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After reviewing Manowar's Gods Of War, I couldn't refrain from analyzing the other pillar of the amazing 2007 metal scene: Systematic Chaos, the ninth studio album by John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy, John Ro Myung, Kevin James LaBrie, and Jordan Rudess, the incomparable Dream Theater.
If 2005’s Octavarium was the perfect album, encompassing all the band's facets (from metal to pop, passing through rock, progressive, electronics, ballads, and more), SC is a fusion of Octavarium's melody and the hard, metallic impact of 2003’s Train Of Thought, as evident in the beautiful booklet images dominated by the constant presence of ants, an allegory of something ordinary yet mysterious and unsettling. The lyrics follow this direction, offering us themes with a strong esoteric flavor: the vampiric suggestions of "Forsaken", the complete loss of control in "Constant Motion", the monstrous visions of "The Dark Eternal Night", love at the borders of life and death in "The Ministry Of Lost Souls", and especially the allegorical battle between good and evil, temptation, and demonic visions in the absolute masterpiece "In The Presence Of The Enemies".
It's precisely "In The Presence Of The Enemies, Part 1" that opens the album: starting with a bang with the instrumental section Prelude, five minutes of unleashed keyboards and guitars that create an atmosphere of great electricity and tension, until halfway through the track when singer James LaBrie enters with his splendid voice to narrate the story of a man lured by a demonic cult promising him redemption. The protagonist succumbs to the promises, but just when things seem promising, the song fades away in a breeze. An excellent start, but nothing compared to what we will encounter at the album's end.
Thus begins, on the trembling notes of "Pelatone" Rudess's piano, "Forsaken", one of Dream Theater's most beautiful pop-rock songs: Petrucci’s fiery guitar crafts simple yet hard, fascinating, and impactful harmonies that exalt a grandiose LaBrie. The lyrics speak of a nocturnal encounter with a mysterious woman-vampire.
"Constant Motion", the album's lead single, presents lyrics reminiscent of "Panic Attack," but it delivers a wicked thrash metal track for pure headbanging with evident nods to 2002’s "The Glass Prison." An additional touch comes from Mike Portnoy's vocal lines, who, besides being a drum god, is also able to give every song a truly incendiary touch.
"The Dark Eternal Night", what can I say, the first 3/4 minutes are a true lava flow of molten metal, sung by a slightly growling Portnoy with LaBrie relegated to a secondary role, all supported by the heavy riffs of an exceptional Petrucci. It’s a pity that the song then loses itself in a too technical and convoluted instrumental part, unconvincing. The extraordinary lyrics evoke nocturnal monsters and ancient curses "I am the last of God's creations/Born of the blood of Pharaohs".
The mood calms with "Repentance", the fourth chapter of AAS, which reprises the opening verse of "This Dying Soul": a sad and psychedelic ballad phenomenally interpreted by a pained and suffering LaBrie. The second part contains sampled phrases from various artists including Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Marty Friedman, and Corey Taylor. Magnificent is the long and intense instrumental tail dominated by the intense groans of James LaBrie.
"Prophets Of War" caused me at least a week of total addiction just like "Never Enough" from Octavarium. Electronic inserts and a socially conscious theme against war for these six minutes of pure thrill supported by Petrucci’s explosive riff and various tempo and key changes in a more unique than rare emotional crescendo. The background choirs are performed by fans directly invited by Dream Theater into the recording studios (oh my, I would have sold my soul to Satan just to be there as well).
It's impossible not to be moved by "The Ministry Of Lost Souls". Already the orchestral intro and the following acoustic guitar arpeggio fill the soul, fourteen minutes that enchant as much as, and perhaps even more than, the six in "The Spirit Carries On." This song tells the story of an impossible love suspended between life and death, otherworldly atmospheres wonderfully evoked in the instrumental part. The song ends with a breathtaking and tear-jerking crescendo (in a good way) before fading away in a breeze of wind...
Here the interrupted narrative of the first track continues. LaBrie does not sing, he almost whispers (a whisper that gives chills) a very dark and unsettling text, then rises in intensity in the chorus "Angels fall, all for you, heretic, the demon's chants bleed for us." This is the third section of the suite, Heretic, leading into the increasing thrash metal of Slaughter of The Damned, incendiary at just the right point thanks to the constant back-and-forth between Portnoy and LaBrie. In this section, the song's protagonist begins to have doubts and renounces his choice to side with evil, but the conclusion comes only after the instrumental whirlwind of The Reckoning, at the end of which the protagonist manages to regain control of himself and free himself "My soul is my own now, I do not fight for you, Dark Master," effectively sealing the happy ending, but not the dark tension of this suite, which almost gives the impression of not being fully concluded. We will see in the next Dream Theater album, but for now, let's enjoy this "Systematic Chaos" another masterpiece of art from these 5 extraterrestrials, true bastions of the concept of genius not devoted to mere experimentation but to intertwining metal-melodic and always new and surprising themes and texts.
LISTEN TO DREAM THEATER
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Forsaken (05:35)
For a while
I thought I fell asleep
Lying motionless inside a dream
Then rising suddenly
I felt a chilling breath upon me
She softly whispered in my ear
Forsaken
I have come for you tonight
Awaken
Look in my eyes and take my hand
Give yourself up to me
I waited painfully
For night to fall again
Trying to silence the fear within me
Out of an ivory mist
I felt a stinging kiss
And saw a crimson stain on her lips
I have to know your name
Where have I seen your face before?
