Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos review
| Band: | Dream Theater |
| Album: | Systematic Chaos |
| Style: | Progressive metal |
| Release date: | June 2007 |
Disc I
01. In The Presence Of Enemies - Part I
1 - Prelude
2 - Resurrection
02. Forsaken
03. Constant Motion
04. The Dark Eternal Night
05. Repentance
1 - VIII. Regret
2 - IX. Restitution
06. Prophets Of War
07. The Ministry Of Lost Souls
08. In The Presence Of Enemies - Part II
1 - Heretic
2 - The Slaughter Of The Damned
3 - The Reckoning
4 - Salvation
Disc II [special edition DVD]
+ The Entire Album Mixed In 5.1 Surround Sound
+ Chaos In Progress - The Making of Systematic Chaos
In this decade, every Dream Theater release has been a huge question mark. Some fans loved them, some fans completely turned away from the New York combo. Ever since 2002's "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence", the band that influenced, and continues to influence so many other bands, has been trying to create something different. And while this album won't probably avoid the same fate of being criticized down to the last detail, it is in my opinion their best effort since 1999. "Systematic Chaos" actually reminds me a lot of "Awake", harboring the same consistency within the songs and a similar dark and aggressive atmosphere.
Of course, the opener is a classic Dream Theater of late, with borderline annoying keyboards all the way throughout, but the strength of this album is yet to come. The guys each brought back a lot from their solo career on this one. While James Labrie's solo album influences on the band can clearly be heard on a track like 'Forsaken', the guitar solo on 'Constant Motion' is a clue that John Petrucci spent most of his time on the G3 tour with fellow guitarist Joe Satriani.
The anchors of this album are definitely 'Constant Motion' and 'Prophets of War', which are sure to be stage favorites on the upcoming tour. Overall, the song structures are a lot catchier than what they released lately. Don't be surprised if you start humming the choruses of those songs in the middle of the day.
Dream Theater finally came partially back to reason with "Systematic Chaos". While their latest musical direction left me cold and wondering, this album breaches the gap between their new material and their glorious anthems from the past. It may not change your mind about the band, but if any of their recent albums will, this should be the one. Obviously, if you like "Train of Though" and "Octavarium", you won't be disappointed one bit. It will be interesting to see what comes next from Dream Theater. That is after they release their usual post-studio 12 live CDs/DVDs.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 10 |
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Written on 08.07.2007 by
Bringing you reviews of quality music and interesting questions such as: "A picture is worth a thousand words. How many words is a song worth?" I have only got so much patience and skills, you do the math. |
Rating:
8.0
8.0
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Rating: 8.0 |
Here we have the long anticipated ninth release of Dream Theater, 'Systematic Chaos'. I have seen first hand that this album has caused some commotion, as well as some controversy in their fan base. One thing is for sure though, this is better than 'Octavarium'. It definitely pulls some feel from 'Train Of Thought' retaining very few elements from their previous release. Read more ›› |
Rating:
8.4
8.4
|
Rating: 8.4 |
With every album in the "new era" of Dream Theater, the band has tried to do something new. "Six Degrees" was experimenting with extreme track lengths, "Train of Thought" was written in three weeks and shows the extreme discipline in the studio. "Octavarium" might be one of the most thought-through albums ever with every track in a new key, all the connections to the number eight and so on. But "Systematic Chaos" is just a more or less ordinary album in their discography, but that doesn't mean it should be despised. I guess Dream Theater will never let me down. Read more ›› |
Comments
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Comments: 44
Visited by: 154 users
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| Spyroid Rosetta Stoned Posts: 1023  |
I think it seems pretty promising of what I've read from other reviews. But the only song I've heard is Constant Montion and I found it really bad. So if that's one of the best songs, I guess I shouldn't waste my money.
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| Grey_Dandelion Posts: 131  |
Written by Spyroid on 08.07.2007 at 22:56 i think costant motion is probably the worst song
---- Don't turn away just take my hand and when you make your final stand i ll be right there i ll never leave all i ask of you is believe...
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| Baz Anderson Staff Posts: 13237  |
the first time I heard this album I was bored to death!!! really.. just.. really bad album but then I saw them live at Hellfest and they really impressed me again - so I gave this album another chance.. and still didn't find it anywhere near as good as this review makes out.. but still.. maybe it will grow on me anyway.. maybe I just need to give it some more chances.. I would like to like it!!!
