Systematic Chaos

For a change, I kind of feel like reviewing an album I don't have to listen through five-plus times and take exhaustive notes on. I could probably write this one without listening to it at all. (Though it helps) This is Dream Theater's 2007 album, Systematic Chaos.

The album both opens and closes with "In the Presence of Enemies", a twenty-five-minute epic and the third-longest suite in their discography. Supposedly they couldn't decide between having it start or finish the album, so they split it and did both. Described by guitarist John Petrucci as "the epitome of a Dream Theater creation", it's a six-part monster on par with "Octavarium"'s complexity. The first part is  nine minutes long and starts with a five-minute instrumental showcase that acts as an overture for the album and sounds pretty epic. Unlike "Octavarium", which begins very gradually with a lone keyboard, the entire band (save James LaBrie) jumps right into the intro for what would be an excellent instrumental song on its own. The second half of part 1 tells the story of a recently dead man being offered a deal to return to life. The tempter's line "I can lead you down the path and back to life/All I ask is that you worship me" recalls Satan's temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4, not the last Biblical allusion this exquisitely written song makes. After a lyrical bridge we get a quick but intense guitar solo that fades into echoing wind.

Skipping the rest of the album for now, part 2 starts more quietly with a bass and keyboard duet, with quiet vocals telling of the man's acceptance of the "dark master"'s offer. The lyrics of this part are just awesome; all of Petrucci's lyrics on this album are about fantastical stories, of which this is the best example. LaBrie's delivery of the line "Angels fall/All for you/Heretic" the second and third times is almost chillingly awesome. The next part, "Slaughter of the Damned", is (unsurprisingly) even darker depicting the man fighting for his new master as promised. It's by far the most metal section of the song, with constant guitar chugging that breaks into acrobatics between the lines. The lyrics of this part are even better; the second verse is filled with darkly twisted allusions to Psalm 23 ("Fear/There is no evil to fear now/For I know you are with me/My/Cup overflows/With my enemy's blood"). This section ends with the exact same lyrical bridge that ended part 1 before "Reckoning", the second instrumental section that is effectively an extended solo. Simply amazing instrumental work. Finally, in the last part we get the resolution to the story; the man realizes the mistake he has made accepting the demonic bargain and rejects it, saying "My soul is my own now/I do not fight for you/Dark master". What a satisfying conclusion after the darkness of the rest of the epic. Again, this song is simply amazing, one of DT's best epics and the definite highlight of the album.

After part 1 we get the much pithier "Forsaken", another Petrucci-written creation that I think channels a bit of Evanescence in its gothic lyrics (about a man being shown hauntingly beautiful dreams while having his blood sucked by a vampiress), piano sections and focus on grinding riffs. Still a good song, and the best single material on the album, but it's eclipsed by the other songs of the album.

Then we have "Constant Motion". This was the very first Dream Theater song I heard, thanks to a message board thread I read about Rock Band songs with insane solos that linked to a video of it. My first impression of the song and Dream Theater was "like Metallica, only artsier". And now, having listened to it dozens of times, I still kind of agree. Again, it's very riff-focused, with a much faster and more aggressive riff that borders on thrash metal. The drumming is upbeat with a relentless tempo that parallels the stress of obsessive-compulsive disorder, about which Mike Portnoy wrote the song. The chorus is a bit smoother and less tense, highlighting the tension in the verses by contrast. The solo continues to wow me just as much as it did the first time with some of the fastest shredding I have ever heard, demonstrating Petrucci's status as one of the best guitarists in the world. Just watch and be amazed. Since playing it on Rock Band, I've learned the drumming during the solo is almost as technically impressive; afterwards there is a similarly virtuosic keyboard solo followed by a "freakout" section that is just insane. Jordan Rudess is pretty much a wizard.

