Dream Theater – Black Clouds & Silver Linings

Monday, June 29, 2009

Every genre has its defining bands. Heavy metal has Iron Maiden and Judas Priest; thrash metal is all about Megadeth and Metallica (though the latter could be debatable); death metal is Cannibal Corpse and Deicide territory; Emperor and Immortal are the evil lords of black metal. When it comes to the bombastic, dramatic spectacle that is progressive metal, one name rings clear every time: Dream Theater.

While they weren’t the pioneers of the genre, Dream Theater helped to revolutionize progressive metal and in effect, gained with it a large and devoted fan base, which has grown as the years have gone on. 2007’s Systematic Chaos landed in the Top 20 on the Billboard charts and was received with positive acclaim by fans and critics alike. The Long Island, NY prog gods have returned with their tenth studio album Black Clouds & Silver Linings. Comprised of only six tracks, with four of them clocking way past the ten-minute mark, Dream Theater has pushed the boundaries of their sound yet again. While signing to Roadrunner Records could have completely neutered their sound, the band has stuck to their guns, with only a sharper metal edge to their melodic roots.

There are the distracters who have scoffed at the band’s over-reliance on drawn-out instrumental sections that come across as self-indulgence and unnecessary. Black Clouds & Silver Linings shows that even with longer songs, everything sounds natural and organic. There are moments where a little restraint could have balanced the album out better, but by and large, the album flow smoothly and keeps the listener’s attention for the entire 75 minutes.

Epic is a word thrown around a lot in progressive metal, but 16-minute opener “A Nightmare To Remember” can definitely be labeled that with glowing pride. Dream Theater utilizes trade-off guitar/keyboard solos and frantic metal riffing, along with a few timely melodic sections. The only knock against the track is the woeful harsh vocals attempted by drummer Mike Portnoy, which are out-of-place and awkward in the context of the song.

Single “A Rite Of Passage” is a heavy beast, a spiritual successor to “As I Am” from 2003’s Train Of Thought, complete with a technically-sound bass intro and a wicked shredding solo from John Petrucci. The ballad “Wither” lacks the emotional impact of “The Spirit Carries On” or “Vacant,” but has its charms and is a dynamic contrast to the multi-faceted material.

The band kicks it into high gear in the second half with “The Shattered Fortress,” the last part of Portnoy’s Twelve-Step Suite, or AA Suite, which dealt with the musician’s battle with alcoholism and eventually recovery from it. Started on 2002’s Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence with “The Glass Prison,” each album since then has had one song that continued the suite. For non-fans, “The Shattered Fortress” may seem like a jumbled mess, as melodies and lyrics from all the past songs are utilized. This is a song that is meant with the fans in mind, a solid wrap-up to those that have followed the suite since the very beginning.

“The Best Of Times” and “The Count Of Tuscany” end the album with two extended compositions that together make up over 30 minutes of the running length. The former is a heartbreaking tale about Portnoy’s recently-deceased father, destined to be a future classic for the band. The three-minute long piano/acoustic guitar/violin opening is the poignant moment on Black Holes & Silver Linings, with Petrucci’s solo in the final minutes ranking as one of the best of his career. The latter is a little on the long side, but has several stand-out sections, including some fantastic acoustic work and well-timed drum fills.

Most fans break Dream Theater’s history up into three parts, based on the keyboardist that was with the band at the time. While Black Clouds & Silver Linings doesn’t compare to anything from the Kevin Moore period (When Dream & Day Unite-Awake), it is one of the band’s most consistent albums since Scenes From A Memory. The band is still at the top of their game at their respective instruments, and James LaBrie hasn’t sounded this strong vocally since Awake. Long-time fans who have been hesitant of the band’s output since Jordan Rudess was recruited into the band will find nothing to really draw them back in, but any newer fans to the band, and those who have supported them since the beginning, through the ups-and-downs, will find a labor of love in Black Clouds & Silver Linings.

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