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Rating: Five days left until the release of the highly anticipated Systematic Chaos. But having already listened to it, I have the opportunity to talk to you about it in preview. I won't dwell much on the songs because personally I think it takes many listens to get to know an album, especially a Dream Theater album. Many people will turn up their noses at this work, I'm sure, but it's not an album to discard.
The CD consists of eight songs. It starts with "In The Presence Of Enemies Part 1". Nine extraordinary minutes of great music, technique, speed... In short, 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. The song ends with a great solo by John Petrucci and then a sound, very similar to a wind rustle, where it is easy to guess that the song is not yet finished. "Forsaken" is the second track and starts with an intro by Jordan Rudess that will give you chills, followed by John Petrucci's very aggressive guitar. Very memorable chorus but still a nice song. The third track is the first single from the album "Constant Motion". Everything, and I repeat everything, reminds one of Metallica, from the guitar to the drums and especially Labrie's singing, imitating the other James, the one from Metallica's "Blackened". For many, it will be a copycat, but honestly, I see nothing wrong in paying homage to another band. "The Dark Eternal Night" begins devastatingly. Distorted guitar and double bass drum that are frightening. The initial singing is characterized by some effects on both James LaBrie's voice and Mike Portnoy's. Surely something will come to mind that you've already heard when you listen to the fifth track "Repentance". Because it starts with the same initial part of "This Dying Soul" and with the same opening line: "Hello mirror, so glad to see you my friend..." And then the real song begins, delighting you for 10 minutes and 44 seconds. "Prophets Of War" is a true anti-war anthem. It starts Pink Floyd style, accompanied by LaBrie's thin and calm voice. The song bursts with a nice riff from John Petrucci. Again, a very simple song with a chorus that immediately sticks in your head. The seventh track is something wonderful: "The Ministry of Lost Souls". 14 minutes and 47 seconds that will leave you speechless. The song starts gently with Petrucci's guitar accompanying James's voice, then explodes into true progressive characterized obviously by keyboard and guitar solos. We are at the last track that is connected to the first: "In The Presence Of Enemies Part 2" which together form a 25-minute suite. This song, as you might expect, starts just as the first part ended, with that wind rustle this time accompanied by John Myung's bass, reminiscent of Pink Floyd. Beautiful song, I really don't know how to describe it. Musicality, speed, technique to spare. Nice ending where all the instruments seem to explode at the last note, but instead... silence. After a few moments, you hear Mike's cymbals coming in, then the double bass drum, the keyboard, the guitar, and the bass to finally explode with a very fast tom roll by Mike Portnoy. It's not something easy to explain.
To be honest, I was expecting something more, but it's fine anyway. I'm sure many won't like this album, but I urge you to listen to it more than once, with attention. The album will be released on June first, in two editions. The standard and the special edition with the DVD, where there will be the entire album mixed in 5.1 and a documentary on the birth of Systematic Chaos directed by Mike Portnoy.
PS: "This was my first review, I don't care what you tell me about how I wrote, I just hope to clarify your ideas about this album." LONG LIVE PROGRESSIVE, LONG LIVE 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.
