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Rating:
What have Dream Theater given to the world of music? Some think a lot, others think nothing. I believe that starting from the '90s, the world of progressive rock has experienced significant development. Especially thanks to bands that, even if drawing from the big names of previous decades, have given a remarkable push to the genre. I'm talking about bands like Anglagard or Anekdoten from Sweden, or Echolyn and Miriodor in America, and in our country, very important realities like Finisterre. Even remote lands like Indonesia have produced bands of notable value like Discus. Not that all these groups necessarily said something new, but they have been very important for the developments and rediscovery of the genre and to give impetus to new bands to still express themselves with this language.
In these same '90s, America saw another movement, defined as "Progressive Metal" which had as its leading proponent, with dozens and dozens of followers, Dream Theater. They too did not say much new, but their HUGE sales volumes certainly favored an approach to progressive rock, especially from the most curious who, after listening to certain themes, wanted to delve deeper into the subject and projected themselves towards more definable progressive. So after the significant wave of the album "Images and Words," Dream Theater found themselves facing a strange market that demanded from the band, in a fragmented and confusing manner, prog, metal, and prog-metal together. From this strange fusion of demand arose a great fluctuation of results from the group, which seemed to swing based on requests expressed as if in a statistical survey.
The latest requests, I assume, have determined that from Dream Theater there is a desire for a heavy departure from progressive and that is what they have done. This new "Systematic Chaos," unlike the notable and, progressively speaking, good "Octavarium," has no more prog and has turned almost completely towards a modern Metal, heavy and difficult to listen to, especially for those who appreciated the previous work. Personally, as far as my opinion may be worth, I did not like "Systematic Chaos" at all. Everyone is off-key and, considering their great technical abilities, it is truly a shame. Especially Portnoy, who doesn't even do a tenth of what he could. LaBrie ventures into tones that border on annoying, not yet in growl territories, but certainly distant from his crystal-clear potential. Among the tracks, the only decent thing is "In The Presence of Enemies Pt. 1" a track that has sounds closer to Octavarium, although it seems like a leftover. "Constant Motion", also chosen as a video clip, is really a bad piece and, probably, the worst thing produced by this group.
My final verdict is absolutely negative, for an album that marks a decisive turn towards an audience increasingly close to modern Metal and increasingly distant from Prog. Some might wonder why bother to review an album you don't like. The answer is quite simple and obvious: because up to this point I really liked Dream Theater and I believe, for the reasons expressed above, that they have been quite important for a rediscovery of prog (in a general sense). This is a betrayal album, and that's why I think it's worth discussing.
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.
