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Dream Theater: A dramatic turn of events

28/09/11 || Smalley

“Wait Smalley, why are you reviewing the new Dream Theater? You don’t like them, and I thought you already had your say on them beforehand?” Well, that was my say on one of their albums, and while I acted like “Awake” represented all there was to hear in Dream Theater, “A dramatic turn of events” kind of surprises me with how not-boring some of the material is. Some of the material, I stress; there’s still stuff here that bores me as expected, so it won’t turn you into a Dream Theater convert if you already hate ‘em, but you still might enjoy a little of this album, and I’m sure the DT fans will enjoy it, so they should be interested in this review. Whatever, I generally automatically like to cover current-year albums anyway, whether I love ‘em or not; it makes me seem more relevant as a staffer (when I’m not), and there’s plenty new metal this Fall I still want to tackle, so let’s do this thang already.

First, the elephant in the room here is how “events” is the first Dream Theater album without drummer/founding member/major songwriter Mike Portnoy aboard; if you ask me, it was a douche-y move for the rest of the band not to slow down the DT Train Of Not a little to give him him a break from their record ‘n tour cycle for the first time in almost 20 years, but alas, here we are 2 years later with another album nonetheless, with Mike Mangini attempting to fill Portnoy’s formidable kit. But douche-y or not, perhaps that decision was best for Dream Theater’s music (if not their public image) in the end, since I hear an improvement in the songwriting on “events”, corresponding to a major songwriter’s exit from the band, and while correlation ain’t necessarily causation, that doesn’t mean it’s not in this case.

As for the actual songs, lead single “On the backs of angels” starts out with a space-y, kind of Opeth-y, acoustic-spiced intro before transitioning to a section with angelic choral vocals, living up to the epicness hinted at by that awesome album cover. The riffing immediately after that has more bite than I’ve come to expect from Dream Theater, but unfortunately, we then get the mandatory wanking-with-video-game-keyboards sections spaced throughout the song, which I fuckin’ hate. Besides that though, “angels” is actually a pretty compelling track, with not-that-much songwriting fat, and Mike Mangina puts in the expectedly complex drum performance; I don’t know if I’d say he’s better than Wartnoy, as I’ve never payed enough attention to his work to know, but I’m definitely impressed by the new guy.

Don’t you just love it when the replacement member doesn’t suck, so it’s not another Blaze-replacing-Dickinson style situation? Unfortunately, “Build me up, break me down” starts off with some nu-metal-y, cyberpunk-y, wannabe-hardcore electronic effects & riffs that sound like they came off the Mortal Kombat score & soundtrack, respectively. Things don’t get any better when the first verse starts with annoying vocal distortions for James LaBrie (vocal distortions in general suck, metal bands need ta stop using ‘em). Speaking of LaBrie, he sounds the same as ever on this album, so if you hated him before, you still will, and if you’re able to tolerate him, you should be fine, so there’s that. Anyway, “Build me up”‘s chorus is better, but the song still falls short of the relative promise heard on “On the backs of angels”. Letdown.

“Lost not forgotten” starts off well with some high-class piano work and more choral vocals, but eventually fucks that up with an absolute clusterfuck of aimless, pointless guitar wanking that sounds like it was played by a gay Muhammed Suiçmez . The rest of the song is better (at least the parts that aren’t instrument-wanking), but that horrible part still leaves behind a sour taste for the remainder. “This is the life” is much better, with pretty acoustic guitars/piano, quiet, intimate sections where LaBrie’s vocals actually kind of sound good for once, and more cool choral vocals. Very nice stuff.

Alright, let’s sum up the rest ‘cause this is starting to go on too long; again, “Bridges in the sky” has a good start, but fucks it up with down-tuned, nu metal-y riffing, “Outcry” is an epic cut with some needless instrumental tomfoolery bringing it down some, “Far from heaven” is a pleasant, pleasantly short ballad, “Breaking all illusions” is a nice, old-school prog-y epic, and “Beneath the surface” is another nice ballad in the vein of “Far from heaven”, with more surprisingly-good vocals from James La O.G. There, now it’s all summed up.

Despite the song lengths being about the same here, there still feels like there’s somewhat less fat than before, which is good, because that’s a big part of the reason why I never became not a DT fan. So, there’s some improved songwriting here, along with a new style for the vocals (Jimmy should start singing like this all the time). All in all, I can’t say I like “A dramatic turn of events” just a whole lot, since I still don’t click with Penis Theater’s stylings all that much, but I can’t deny this was more interesting than most of their shit, so it’s still kind of a pleasant surprise. And I know if you’re a fan, you will like this, so you have my blessing to go enjoy it already. Which you do need, considering the fact that you like fucken Dream Theater. See? I haven’t gone soft on y’all.

Information
Released: 2011
Label: Roadrunner
Website: www.dreamtheater.net
Band
James LaBrie: vocals
John Petrucci: guitars, backing vocals
John Myung: bass
Jordan Rudess: keyboards
Mike Mangini: drums

Tracklist
01. On The Backs Of Angels
02. Build Me Up, Break Me Down
03. Lost Not Forgotten
04. This Is The Life
05. Bridges In The Sky
06. Outcry
07. Far From Heaven
08. Breaking All Illusions
09. Beneath The Surface

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