can you appreciate the beauty of this double effort. Absolutely certain parts need revisiting, but I am satisfied, certainly not at the SFAM levels but I appreciate Six Degrees (which I consider better than "Train Of Thought" and "Octavarium"), very nice lyrics by Petrucci and La Brie is also good. Certainly a more progressive than metal album (luckily) with catchy melodies.
In conclusion, I just wanted to add that in the last 4 works of Dream Theater (from SFAM to "Octavarium") their true progressive soul has emerged, of course, masterpieces like "Space-Dye Vest" or "Change Of Season" are not repeatable, but personally I appreciate these works more than the classics "Awake" or "Images And Words."
Tracklist and Lyrics
02 Blind Faith (10:21)
Hear me, speaking
Asking why I even bother
Tell me, how you
Live from day to day
Take your time and look around
Is this utopia you've found
Sick of all of this
The suffering and we just carry on
Isn't it time we care and lose the hate
Understand our fears
But we do all that we can
Justify the means to an end
Sorry you must excuse me
I've painted my own Mona Lisa
She's fixed everything
Now I'm spoiled beyond my wildest dreams
Blind faith we have in you
Invisible
Which direction do we choose
Predictable
Take the streets, the beaten path
Our system works for whom I ask
Yeah I have it all
The bigger house
An iron fence to keep you out
When did we all let you down
So come Messiah show us how how
Our human spirit drowns
Don't think you hear me now
No sign of you around
What is it you hope to see
Blind faith we have in you
Invisible
Which direction do we choose
Predictable
Give us something we can use
Desirable
Cause you've done all you can do
Regrettable
And still life pushes on
With or without you
We've got to carry on
Our will, will guide us to
A place where we belong
Know there lies the truth
I am the believer who gives purpose on to you
I don't think we let you down
So come Messiah show us how how
Throw us a pure lifeline
I hope that you hear me
Too proud to be around
There's more to us than we see now
Blind faith we have in you
Invisible
Which direction do we choose
Predictable
Self ignorance, abuse
Desirable
Cause you've done all you can do
Incredible
03 Misunderstood (09:32)
Waiting
In the calm of desolation
Wanting to break
From this circle of confusion
Sleeping
In the depths of isolation
Trying to wake
From this daydream of illusion
How can I feel abandoned even when the world surrounds me
How can I bite the hand that feeds the strangers all around me
How can I know so many
Never really knowing anyone
If I seem superhuman
I have been
Misunderstood
It challenges the essence of my soul
And leaves me in a state of disconnection
As I navigate the maze of self control
Playing a lion being led to a cage
I turn from a thief to a beggar
From a god to God save me
How can I feel abandoned even when the world surrounds me
How can I bite the hand that feeds the strangers all around me
How can I know so many
Never really knowing anyone
If I seem superhuman
I have been
Misunderstood
Playing a lion being led to a cage
I turn from surreal to seclusion
From love to disdain
From belief to delusion
From a thief to a beggar
From a god to God save me
How can I feel abandoned even when the world surrounds me
How can I bite the hand that feeds the strangers all around me
How can I know so many
Never really knowing anyone
If I seem superhuman
I have been
Misunderstood
04 The Great Debate (13:45)
What if someone said
Promise lies ahead
Hopes are high in certain scientific circles
Life won't have to end
You could walk again
What if someone said
Problems lie ahead
They've uncovered something highly controversial
The right to life is strong
Can't you see it's wrong
Human kind has reached a turning point
Poised for conflict at ground zero
Ready for a war
Do we look to our unearthly guide
Or to white coat heroes
Searching for a cure
Turn to the light
Don't be frightened of the shadows it creates
Turn to the light
Turning away would be a terrible mistake
Anarchistic moral vision
Industries of death
Facing violent opposition
Unmolested breaths
Ethic inquisitions breed
Antagonistic views
Right wing sound bite premonitions
In a labyrinth of rules
Are you justified
Are you justified
Are you justified
Justified in taking
Life to save life
Life to save life
Taking life to save life
This embryonic clay
Wrapped in fierce debate
Would be thrown away
Or otherwise discarded
Some of us believe
It may hold the key
To treatment of disease
And secrets highly guarded
Are you justified
Are you justified
Are you justified
Justified in taking
Life to save life
Life to save life
Life to save life
Human kind has reached a turning point
Poised for conflict at ground zero
Ready for a war
Do we look to our unearthly guide
Or to white coat heroes
Searching for a cure
Turn to the light
Don't be frightened of the shadows it creates
Turn to the light
Turning away would be a terrible mistake
We're reaching
But have we gone too far
Harvesting existence
Only to destroy
Carelessly together
We are sliding
Someone else's future
Four days frozen still
Someone else's fate
We are deciding
Miracle potential
Sanctity of life
Faced against each other
We're divided
Should we push the boundaries
Or should we condemn
Moral guilt and science
Have collided
Turn to the light
We defy our own mortality these days
Turn to the light
Pay attention to the questions we have raised
05 Disappear (06:45)
Why, tell me the reasons why
Try, still I don't understand
Will I ever feel this again
Blue sky, I'll meet you in the end
Free them, free the memories of you
Free me, and rest 'til I'm with you
A day like today
My whole world has been changed
Nothing you say
Will help ease my pain
Turn, I'll turn this slowly round
Burn, burn to feel alive again
She, she'd want me to move on
See me, this place I still belong
Give chase, to find more than I have found
And face, this time now on my own
Days disappear
And my world keeps changing
I feel you here
And it keeps me sane
So I'm moving on
I'll never forget
As you lay there and watched me
Accepting the end
I knew you were scared
You were strong, I was trying
I gave you my hand
I said it's okay letting go time to leave here
And I'll carry on
The best that I can without you here beside me
Let him come take you home
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Other reviews
By Coelum
"'The Glass Prison' is powerful and fast and leads the listening to the beautiful 'Blind Faith,' which then gives way to the calmer 'Misunderstood.'"
"The album is 'too much,' and this time the quantity somewhat annoys the quality."
By Piccio
I believe this is an album worthy of being purchased, but it’s also true that only after many listens can its beauty be grasped.
It starts with a sequence of piano chords from the great Jordan Rudess that gives you chills on the spine from the very first listen.
By splinter
"Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence marks a serious turning point in Dream Theater’s music."
"An album worthy of the best Dream Theater, almost on par with Images And Words, Awake, and Scenes From A Memory."
By mauro60
A stroke of genius!: a wonderful album, one of their best that contains all these forms.
"The Great Debate" is a phantasmagoric kaleidoscope of times, rhythms, original notes but with a classic aftertaste.