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| Dream Taster The Enemy Within Staff Posts: 1335  |
I did not like it at first either, but this one is a definite grower. That's why it took so long to come up with a review. For the longest time, I could not even determine if I liked it or not. I guess I should have mentioned that in my review.
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| Aylee_Bodom ¬¬ Posts: 211  |
Yah I don't like this album very much either...too much experimentation I think >.<
---- *All Blood Runs The Same*
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| Warman Erotic Stains Posts: 7695  |
Damn catchy album! I love it and still it's not as good as the other (LaBrie) albums.
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| Baz Anderson Staff Posts: 13237 |
Written by Dream Taster on 08.07.2007 at 23:35 aaah, thats a good sign then.. I think it has the potential for me to like it but with some effort.. hahaha I will give it some more goes soon and hopefully I will like it in the end as well 
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| Dexter_prog Posts: 16 |
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| BORT Posts: 98 |
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| Bitch Boy Posts: 1353  |
Obviously this one isn't as good as some DT classic albums but I think it's a good album anyway. I liked the review, it's very objective and doesn't bash the album for being "the latest album" as lots of people do with almost every latest album from almost every band.
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| Passenger Lost To Apathy Posts: 1464  |
I planned on writting a review for this album, don't know if I will now. In any case, well said, I'd actually even rate this album higher, it has definitely been one of the highlights of the year for me, and I really think it's one of Dream Theater's best, but, then again, I also liked Train Of Thought. I think people don't really want to accept this more straight forward sound of theirs from the start, and will always end up underrating these 2 albums, which is a shame, this, for me, is the best variation of Progressive Metal there is. 9/10
---- You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home. The rest is bullshit and you know it ~ Mean Streets
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| blackthor Posts: 128  |
Best Dream Theater album so far in my opinion, i know that after saying this sentence i will be cursed  , but i don't give a damn. An incredible album very dynamic, excellent orchestration, drums are over the top, and James vocals are darker than ever. It's obvious that James is keeping his voice under a strict control and he is not using his entire vocal pallet but i think that he is doing a great job.A step forward for Dream Theater. Definitely 10 for this album, the album of the year for me in the progressive section. To understand this album you need just a little patience, give it a full spin, don't try to listen just a song or two because you are far from making an impression this way.
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| BlankFile Posts: 687 |
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| Arian Totalis The Philosopher Posts: 3351  |
That was a good review, I enjoyed it. Unfortunatly I don't yet have this album. I liked Constant motion and The Dark Eternal Night. I need to get this bitch ASAP.
---- "For the Coward there is no Life For the hero there is No Death" -Kakita Toshimoko "The Philosopher, you know so much about nothing at all." _Chuck Schuldiner.
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| BloodTears ANA-thema Elite Posts: 11835  |
My favourite song of the album is "In The Presence Of Enemies (Part 2)", I much prefer this approach to lyrics and songs. I think it is a good album, on the same level of other DT releases as "train of thought" and "falling into infinity" I would say. I would prefer instead releases on the level of "images and words", "awake" and "metropolis II" but I dont see that happening. It could be much worse. It is a good album not an excellent album in my opinion. I have been listening to it for quite a while now and I think DT can still write successful songs, good songs, and after so much time that is remarkable.
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| caffeinehead Posts: 12 |
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| Spyroid Rosetta Stoned Posts: 1023 |
Written by Guest on 09.07.2007 at 21:20 Good point about the lyrics, I agree! But common - Dark Eternal Night has like the worst lyrics ever.
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| Omni Account deleted |
Omni
Account deleted Written by Spyroid on 07.01.2008 at 16:34 True, but I'd rather hear them sing about "horrible monsters" than stem cell research (The Great Debate). 
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| Spyroid Rosetta Stoned Posts: 1023 |
Written by Guest on 07.01.2008 at 22:49 I totally cope with you on that, the lyrics to The Great Debate is just annoying as hell. Still, if they want to sing about horrible monsters and vampires or whatever they could atleast make some good lyrics about that topic. Dark Eternal Night is not even well written IMO 
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| Dreamwar_86 To Arms! Posts: 480  |
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| MetalMac Posts: 23  |
yet another great album from the band we all dream about. great production aswell. sounds like metallica. -MetalMac
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| BloodTears ANA-thema Elite Posts: 11835 |
Written by MetalMac on 16.01.2008 at 04:39 sounds like metallica? what do you mean?
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| Warman Erotic Stains Posts: 7695 |
Written by BloodTears on 17.01.2008 at 14:26 I actually agree, the verse for Constant Motion sounds like Metallica. But just that part... not the whole album.
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