Album Artwork / Dream Theater 2 - Systematic Chaos

      Now I’ve wanted to give my two cents on album artwork for a while, and with this entry I will start posting it with each new review. Album artwork is easily one of the factors that convince me to obtain an album. If the artwork is random and appears to make no sense to the title, I tend to avoid the album a little more because it’s less appealing. Bands use this to sell their work as a book writer uses a cover to draw you to the book. If it’s not interesting it’s boring and not worth my time usually. What are your thoughts on this?

Band: Dream Theater

Genre: Progressive Metal

Album: Systematic Chaos

Tracks: 8 (7)

Album Artwork:

     As I mentioned in a previous review this album is by far my all time favorite in terms of well, everything. I enjoy EVERY single song in their entirety. Now what’s unusual is that when you scan my listed track count you’ll notice that the number (here) is smaller than the original and not larger… This is because of the two part epic and some consider it one song some consider it two. For the purpose of this review I will consider it as ONE song.

     Now the album opens up with the first part of the epic “In The Presence of Enemies” and I’m going to skip it for a little and speak first about track two “Forsaken.” “Forsaken” is a creepy track when it starts and man it’s a chill sender. The lyrics are FANTASTIC. Well done, the drums are crisp and the guitar just fits in so well I just love it. Track three “Constant Motion” is the song that made me ADDICTED to this group. The intro is crazy and it fits to the lyrical theme so very well. The solo is nuts, the piano is great the dual vocals are just amazing and Myung’s bass part is soooo nice. Track four is “The Dark Eternal Night” and the first few listens through I didn’t like it too much.  For a pretty light album a song this heavy was unexpected. But dang is it well executed. The piano ragtime seems really random though but it’s awesome sounding. Track five is “Repentance” and being part of the “AA Suite” as many have dubbed it, it’s quiet and if Alcohol has affected you or you have regrets you think about this song can be a large tear jerker. Track six is “Prophets Of War” and this song is another political one similar to “Sacrificed Sons” from Octavarium. I don’t like as much as the rest of the albums, but the lyrics are a mind jerker, depends on what you’re into.

     Track six is “The Ministry Of Lost Souls” which is my all time favorite Dream Theater song. It’s an astounding 14 minutes in length and is worth every listen. It’s an emotional masterpiece. I actually feel kind of sad when listening to it and it’s just riveting how nice the vocals are. You can imagine this song’s story in its entirety with some spots of questioning still open. It’s a shame that it never had a FULL LENGTH video made for it. I’d have LOVED it.

     Track(s) one/seven is the 23+ minute epic titled “In The Presence of Enemies” a song that I again wish they did a full song video for. You can do so much with the story telling in this song alone it’d phenomenal. The lyrics are dark, curious, and imaginative.  The song begins with a five minute instrumental section. This is unique and epically done. It’s so hard to discuss this song besides just explaining to you all how awesome and inviting it is. The best thing I can tell you is to actually LISTEN TO IT.

Overall: 10/10 Amazing in its entirety. Every song is good at one point and the like where if you like modern Progressive Metal you’ll ejaculate from how awesome this album is.

Recommendations: EVERY SINGLE SONG, EVERY PART OF EVERY SONG, EVERY SONG.

I'm also interested in having a fan insert their two cents and do a review with me sometime in the future. If you are interested post a comment below.

Album 3 / Dream Theater 1 Fever / Black Clouds And Silver Linings

Well I figure instead of two separate posts in one day I'll merge them into a large post.

Band: Bullet For My Valentine

Album: Fever

Release date: April 26^th 2010

Track count: 11 (12)

     Well, welcome to my first review where it’s an album I dislike. Now I loved Bullet before this album. I expected GREATNESS. But I sit here in amazement at how disappointing this album is. This is what happens when a band tries to experiment, its hit and miss, and in this case it’s a miss. Now they said in interviews that this was going to be a Hard Rock album, and according to a Wikipedia page (not reliable, but I want to cover it anyways) it says that they wanted to please themselves rather than the critics. Now I’m not sure if they were satisfied but it I know I’m not.

