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Rating:
The Massacre Album. That's how we could define "Train Of Thought", the seventh studio album by Dream Theater. We've always known that DT had an aggressive sound, otherwise, they couldn't be defined as metal. But never before have they had such an extreme sound. With this album, however, the five from Boston don't think twice and produce an extremely heavy and pounding album... Capable of blowing everyone away! Progressive metal is not a sufficient definition for this very hard album. Never like here do the influences of the most extreme and dark genres of metal emerge, an album with clear references to death metal and especially thrash metal. There's a noticeable dominance of the guitar over the keyboard and a more virtuosic rather than melodic approach in the solos, but the band's progressive influences are still significantly present.
This is perhaps the album that most disappointed fans, especially those traditionally more progressive, for the reasons already described above. But trust me, I'm not one of those, and I believe that this "Train Of Thought", even if it's not the best they've ever done, is still a great album that stands out mainly for the harshness of its sounds.
Once again, numerical tricks emerge: the seventh album and seven songs, and the first track begins with the reverb that concluded "Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence".
"As I Am" is pure thrash metal in perfect Metallica style: heavy guitar, almost nonexistent keyboards, and also a great solo by Petrucci. More frantic is No. 2 "This Dying Soul", the second chapter of the Alcoholics Anonymous saga: guitars in clear Slipknot style, very electronic keyboards, and also a reprise of "The Glass Prison" in the central part; beautiful finale: first great keyboard solo by Jordan Rudess, beautiful solo by Petrucci in clear death key, and splendid final guitar-keyboard unison. More experimental but still very heavy is No. 3 "Endless Sacrifice": the first 4/5 minutes are characterized by slow and psychedelic verses alternating with choruses in perfect Limp Bizkit style, then it enters an instrumental part in clear thrash style characterized by heavy guitars but also great solos and unisons by Petrucci and Rudess (in between there's also room for a music piece in clear cartoon style), then returning to a nu-metal style at the end. But the most total massacre comes with No. 4 "Honor Thy Father" where the guitars reach such an extreme sound they could split your ears; Rudess, however, finds his space with a long solo in the middle and another, more chaotic solo before the last chorus; perhaps the ending is a bit too repetitive. The only weak point of the disc is No. 5 "Vacant"; note how even in the hardest album they could make, DT didn't want to give up the slow moment: not even three minutes of bass, piano, and cello to rest your ears a bit; but it's also a very dark ballad and, therefore, in tune with the rest of the album. The perhaps least contested track of the album is the long instrumental "Stream Of Consciousness" which, while not giving up on distorted riffs, gives more space to Jordan Rudess’s experimentation and melodies, who can truly express himself to the fullest here. And it closes with the dark and gloomy "In The Name of God": 14 minutes alternating very heavy riffs with piano melodies and electronic experimentation: in the instrumental part, a great guitar-keyboard unison well accompanied by the bass, one of the album's highest points; even here, perhaps, the end is too repetitive but it concludes with a nice melody on the piano.
Thus ends the massacre album... massacre in a positive way, though. A record truly played with a lot of determination, I see no reason at all to criticize it.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 As I Am (07:47)
Don't
Tell me what's in
Tell me how to write
Don't tell me how to win
This fight
Isn't your life
It isn't your right
To take the only thing that's
Mine
Proven over time
It's over your head
Don't try to read between the
Lines
Are clearly defined
Never lose sight of
Something you believe in
Takin' in the view from
The outside
Feeling like the underdog
Watching through the
Window I'm on the outside
Living like the underdog
I've been trying
To justify you
In the end
I will just defy you
To those who understand
I extend my hand
To the doubtful I demand
Take me as I am
Not under your command
I know where I stand
I won't change to fit your plan
Take me as I am
Still
Running up hill
Swimming against the current
I wish I weren't so
Fucked
Feels like I'm stuck
Lost in a sea of mediocrity
"Slow down,
You're thinking too much
Where is your soul?"
