Dream Theater
Octavarium (2005)

What a great way to celebrate Dream Theater’s 20th year with an album that suggests the band is still going strong and still offering progressive rock fans more creativity than the simple mind (mine for example) could ever imagine. The album explodes into action with The Root of all Evil, which comes close to being one of my favourite song on the album. The third and final song to finalise the trilogy; The Glass Prison and This Dying Soul being the first two. Throughout the album we definitely hear a much heavier approach to song writing but with a more melodic feel, which can be compared to albums pre-Train of Thought. They’ve thrown in the usual light hearted ballad-type classic, which is a trademark of most Dream Theater albums. But to come crashing back into action with these Walls, which can only be described as pure metal, with a drop down to C. There have been comments made that ‘I Walk Beside You' sounds very similar to U2, and I must admit, I personally think they’re right. It does have hints but obviously over shadowed by the Dream Theater style that I’ve grown to love. I think the first song I have ever heard which brings back the horrific occurrence that is the collapse of the Twin Towers, is Sacrificed Sons. Powerful lyrics accompany an excellent song that still leaves the hairs on your neck standing to attention.

I’ve skipped out a few songs because basically, the songs are what you expect from Dream Theater, they’re massive. Not massive in a size way, massive in a, they put music in its place kind of way. So you can expect there to be qualities in each song, and its best to just listen, with lots of volume and enjoy!

I would like to mention the 25 minute epic that is Octavarium. Easily standing at being one of my favourite songs, it is pure genius. It has multiple layers and dimensions to it, with an aggressive tempo, to finish in the best possible way I could ask for from an album.

Keep it up!


+ Review by Phil

[Back To Albums]