Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos review
| Band: | Dream Theater |
| Album: | Systematic Chaos |
| Style: | Progressive metal |
| Release date: | June 05, 2007 |
| A review by: | Dream Taster |
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
|
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 ›› |
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Comments: 44
Visited by: 155 users
| BloodTears ANA-thema Elite Posts: 11835  |
Written by Warman on 17.01.2008 at 16:07 u mean musically? the riff is it?
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| Warman Erotic Stains Posts: 7695  |
Written by BloodTears on 17.01.2008 at 16:10 Well... the verse... it just sounds like Metallica  That was the first thing I thought about when I heard the song and the first thing my friend said when he heard the song was: "That sound like Metallica". When the song first appeared on youtube there was a lot of comments like that too.
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| BloodTears ANA-thema Elite Posts: 11835 |
Written by Warman on 17.01.2008 at 16:13 Oh I never made that connection.
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| Evil Chip Posts: 505  |
Good album it reminds me a lot of awake. In the presence of enemies has become one of my favourites track of dream theater along with acos and octavarium. This album is more balanced like octavarium but still more orientated to the heavy stuff. Like they always says: Dream Theater is about heavy metal, progressive and mellow music. I just saw them in Chile they were awesome live, they made a great animation of the dark eternal night in wich every member has super powers. Highlights: In The Presence Of Enemies Pt1 and Pt2, The Dark Eternal Night, Repentance and Forsaken.
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| JayEstonio Account deleted |
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| IronBlackZepp Posts: 180  |
I love all of DT's albums, some peope say that this decade of DT is bad, that is not true. Six Degree's of Inner Turbulence, Train of Thought, and Octivarium are all great albums. Then comes The Systematic Chaos, I love the album. It is so underrated for being such a great album. In the presence of our enemies is with out a doubt one of DT's best, every bit as good as anything DT has released.
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| RockeRoy Posts: 641  |
I think this is an amaizing album, and whats up with all the negatvity in the reviews and then give the album an 8. 8 is pretty damn good.
---- You found god? If nobody claims him in thirty days, he's yours Walk with me in hell
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| FrozenJoy Posts: 60 |
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| BlankFile Posts: 706 |
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| Robdog Posts: 167  |
Written by [user id=337] on 08.07.2007 at 22:50 Well you know what, The sound of Dave Mustaine's voice sucks on every Megadeth album, he has that whiney, passive aggressive, try-hard sound but Megadeth is still great altogether. Right, now listen here, DT fans of old are living in the past and hoping for a reprise of Images and Words to satisfy their love for sing-a-long's. Whilst in the meantime DT have evolved, addressing those who previously cared less for them to turn around and now appreciate their latter material which has matured progressive compositions and a more focused direction in songwriting.
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| Robdog Posts: 167 |
Written by Bsquared on 14.09.2007 at 18:56 Well, you've had plenty of time to think about it now so tell us what do you think of it? Is it a yay or a nay?
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| John_Doe Posts: 5209  |
Written by Robdog on 22.12.2021 at 15:47 why are you quoting such an old post, from a user that is not active anymore? You are not, obviously, going to get any feedback. I am a DT fan of old, but I've never wanted another I & W, in fact I was happy when DT were trying new things with every new album, but that only happened up to Octavarium. Starting with SC, they became a bit predictable.
---- I thought the two primary purposes for the internet were cat memes and overreactions.
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| Robdog Posts: 167 |
Written by John_Doe on 22.12.2021 at 16:13 Oh, I didn't see that, talking to a brick wall then. I usually shuffle DT's discography (except for Astonishing, ACOS, WDADU and FII). And as it happens, I come across some really boring tracks of which, mind you, are coming from everybody's "take to the grave albums". So, I've decided to listen to each of these albums individually and carefully, that I may decide whether or not to remove such albums from my collection. So far I'm considering to remove Awake, Metropolis 2, ADTOE and DT, crazy right? The trouble I find now is that the good tracks are enough to balance out the boring tracks. I had the same problem with Ayreon.
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| John_Doe Posts: 5209 |
Written by Robdog on 22.12.2021 at 16:30 ok, listen to those albums and get back with some feedback. I never shuffle DT, I listen to each album when I'm in the mood. Awake is my favorite DT album. Systematic Chaos is one of my least favorites, such a show off of an album, a bit of a chore to listen to.
---- I thought the two primary purposes for the internet were cat memes and overreactions.
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