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THE REVIEW
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I wanted to be the first to say that this album is terrible. This record represents all those things that are fundamentally wrong with the prog-metal genre. Firstly, because it sounds like recycled music from other albums, without doing anything to distinguish itself from them; then, because the arrangements are terrible, and from DT one doesn't expect just standardized arrangements typical of metal, ingratiating in their approach, in the sound textures, in the tempo changes, and in the lyrics. Each song can be deciphered by listening to just the first minute and a half, the rest is useless. There is the feeling that DT have never gone deeper than this. They failed completely because they aimed too high.
What's new? Nothing! There are many repetitive melodies, riffs taken from previous albums (especially from "Octaplagium") and from other bands. It’s clear that for quite a while, DT have tried to make up for their lack of creative inspiration with their instrumental skills, which here more than ever seem pointless. This leads me to say that Systematic Chaos is one of the least valid works ever made in metal.
Badly produced, predictable, and gaudy. If Dream Theater had made an important turn in the genre years ago, we can say that now we are witnessing the killing of prog metal by one of its founding bands.
Harmful.
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Summary by Bot
The review strongly criticizes Dream Theater's Systematic Chaos as a poor prog-metal album. It accuses the band of reusing old ideas and failing to offer any fresh creativity. The arrangements are called standard and uninspired, with ineffective instrumental skills. Production quality is also deemed bad, leading to a work considered one of the least valid in metal. The reviewer sees this album as detrimental to the genre's future.Tracklist Lyrics Videos
Dream Theater
American progressive metal band formed in 1985, known for virtuosic musicianship and landmark albums such as Images And Words and Metropolis Pt. 2.160 Reviews
Other reviews
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.
By TheDanceOfEternity
Dream Theater. After 5 minutes and 13 seconds comes the extraordinary singing of James Labrie who, in this song as in all the others, has a very captivating voice.
LONG LIVE PROGRESSIVE, LONG LIVE DREAM THEATER.