You can not touch
The way I
Play
Or tell me what to say
You're in the way
Of all that I believe in
Takin' in the view from
The outside
Feeling like the underdog
Watching through the
Window I'm on the outside
Living like the underdog
I've been wasting my breath
On you
Open minds will descend
Upon you
To those who understand
I extend my hand
To the doubtful I demand
Take me as I am
Not under your command
I know where I stand
I won't change to fit your plan
Take me as I am
To those who understand
I extend my hand
To the doubtful I demand
Take me as I am
Not under your command
I know where I stand
I won't change to fit your plan
Take me as I am
04 Honor Thy Father (10:14)
We're taught unconditional love
That blood is thicker than water
That a parent's world would revolve
Always around their son or their daughter
You pretended I was your own
And even believed that you loved me
But were always threatened by some
Invisible blood line that only you could see
You took advantage of an outreached hand
And twisted it to meet your every need
"Gimme time to re-charge my batteries,
I'll see her when she's older and I'll bounce her on my knee"
Well listen to me you ungrateful fool
Here comes a dose of reality
You'll go to your grave a sad and lonely man
The door is now closed on your pathetic little plan
On and on and on and on it goes
It's so easy to run away with nothing in tow
How can you ever sleep a wink at night
Pretending that everything is alright
And have the nerve to blame this mess on me
Never in my life have I seen someone
So ignorant to the damage he has done
You're the rotted root in the family tree
I tried your 4 bill therapy
I tried to make amends
But nothing could lure you out of your selfish shell again
Expecting everyone to bow and kiss your feet
Don't you see respect is not a one way street
Blaming everyone for all that you've done wrong
I'll get my peace of mind when you hear this song
On and on and on and on it goes
And with every passing day true colors show
How can you ever sleep a wink at night
Pretending that everything is alright
And have the balls to blame this mess on me
Never in my life have I seen someone
Oblivious to the damage he has done
You're the rotted root in the family tree
Watch where you walk
Don't you dare cross the crooked step
Watch the way you talk
Don't cross the crooked step
''"This is the regret that you make
This is the...
Regret that you make
And the something you take
Mistakes like this... you don't make
You make some and ok
Not ok, sometimes, you make other ones
Know that you should do better
The goddamn regret
The goddamn regret!
And I'll die
Now I'll die
The biggest regret of my life... I let my love go
What did I do?
The fucking regret
What did I do?
What did I do?"
"We just don't connect"
"Well, I want my family back."
"Well, you can't have it. I'm sorry for you, but it's too late."
"Can't you see anything except in terms of how it affects you?!"
"I can't love anybody"
"I gave you money, I gave you a car, I took you in
Don't that mean something?"
" ...I'm disappointed in you"
"You deserve to die alone for what you've done"
"You cocksucker, I hated you
I want you to know that I hate your fucking guts
Just fucking die, you fuck"
"I'm your blood - I'm your family"
"You're not my family - not anymore"
"When your own flesh and blood renounces you...
...you have no choice but to renounce them"''
On and on and on and on it goes
Chauvinistic, heartless, selfish, cold
How can you ever sleep a wink at night
Pretending that everything is alright
And have the balls to blame this shit on me
Never in my life have I seen someone
So fucking blind to the damage he has done
You're the rotted root in the family tree
05 Vacant (02:57)
Hey You, Hey You
I'm right here
Conscience fading
Can't get through
Oh Lord
Helpless
Confused
Head swayed
Eyes glazed
And mine teared
She's losing control
What can I do
Her vacant eyes
Black holes
Am I losing you
07 In the Name of God (14:14)
How can this be? Why is he the chosen one?
