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Dream Theater
Nothing kills a group like personnel changes and bad timing. With members entering and exiting it's hard for a group to build momentum much less develop their sound. And while timing may not be everything, it does count for a lot. It's easy to get blindsided by change. What was once thought "edgy" can quickly become disdainful. Dream Theater managed to survive both these pitfalls.
Portnoy and Myung hooked up at Boston's famous Berklee School of Music in '86. Their first effort was Majesty. This band made a series of demos that were sold locally. It was a good, if unremarkable start. Then their singer split and a new one was recruited. Before the dust settled, the group was informed that there was a Las Vegas based group also calling itself Majesty. Rather than get embroiled in a legal morass the group became Dream Theater, at the suggestion of Portnoy's father. The name came from a long gone California cinema. No conflicts there.
The group's debut "When Dream And Day Unite" came out on the Mechanic label. But like a lot of indies, Mechanic lacked the finances to properly distribute or promote Dream Theater. On top of that, Dream Theater fired their singer, Charlie Dominici, and held a series of auditions before finding LaBrie, who was in Canada, with the Glam Rock Winter Rose. Signed by ATCO Atlantic, Dream Theater released "Images And Words" in '92, which featured, "Pull Me Under." "Live At The Marquee" (the London club) rolled out the next year. It was after recording their "Awake" album in '94 that keyboardist Kevin Moore decided to leave so he could pursue solo interests. For the "Waking Up - The World" tour Derek Sherinian handled keyboards. After the tour Jordan Rudess, a long time friend, was asked to join but passed. After a series of fruitless auditions it was decided to retain Sherinian. With the completion of "Falling To Infinity," a planned double album paired down to a single disc, and the Touring Into Infinity world trek, Dream Theater decided to take a break with each member involved in an outside project. The most notable of these efforts was the Liquid Tension Project, which allowed Portnoy and Petrucci the opportunity to work with Rudess. "Once In A LIVEtime" was gleaned from a couple stops on the European leg of their last tour.
Finally, in '99, Rudess replaced Sherinian on keyboards and Dream Theater released "Scenes From A Memory," a mini-Rock opera clocking in at 77 minutes. "Metropolis 2000" came next. Here's the part about bad timing. A three disc live version of "Metropolis 2000," entitled "Live Scenes From New York" was released on 9/11/01. The front cover showed the New York skyline in flames on the very day it actually was in flames. The backlash was significant and the CD was given a different cover.
The 2 CD "Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence" was on shelves in '02 as the group embarked on yet another world tour. "Train Of Thought" arrived the following year. '05 saw the arrival of the eight song "Octavarium," the group's eighth album. Some symmetry working here.
Two years later, "Systematic Chaos," Dream Theater's first album on Roadrunner Records, dropped. Recorded in NY, the set featured "Constant Motion," "Prophets Of War" and "In The Presence Of Enemies, Pt. 2." The latter two tracks had backing vocals provided by fans (chants and that sort of thing). The album was co-produced by Portnoy and Petrucci and contained a handful of Portnoy penned songs referencing his experience with alcoholism.
Avenged Sevenfold's drummer, James "The Rev" Sullivan, passed away in late December, '09. The following February it was announced that Portnoy would work on the group's next album. "We asked Jimmy's all-time favorite drummer {Portnoy} to record on behalf of him," said an Avenged Sevenfold statement. "These guys are a true family and it is an incredibly emotional experience to be here with them for the first time without their lost brother," added Portnoy. "I am treating my participation on this album with the utmost respect for Jimmy's memory.
Punk Rockers don't come out of the Berklee School of Music. Students are trained in music theory, composition and harmony. Songs with only three chords and a couple stinging licks are practically unthinkable. Dream Theater fits in the Prog Rock category but with a proviso. Prog Rock is often used to define the pretentious, self-indulgent and overbearing music. Fortunately, Dream Theater generally avoids these maladies by incorporating a fair dose of Metal in their sound. Sure, those elegant solo runs and dramatic arrangements are there but so is the power, due in no small part to Petrucci's guitar and LaBrie's forceful yet expressive vocals.
"Images And Words" features their haunting breakthrough "Pull Me Under." But the set also contains "Another Day" which comes dangerously close to sounding like a Styx ballad. A better alternative is "Awake" with another excellent Rocker "Caught In A Web." "Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence" with the angry "War Inside My Head" featuring Rudess' staccato keyboards and "About To Crash" ("she never felt so alive") would be the next choice. "Falling To Infinity" containing "Burning My Soul" and "Just Let Me Breathe" is also a strong album. "Seasons Of Change" is interesting and entertaining as Dream Theater incorporates several classics ("Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding," "The Song Remains The Same," "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Carry On Wayward Son"). They do well with the covers and their own material holds its own.
Like most Progressive Rock groups, Dream Theater's mode of operation takes a riff then bludgeons it to death. Of course, they are neither the first nor the last to exhibit this tendency. "Octavarium" works best the further it gets from the group's Prog tendencies. The post-Grunge Rocker "Panic Attack" and "Never Enough" are prominent. But even those songs are blown away by the straight-ahead "I Walk Beside You." They play no-frills Rock and score with the album's best track. No surprise there.
Dream Theater fans vocally proclaim "Systematic Chaos" the group's best album of the decade - so far (that would be from '00 to '07). Well, as long as they're happy, guess that's all that really matters.
It seems a lot of the riffs on "Systematic Chaos" would easily work in Metal. Really, the only major differences are Metal is louder while the Prog bands play with more finesse. In Metal everyone is on-beat. Prog bands jump the beat as though each member is employing a different time signature (or they use less common signatures like 5/4 and 7/8 rather than 4/4). This creates an edgy, unsettling and sometimes compelling sound. No doubt, all this requires a lot of talent and skill. But playing a difficult riff/passage 32 times straight without making a mistake is really more an accomplishment of endurance (for the listener too) than of musical expression.
When not turning complex riffs inside out, "Systematic Chaos" is filled with aimless noodeling. Between the two, the frantic "In The Presence Of Enemies - Part 1" is preferred. "Constant Motion" is a searing song that doesn't waste time or energy while "Forsaken" is the ballad with "the big chorus."
Dream Theater has released a number of live albums and videos. In these settings they further embellish their songs. But there are also a lot of down points, namely overlong piano and drum solos that detract from the overall impact.