THE GROOVEMAN'S COLLECTION

REVIEWS FROM MY VINYL COLLECTION

Day: January 17, 2023

DREAM THEATER – Systematic Chaos

January 17, 2023 /

This was Dream Theater’s ninth album, and the first for Roadrunner after their split from East West. They went out with a bang after the release of Octavrium, which is one of their best albums. This album doesn’t get mentioned a lot as peoples’ favourite and often gets overlooked, but the quality of the tunes is very high indeed.

In The Presence Of Enemies Part 1 is a monster tune, and one of their best. The intro is superb, and it goes on for like three minutes before the vocals kick in. There is all the usual DT widdleisms and Metallica-esque riffage. On Constant Motion, you get both in the same track. The Dark Eternal Night however, is my personal favourite track. Right from the low end riffage at the intro, to the killer instrumental section, this track just melts your face and has the jaw dropping in awe. When they are on boy they are ON!

The band have lost that spark somewhat, and they need a reinvigoration. But, this gets…

9/10 from The Grooveman.

TOTO – IV

January 17, 2023 /

It’s hard to believe, but Toto were under a lot of pressure before the release of this album. With the success of their first album and the huge single Hold The Line that came from it, the two albums that followed were commercially not very successful. Even though I love Hydra, but it’s almost a Prog album. I think everyone around the band breathed a huge sigh of relief when Rosanna, the lead single reached number two on the charts. Not only is that song superbly written, but it sounds incredible with a grade A top notch production. The band also don’t give up on their muso credentials in the song either, as the long fade out instrumental is killer.

The whole album screams class and is a lesson on how to do everything right. You’d think one mega selling single off an album would be enough, but no, with Africa they topped it and reached number one. Other than Rosanna, which is the best track the album, I’m picking Lovers In The Night as my favourite tune as the instrumentation is great and Luke’s solo sounds just so off the cuff.

Great record and everyone should have one just for the production alone.

10/10 from The Grooveman.

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