Saint gone astray with a scepter and a gun
Learn to believe in the mighty and the strong
Come bleed the beast, follow me it won't be long
Listen when the prophet speaks to you
Killing in the name of God
Passion twisting faith into violence
In the name of God
Straight is the path leading to your salvation
Slaying the weak, ethnic elimination
Any day we'll all be swept away
You'll be saved as long as you obey
Lies, the tools of the devil inside
Written in Holy disguise
Meant to deceive and divide us all
Listen when the prophet speaks to you
Killing in the name of God
Passion twisting faith into violence
In the name of God
Blurring the lines between virtue and sin
They can't tell where God ends and mankind begins
They know no other life but this
From the cradle they are claimed
Listen when the prophet speaks to you
Killing in the name of God
Passion twisting faith into violence
In the name of God
Hundreds of believers lured into a doomsday cult
All would perish in the name of God
Self-proclaimed messiah led his servants to their death
Eighty murdered in the name of God
Forty sons and daughters un-consenting plural wives
Perversions in the name of God
Underground religion turning toward the mainstream light
Blind devotion in the name of God
Justifying violence citing from the Holy Book
Teaching hatred in the name of God
[Instrumental section]
Listen when the prophet speaks to you
Killing in the name of God
Passion twisting faith into violence
In the name of God
In the name of God
Religious beliefs - fanatic obsession
Does following faith lead us to violence?
Unyielding crusade - divine revelation
Does following faith lead us to violence?
[Chant:]
Mine eyes have seen the glory
of the coming of the Lord
he is trampling out the vintage
where the grapes of wrath are stored
he had loosed the fateful lightning
of his terrible swift sword
his truth is marching on.
glory, glory, hallelujah
glory, glory, hallelujah
glory, glory, hallelujah...
-------------------------------------------------------
Ako to len môže byť?
Prečo je on ten Vyvolený?
Svätí odišli zvádzať na zlé cesty
so žezlom a so zbraňou.
Uč sa veriť v moci a sile.
Príď, vykrvácaj šelma.
Nasleduj ma, nebude to dlho.
ref.: Počúvaj, keď prorok k tebe hovorí.
Zabíjanie v mene Boha.
Umučenie prevracia vieru v násilie.
V mene Boha.
Priamo vpred je cesta, ktorá ťa vedie ku spáse.
Vyvraždenie slabých, etnická likvidácia.
V ktorýkoľvek deň my všetci budeme uchvátený
a ty budeš zachránený tak dlho, ako budeš poslúchať.
Klamstvá - nástroje diabla vo vnútri
napísané v svätej pretvárke.
Určené, aby nás všetkých podvádzali a rozdelili.
ref.:
Rozmazané hranice medzi cnosťou a hriechom
Nemôžu povedať, kde Boh končí a ľudstvo začína.
Nepoznajú iný život okrem tohto,
od kolísky sú presviedčaný...
ref.:
--------------------- INSTRUMENTAL PART ------------------------
... Stovky veriacich vábia do kultu Dňa Posledného Súdu.
Všetci chcú zomrieť v meno Boha.
Samozvaný mesiáš vedie svojich služobníkov do smrti,
80 zavraždených v meno Boha.
40 synov a dcér, neplnoleté manželky
perverznosti v mene Boha.
Skryté náboženstvo obracia vpred do hlavného svetla
zaslepená oddanosť v mene Boha.
Ospravedlnujúce násilie citované zo svätej knihy
učia nenávisť v mene Boha.
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Other reviews
By KiccoLSD1
Stream of Consciousness: 11 minutes of pure music that enter forcibly into Dream Theater’s history.
The album closes with 'In the Name of God,' probably the most beautiful song on the album, where indeed all the members give their best.
By TheSilentMan
The musicians' exhibitionism has become something abstract on the album; in fact, Petrucci's solos are indeed very fast but lack pathos.
Despite the usual mammoth durations typical of DT, the songs are the right length and contain some well-structured moments, but the ideas are now exhausted.
By cameli11
It's simply fantastic, it mesmerized the audience upon its release, they have once again shown themselves to be out-of-this-world!
DT are superior to everyone and Train of Thought is one of the many demonstrations they have presented and will hopefully continue to do for years and years to come.
By petrucci
Everyone’s entitled to their tastes—but veteran fans disowning the band baffles me.
'Stream Of Consciousness' is the most beautiful track on the entire album.
By Josh
If the New York band had distinguished itself for originality and versatility, we now face blurred imitations of Tool and Korn.
The album, while showcasing some valid episodes, proves to be a low blow for longtime fans but could attract a new audience.
