Tag: dream theater (Page 1 of 3)

This was album number twelve and the second to feature Mike Mangini on drums. “The emphasis is on shorter more concise songs.” Really?! llumination Theory is twenty two minutes long! Not that I’m complaining, I’m a big lover of the DT that write songs that leave and don’t comeback for days.

Nice cinematic intro with the False Awakening Suite and the two more commercial efforts The Enemy Inside and The Looking Glass. Enigma Machine is my favourite track on the album (did they channel their inner Inspector Gadget when composing the main riff?). It’s what DT do best: lots of widdle and intricacies but in a more concise way.

Illumination Theory is the centre piece of the whole album. It’s about what things people will live, die, or kill for. It’s a well written and performed piece with a full orchestra inserted, but it does feel as though I’ve heard it before. To be honest, the latter day albums do all feel like that, apart from The Astonishing (which I didn’t like at all).

DT are a great band, they just need invigorating and hopefully the return of MP will give them a boost.

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.

This is the album where Dream Theater pushed everything as far as they could. The main album is just five songs, and the second disc is all one song split into eight parts. I hope they go back to this type of record now that Portnoy is back in the family.

I have seen this band more than any other live. I remember the release of this album very well and the tour that followed, I hope that they can rekindle a bit of that fire. The Glass Prison is one of the heaviest tunes that the band have ever done and it’s one of favourites. It as a lot of D-tuned riffing and heavy grooves to keep the die hard metal fan happy while pushing that progressive boundary. The title track is just freakin’ epic, and it’s hard to comprehend that it’s just one song.

In their day, no one could touch them. They have done a few 10/10 records, and this is one. Ytsejam forever!

10/10 from The Grooveman.

This is technically not an album, it was an EP slotted in between the albums Awake and Falling Into Infinity, but the main and title track weighs in at over twenty three minutes. The rest of the piece is put together with cover tunes recorded at Ronnie Scott’s in London, a bit of a legendary show amongst DT die hards.

A Change Of Seasons is all that was great about DT at the time, a huge song split into seven different parts encompassing a varying of styles. A very personal piece for Mike Portnoy as it’s about the cycle of life and is a reference to the death of his mother. The date on the calendar on the sleeve that is circled is November 16th, the day she died. An absolute joy to listen to. The covers are from Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, and Kansas to name a few but the best of the bunch is a ripping version of Funeral For A Friend/ Love Lies Bleeding.

This is a great look back to a band approaching the height of their powers.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

Now, to play one of the best live albums ever in its entirety as a second part of a live gig is one thing, but then to release it and put it out into the wild, takes balls of steel. The original Made In Japan is so good and Dream Theater do a pretty good job covering it, even with the little odd musical warm up parts and raps before and in between tunes.

Of course, Labrie is not Gillan, especially an Ian Gillan in his prime. I mean, he tries and he does a great job but…I have seen Dream Theater more than any other band and I loved when they did things like this when playing live. When they played Dark Side Of The Moon at the Hammy O, it was incredible.

It’s best just to sit back and enjoy a great band pay tribute to a great band. It sounds incredible though!

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.