Metal Reviews

I was not impressed with this Cd at all. I felt that they're just regurgitating prior ideas and it would seem that they're hitting a creative wall...literally.

Train Of Thought and Octavarium were both superior to this one. I agree that they need to get back to their own identity. I've heard people describe DT as uber talented musicians who use the band as a means to just wank off on their instruments because they can. I never believed it until I listened to Systematic Chaos.

I have really lost interest in DT with each album they are getting more like everyone else and less original. Octavarium didn't do much for me and even though I prefer the latest I got sick of it pretty quick. Even the whole fans chanting words like "Fight" etc. thing didn't Machine Head do something very similar with their latest that was out earlier this year.
Originality is something that music and movies are suffering a severe lack of.

They also need to stop piddling around in those endless side-projects.

...is this sarcasm or something? This CD has plenty of wankery.

Anyways, yeah, this one gets old pretty fast. "The Dark Eternal Night" is pretty killer, but the rest is forgettable.

But it's not _exciting_ wankery.

the album struck me as an abomination of blatant idol worship and dull showing off.

It's interesting to see the comments get gradually more negative as the thread goes on! Most DT albums seem to fall out of favour with the fans after a few months or so. I still like the album, but I'll admit that The Ministry Of Lost Souls goes on for seven minutes (!) too long.

I'm one of the few who loved Octavarium. I still do to this very day. Sure, they rip off a Muse song, but it sounds good. The Muse rip off in Systematic Chaos sounds bad. Real bad. I can't ever get past the intro without cringing at LaBrie's gay-ass vocals. And I've NEVER cringed at LaBrie's vocals.

What's strange is, most of Octavarium's haters seem to love Systematic Chaos. In my opinion, they have less balls than their favored album does.

I like both. I think they both represent different sides of DT very well.

Indeed. But I'm not sure if I want to hear the "Systematic" side of DT again.

I'm one of the few that really loves Falling Into Infinity. I still listen to that one at least twice a month. In fact the only DT release that I don't find myself going back to at all is Awake.

Falling Into Infinity doesn't get enough love. :[

I think its a pretty good album, songs are topnotch for the most part. The production bugs me in places though. Awake is still my favorite DT album.

Systematic Chaos is a really awesome album still IMO, months after I got it and I still listen to it often and love it (I still dont like Repentance though). Octavarium however I just got bored of. of the 8 songs on it, 4 are good, one of them being the title track, which makes more good than bad and I still listen to the half of the album I like, but as a whole I havent listened to it properly in over a year.

All the songs are good, but it just doesn't feel like a DT album, apart from Lines In The Sand. Still, people forget that parts of Awake sound like there was record company intervention (general shorter song length, and all of Innocence Faded). I still like it though.

I don't think there was any record company "intervention" on Awake. I think the guys themselves decided to keep the lengths of songs shorter. Cause if you hadn't noticed, there are a lot more songs on Awake than on Images and Words.

Or maybe I'm full of shit.

I bought It when it came out, and have still only listened to Constant Motion and The Dark Eternal lightfrom the album, those songs are decent enough. I don't expect Dream Theater to ever sound like they used to, like Rush. It's a sign of being a great evolving musician.

why is it no one likes guitar shredding? What is wrong with wankery!?

There is nothing wrong wih shredding... the thing bothering me the most, is that it does not fit in with the music, and that it sounds quite the same on every song of this album. the passion is nearly gone, which sucks. compare a song with shredding solos on this album, and on Images & Words, and you'll se what i mean.

DT = booooooooooooring !

I agree with Aleksie as far as the vocals of James LaBrie . He does seem to be holding back. His voice doesn't sound as polished and he does not use as much vibrato on the vocals as he has on past albums. Over all this album is much more aggressive and his vocals have been become somewhat adaptable in order to fit this aggressive approach. The opening track is phenomenal! Great keyboard runs and guitar riffs as well as inhuman drumming!

I just bought the special edition version with the making of Systematic Chaos DVD. Pretty cool behind the scenes stuff and great insight as to what these guys put into this album. One of the best releases of 2007 for sure!