After Metallica and Evanescence, Dream Theater moves on to Pantera on "The Dark Eternal Night". Though I like it, this song is likely to garner the most hate from fans and newcomers. Besides the ultra-heavy, detuned guitars riffing atonally and bass-heavy drumming, we get heavily distorted vocals on the verses that are half-sung, half-rapped. It's DT's closest venture to that bad memory of the early '00s, "nu" metal. But of course, this is Dream Theater we're talking about, so once you get past the vocal style it's pretty cool. The lyrics are more fantastical stuff by Petrucci (about a pharaoh who comes back from the dead to curse a city). But that's all just the first three and a half minutes. The other five and a half minutes are almost entirely instrumental and some of the best epic progressive vamping of the album. It's all excellent and as diverse as you'd expect from Dream Theater, but some highlights are the ragtime piano (yes, ragtime) at 4:30 and the super-low shredding with rapid 6-time bass drumming starting at 5:50. There is some excellent guitar work around 6:30 (though it seems tame in comparison to "Constant Motion"), one last chorus, and a long outro with an awesome, improvised keyboard solo by Jordan Rudess.

After that is "Repentance", the fourth part of Mike Portnoy's twelve-step suite. Unlike the others, it is quiet and laid back, basically progressive rock. Some musical and lyrical themes from the first three parts come into play ("Hello mirror/So glad to see you my friend"), but mostly this some functions as a breather from the intensity of the rest of the suite (and this album). Lyrically, it's about steps eight and nine of the program--making a list of the people you have wronged and making amends to them. Great laid-back guitar solo at 4:40 that recalls DT's progressive rock influences. Certainly the centerpiece of the is all the spoken-word vocals from lots of Portnoy's colleagues like Mikael Åkerfeldt, Steven Wilson, and Neal Morse, all expecting regrets, apologies, and desire for forgiveness. It's a really nice touch.

"Prophets of War" begins almost like a techno song with layered keyboards before the bass and drums come in. The almost dance-like rhythm (bizarre, but really good) continues up until the instrumental refrain, which is joined the second time by the shouts of as many Dream Theater fans as would fit into the studio. Lyrically, it's probably their most political song, questioning the purpose of and motives behind the war in Iraq. Fortunately it never gets terribly preachy (except maybe the spoken-word break by Mike Portnoy) and manages not to sound dated now. (At least, not nearly as much as "The Great Debate" with its news samples)

"The Ministry of Lost Souls" is the other epic of the album, a fifteen-minute gem that again embraces DT's progressive rock roots. Despite the length it's generally just an extended song and not a suite like "In the Presence of Enemies". After a pretty dramatic intro, the verses and choruses are pretty mellow. Lyrically, the song is about a woman who is saved from drowning but is filled with regret and longing to be reunited with her rescuer, who gave his life in the process. The emotive vocals and slower pace really speak to this longing. At 6:40 the (highly) extended instrumental section begins, the only really metal part of the song. The slower guitar solos at 10:50 and the outro are quite good and demonstrate Petrucci isn't all about pure speed and precision (as it "Repentance" left any doubt of that). Extended solos aside, this is definitely one of the less pompous and more accessible songs on the album, and the one I forget about the most often--a tragedy! After it comes, of course, part 2 of "In the Presence of Enemies", reviewed above, to close the album off.

"Systematic chaos" is a pretty apt description of Dream Theater (the band and the music). This album sees the band blend together both extremes, carefully treading the line between tightly written and polished modern alternative metal and their trademark progressive excess, containing both a five-and-a-half-minute single and a twenty-five-minute epic. It is the most outstanding example of what I would call the "new" Dream Theater sound (conceived on the first disc of Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence) and a successful fusion of their distinctive sound what what I would term "modern metal".

Conclusion: Having fallen in love with this album over dozens of listens, I'd give it a solid 5/5. It's a great album to get into the band with (it's what got me started with Dream Theater) and the best example of their "new" sound. The songs are all brilliant and extremely varied; there isn't a single filler track and everything fits together in some kind of systematically chaotic way to form a very solid and  rewarding album. It's helped cement Dream Theater's place as one of the most musically fascinating and satisfying bands in my library. Songs to check out are "Constant Motion", one of the band's best instrumental showcases, "Prophets of War", which keeps mystifying me more each time I listen to it, and of course, "In the Presence of Enemies", one of their best epics.