My dear one don't you be afraid
Forsaken
I have come for you tonight
Awaken
Look in my eyes and take my hand
Give yourself up to me
Take me far away
Close your eyes
And hold your breath
To the ends of the earth
Forsaken
I have come for you tonight
Awaken
Look in my eyes and take my hand
Forsaken
Fly away with me tonight
Awaken
Renew my life
Now you are mine
Give yourself up to me
03 Constant Motion (06:55)
Tunnel vision at blinding speed
Controlling my thoughts, obsessing me
Void of any uncertainty
Throughout my very soul
Lost illusions of mind control
Resisting all hope of letting go
Racing impulse of dark desire
Drives me through the night
I try to shut it down
It leaves me in the dust
No matter what I've found
I can never get enough
Frantic actions of insanity
Impulsive laced profanity
Long for elusive serenity
Way out of my control
Traveling through both space and time
Out of body
Out of mind
Out of control
My wheels in constant motion
Spinning round and round it goes
I can't let up
I can't let go
Can't stop this flame from burning
Forever more
Into the night
Blistering
Focus here, focus there
Cannot see the light
Falling down through the night
Sprawling everywhere
Searching left, searching right
Panic setting in
I can no longer fight
When will this end?
Accelerate, dislocate
Set to crash and burn
Haven't got time to waste
Not planning to return
Aggravate, Agitate
When will I ever learn?
There's no way out of here
Nowhere to turn
Obsessive yearning
Compulsive burning
Still never learning
Insane random thoughts
of neat disorder
Scattered wasteland surrounding me
Tattered memories of what used to be
Apocalyptic mind debris
Until we meet again
Traveling through both space and time
Out of body
Out of mind
Out of control
My wheels in constant motion
Spinning round and round it goes
I can't let up
I cant' let go
Can't stop this flame from burning
Forever more
Into the night
Blistering
Traveling through both space and time
Out of body
Out of mind
Out of control
My wheels in constant motion
Spinning round and round it goes
I can't let up
I can't let go
Can't stop this flame from burning
Can't stop the wheels from turning
Traveling through both space and time
You get yours
And I got mine
Out of control
My wheels in constant motion
Spinning round and round it goes
I can't let up
I can't let go
Can't stop this flame from burning
Forever more
Into the night
Blistering
04 The Dark Eternal Night (08:53)
No one dared to
Speak of the terrible danger
The hideous ancient warnings
Forged in the void of night
He is risen up
Out of the blackness
Chaos
The last of the prophets
Sinister
A sickening monstrous sight
Through the stifling heat
Underneath the pale green moon
I burned with a thirst
To seek things not yet seen
Climbing endless stairs
Leading to the choking room
Eager to explore
His most shocking mysteries
Drifting beyond all time
Out of a churning sky
Drawn to the beckoning light
Of the dark eternal night
Black forces
Rage in the vortex
Fighting
Waves of destruction
Swallowing
The echo of the universe
I am the last
Born of the blood of the pharaohs
The ultimate god of a rotting creation
Sent to unleash this curse
Restless crowds draw near
Nameless hooded forms appear
Amidst fallen ruins
Grotesque creatures battle
Shadowed on a screen
Yellow evil faces leer
Vacant monuments
Corpses of dead worlds left behind
Drifting beyond all time
Out of a churning sky
Drawn to the beckoning light
Of the dark eternal night
Trapped in a hellish dream
Spinning past worlds unseen
And frightfully vanishing
Into the dark eternal night
Drifting beyond all time
Out of a churning sky
Drawn to the beckoning light
Of the dark eternal night
Trapped in a hellish dream
Spinning past worlds unseen
And frightfully vanishing
Into the dark eternal night
05 Repentance (10:43)
Hello Mirror, so glad to see you my friend
It's been a while...
Staring at the empty page before me
All the years of wreckage running through my head
Patterns of my life I thought adorned me
Revealing hurtful shame and deep lament
Overwhelming sorrow now absorbs me
As the pen begins to trace my darkest past
Signs throughout my life
that should have warned me
Of all the wrongs I've done for which I must repent
I once thought it better to regret
Things that I have done than I haven't
Sometimes you've got to be wrong
And learn the hard way
And sometimes you've got to be strong
When you think it's too late
Staring at the finished page before me
All the damage now so clear and evident
Thinking about the dreaded task in store for me
A pit of fear at the thought of my amends
Hoping that the step will help restore me
To face my past and ask for forgiveness
Cleaning up my dirty side of this unswept street
Could this be the beginning of the end?
I once thought it better to regret
Things that I have done than haven't
Sometimes you've got to be wrong
And learn the hard way
And just when you're through hanging on
You're saved.
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Other reviews
By Dolly_Quinn
This album is terrible and represents all those things that are fundamentally wrong with the prog-metal genre.
Systematic Chaos is one of the least valid works ever made in metal.
By paloz
Has no one noticed yet that the band does nothing but slightly modify songs already written in the past?
The DT want to be megalomaniacs, they want to act like they play endless suites...to amaze the drooling followers who would follow them to the world’s end.
By High Voltage
"Systematic Chaos is certainly the album that comes closest to what Dream Theater is today."
"The Ministry Of Lost Souls could be defined as one of the best tracks on the album—almost 15 minutes of pure progressive and pure Dream Theater compositions."
By MarkTwin
A truly brilliant start, that rapid and engaging prog note by note captivates immediately.
With this album, it seems they want to prove that they still want to amaze and experiment, and in my opinion, they have succeeded almost exemplary.
By lux
Today I consider the Theater of Dreams the ultimate embodiment of mediocrity and complete artistic nothingness made Rock.
What awaits you after inserting the disc into the player is, therefore, an Anti-Art endurance test.
