Metal Reviews

I am sure there will be many people steamed up about the low score for this D/T release, firing up there keyboards in defense and disgust of the said review....

Me I could never stomach D/T , there good but there not my kind of metal, If i am having trouble sleeping at night I just put one of there Cd,s in the player.

Indifferent may be the perfect word to describe this album, not to mention Dream Theater's sound and career at this point. The album is, in my opinion, better than Train of Thoughts and in that case it's an improvement. But...
...about a month ago I recieved Shaman - Ritual, Labyrinth - Freeman and Shadow Gallery - Room V, and Octavarium just doesn't hold a candle to those albums. Some songs are fast, but there's no energy nor potency, some songs are calm ballads, but there's no feeling. It just sounds tired. An exception being "I walk beside you", a good song.

If I want to listen to Dream Theater, I'll put Angra's Temple of Shadows in my CD-player.

I don't get it

After a few listens it really grew on me. I could easily give it a 85-90 score. 8)

Just to point out.

The 75 is not a low score. If you check the score brackets you will see that this is ranked in the "very good" category which is what I feel this album is. Based on the three songs that I mentioned that clock in at almost half the album and that the rest of the songs are average (but for DT average is still above most bands) is why I gave this album a 75. A very good album that has its flaws but is still enjoyable.

a good album not their best, i was expecting something better (mostly more solos) specially since i heard john's solo album(very good album by the way) i guess he saved all the good guitar solos for himself :-)
in the song "these walls" i always kinda hope a nice instrumental part (a la DT) will kick in at the end ahh well maybe in a live version who knows...

Good score the album is very up and down IMO not one of their best too much heard it before there are some very good tracks but not enough.

I dont either, Angra and Dream Theater are 2 different bands.

I think he means that they sound a lot alike, which they do.

I completely disagree with that, but I guess people hear things in different ways.

Just to point.

The score brackets don't mean shit. Album scores are used to compare albums. I'm not saying that's the way it should be but it's the way it is. So when Billy Idol and other albums of much lower quality than this get higher scores nobody gives a fuck about the score brackets.

Yeah i agree about the scores theory, scores are overrated, i personally think is a pretty good album, certaintly better then theyre last 2 efforts. But then again im a prog metal fan and i know what to expect from these types of albums. As for Angra over Dt, well is preference, but ive never liked Angra, apart from some Brazilian influences in theyre music, is prototypical power metal, nothing about them attracts me to theyre music and i didnt like theyre last album either.

I think that the reviewer gave a fair score for this CD. I am a huge Dream Theater fan and have been since 1992. I gave a score of 77 because any Dream Theater CD is going to be good compared to most music out there. I would of given it a higher rating if the CD did not have the cheese factor song "The Answer Lies Within". Yes, James does sound good, but the song lacks emotion and does not even compare with previous slower numbers such as Another Day, Surrounded, Silent Man, Hollow Years, Take Away The Pain, and Anna Lee. The other song that I also think makes the CD weak is "I Walk Beside You". Sounds too much like newer U2. The rest of the CD is very good and does get better with every listen. I was a bit disappointed when I first listened too this CD. I turned off my DT expectations and now :? actually like the CD. Petucci does not play very many solos and Rudess takes over in this department. I would of liked to hear more guitar solos even if they were not shredding in nature like on ToT.

It has many similarities with earlier Dream Theater (like Images & Words and Awake), moreso I think than the latest two DT albums. It was meant as a semi-joke as they are obviously not the same band, but if I wanted to listen to something in the vein of early DT, or if someone who liked I&W would ask for recommendations I would sooner recommend Temple of Shadows than Octavarium or Train of Thoughts.

Yeah I would recomend Temple of Shadows over any album this year. That for me is the album of the year.

Except Temple of Shadows was last year.

Dream Theater has forgotten a major element in composition in recent releases, that being dynamics in melodic structure. They've off'ed the composition element and replaced it with cheap generic and boring pop sounding chord progressions.

Where are the melodic interludes and key changes and off tempo playing and all the sounds that made dream theater great?

(I guess they focused all their energy on the title track, because that one retains DT structure)



Most of this album is just boring and uninspired sounding to me.

Yeah well I picked mine up in Feb.

Temple Of Shadows was best cd of 2004 , The Black Halo is best so far in 2005 IMO.

Ive now listened to the album many times and my opinion is that it is a great album. As I said before, I miss guitar solos in some songs, maybe The Answer Lies Within would sound nicer with a kickass guitar solo. But the song is good in anyways.
I love the instrumental interlude in Sacrificed Sons.