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Rating: Introduction: forgive me if my second review comes after years, and moreover it concerns an album that has already been abundantly reviewed, but I HAD TO...
During one of the few free hours of my average day, while I was searching for the translation of a track from this album, I realized something: how many among sites, forums, and web pages in general do Dream Theater occupy today? A TON, whether people speak well or badly of them, still a ton. This shows how the goal of "notoriety" for this band, as for any other I imagine, has been fully achieved. What does a band want when it is born? To play... What do they want when they play? Success... What do they want when they achieve it? To maintain it... Can Dream Theater maintain it? Just look at the sales, concerts, and finally how much they are talked about on the internet. In conclusion, YES, Dream Theater still have significant success. Systematic Chaos is yet another demonstration of this: criticized, slandered, butchered, and mocked, but above all, HIGHLY sold, HIGHLY commented on, HIGHLY reviewed, and HIGHLY followed on the Live Tour.
It's not the band's best album, just as none were at their release... maybe in a few years we'll better understand what impact it had.
When "Train of Thought" came out, after the first listens, I said: what is this? What is this Trash? if I wanted a trash album I'd buy "Kill'em All" by Metallica, but I like Prog, Melodic, Hard Rock, in short, I wanted Dream Theater and I find myself with this? Years later I find "Train of Thought" one of the best albums in their history, and I believe that even this latest work of the band will have the same story.
"In The Presence of Enemies, Part I" - The album doesn't start very well, it's not a particularly incisive piece and it doesn't represent the rest of the album well, even technically it presents itself poorly, unless you listen to it Live: intro of "2001: A Space Odyssey" in Rock version and then the power of the initial riff of this piece, radically changes the entire listening experience, exuberant.
"Forsaken" - A good track, not legendary but decent; you enter the album and realize it won't drive us crazy, "Scenes From A Memory" is a distant memory.
"Constant Motion" - It reminds a little of "Lie", but I consider it an unnecessary piece, it's the only one for which a video clip was made that, among other things, anticipated the album's release. A bit inexplicable.
"The Dark Eternal Night" - It holds as much as what was said about "Constant Motion" some interesting parts, but overall insignificant.
"Repentance" - Everything starts to improve: it's not a magnificent piece, actually a bit strange on the psychedelic move, but in some parts, it proves to have sense. But still, the authors don't seem to want to play.
"Prophets of War" - Here is the first real standout track: you more or less notice the much-cited musical influences of the Band and a good piece comes out of it, with decent performances from all members, but it's only the prelude to what represents the real masterpiece of the album...
"The Ministry of Lost Souls" - ...it may have been enough to talk about this track without wasting time with the rest of the album. This is one of those songs that write the history of an album, like "the goal that alone is worth the price of the ticket." A sumptuous piece in every aspect, engaging and passionate, rich with emotions and mood changes, with a goosebump-inducing ending... you just have to listen.
"In The Presence of Enemies, Part II" - A good ending that recalls the first track, but without shame or praise, decent also to close a concert (as happened in the Live Tour before the "Grand Finale" Medley).
In the end, without "The Ministry of Lost Souls" this album would have little to exhibit but WITH IT it makes sense. But I repeat, in a few years, many of us me first, will have other ideas and other judgments, as has always happened with Dream Theater, and as will always happen. After all, their purpose is that, to continue to be the talk of everyone, and they continue to succeed...
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.
