Dream Theater
Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence

THE REVIEW

"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."