     Now with that out of the way, the first track “Your Betrayal” has one hell of an introduction. I mean WOW. It was good. But as the song progresses it starts to bore you and there is NO SOLO in the section where it could have been. Now I’m not an actual musician but that moaning ohhing part was just irritating. Interesting the first time, but the more I hear it the madder it makes me. Track two is the title track “Fever.” Now this track is one of the best songs on the album. It’s heavy like they always have been, but it also combines a great amount of hard rock into it. The lyrics are… Entertaining to me, but a woman may find them offensive. Track three is “The Last Fight” and it’s another good song, they did a music video and such and it’s more Rock than Metal. Good.  Now the next song is a softer song and it’s ok. Not a huge fan of them unless it’s an acoustic. But this is subjective to musical preference. Not dogging them for it. The next song, is disgusting and a mash of crap. The introduction words are bad the whole song is written badly it’s boring, I could go on for days.

     Now you might be asking yourself why at the track count it says “11 (12)” this is because if you preordered the album on Itunes, you got a bonus track titled “The Last Fight (Acoustic Version)” it’s a piano cover of track three and as usual it’s a great cover of their own work.

Overall: 5/10 A lot of the tracks are not good old Bullet I know and love. Now I’d suppose that you could add two to this score preference pending. But it’s not all bad. It’s hit and miss.

If you want to consider buying this album listen to: Fever, Your Betrayal, Pretty On The Outside and Pleasure and Pain. These are a good mix of my likes and dislikes.

If you’d like to read the Wikipedia page I pulled information from here is the link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fever_%28Bullet_for_My_Valentine_album%29

 Band: Dream Theater

Album: Black Clouds And Silver Linings

Release date: June 23, 2009

Track count: 6 (12)

     Why review this album with Fever? Well, I have no clue. I felt like it. Now, when this album came out I was PUMPED. I had recently discovered this band through Rockband's Download-able Content (DLC) for their song "Constant Motion" from Systematic Chaos (guess my next review anyone?) Now I waited a LONG time to get this, and it was WELL worth the wait. I got the collectors edition for my birthday and I proudly display all four CDs on my shelf.. Now the reason I mention all of this is because of the track count, and how it's six or twelve. Depending if you count the cover songs or not. Disc 1 is the actual album. Disc 2 is the cover songs. Disc 3 is the instrumentals for all the album songs. Disc 4 has each individual instrument broken down so that if you want to learn it you can isolate it.

     Now to the actual REVIEW. All the songs on this album are VERY LONG. First I'd like to mention: If you dislike songs any longer than 8 minutes: Don't even bother trying this album. You won't make it. The first song is a decimating 16: 11 long and it's easily the best song on the album. "A Nightmare To Remember" is a song that takes you into the mind of the lyric's author when he endured a near fatal car crash. The instruments are exciting, the lyrics are dark and inviting, the sound effects are awesome, the solos are works of art that are slightly overdone, and oh man amazing stuff.

     Track two is "A Rite Of Passage" and it's the second shortest song on this album at a little over eight minutes. This song is mysterious and just so great I have yet to make sense of the entire song, and honestly the crappy cut music video doesn't help much either. Track three is the shortest song on the album at a bit over five minutes and it's just a nice slower song, this is a song that you should get without the whole album if you prefer shorter works.
     Track four is an odd song and part of Portnoy's 12 Step Suite. Familiar melodies and lyrics and themes, but yet still adding new work to the table. Track five, I am not going to talk about because this one is very personal to Portnoy himself, and I don't want to bash it or the like. The final track is the longest song on this album and one of the best/worst. It's such a LONG song with a very amazing Continuum solo from Rudess and it makes e just relax. Great song for a 20 minute drive.

Overall: Personally I give this album a 9.5/10. For the average person it's about a 7/10 and for people who like short songs that are just singles 3/10.
Recommendations: All of the songs. In order. No stopping.

Now as a final note, I would like to point out my bias on Dream Theater, as they are easily my all time favorite band. I'd like to know which albums of theirs you know of and would like to see reviewed.

PS:Props to ANYONE who can name my all time favorite Dream Theater song. If someone can do this, I will post 7 reviews in one week. Hints: Systematic Chaos, Metropolis Pt. 2, Train of Thought and Awake / Images And Words.