Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings

Genre metal Publisher Roadrunner Records External Links

Progressive metal juggernaut Dream Theater within their nature has always been an experimental band. Lately though,  since their 2003 album Train of Thought, they have elected to go in a much heavier direction. Their newest, Black Clouds & Silver Linings, is no exception. Whether that new direction is a good thing, however, is up for debate.

Black Clouds & Silver Linings is full of twists and turns. From the abstract artwork to the complex time signatures and an array of music styles this is very much a classic Dream Theater album—that is for the most part.

While their last album, Systematic Chaos, was a heavy album, it constituted the basic format of all previous Dream Theater albums. With the new album, Dream Theater may have stepped outside the bounds of their sound with the fist two tracks, “A Nightmare to Remember” and “Rite of Passage.” The former seems almost like a symphonic, dare I say, black metal song except with clean vocals. The keyboards are eerie and creepy like Dimmu Borgir or Emperor and guitarist Jon Petrucci’s guitar adds a heavy wall of sound to surround it. However, with that being said, the middle section is acoustic-oriented and emotional which helps tone down the intensity of the song.

“Rite of Passage,” on the other hand, along with its heavy riffs, is much of the same without a presence of keyboards. The problem more with this track, much like “The Dark Eternal Night” from Systematic Chaos is that the content seems too sinister for Dream Theater.

On the other hand of the coin, “Wither” is a mellow song and is placed perfectly in the center of the album. Dream Theater has done numerous ballads in the past, but the problem here is that it is not progressive and is remarkably, of a normal length much like “The Answer Lies Within” off Octavarium. It is a song of high emotional impact, is well written, but the music remains constant throughout without any sense of dynamics, which is not the style of Dream Theater.

The second half of the album is truly where the magic is. “The Shattered Fortress” finalizes the theme of past classics “Glass Prison”, “This Dying Soul”, “Root of all Evil” and “Repentance” did before it on previous albums, that is concluding the 12-step suite about drummer Mike Portnoy’s alcohol recovery. “The Best of Times” is an emotional and melodic cut about Portnoy’s relationship with his dad while “The Count of Tuscany”, in usual Dream Theater fashion is the monstrous epic closer, clocking in at close to 20 minutes.

The album as a whole is pretty damn good. The lyric writing is at its peak, taking from personal experiences (Portnoy) and storytelling techniques (Petrucci). Musically, Dream Theater is what they are, arguably the most talented group of musicians on the planet.

While personally I believe Dream Theater are getting just a tad too heavy for their britches with the subtle inclusion of yelling/spoken word vocals courtesy of Portnoy and Petrucci doesn’t work. James Labrie is a great vocalist and their added vocals seems to dumb down the songs. The only thing missing it seems from the mix is keyboardist Jordan Rudess’ piano instincts, apposed to him using the keyboard as an orchestra, because I feel going this route underutilizes his talents, unlike Systematic Chaos and Octavarium where his keyboard playing was more present.

Outside of the originals featured, Dream Theater, who are known for being very giving to their fans, included an additional disc of eclectic covers; these, much like their previous covers, are all fantastic listens. Dream Theater more so than most bands, seem perfectly capable to play an array of genres from classic rock in “Stargazer” by Rainbow, to classic prog in “Larks Tongues in Aspic Pt. 2” by King Crimson to metal in “To Tame a Land” by Iron Maiden. Regardless of your taste, there is something for everyone on the covers disc.

Overall, Black Clouds & Silver Linings is a very solid album. There are heavy songs, classic prog songs and almost all of them being epics with four out of the six being a total of 12 minutes or more, so if long songs are not your thing, this probably isn’t for you. However, if you like your prog long and heavy, that plays to your emotions then prepare to be taken on a musical journey.