As long as I could remember, I have been attracted to intelligent music. Whether it be as a young Guru listening to Ravi Shankar or just listening. The intricate patterns and rhythms create a feel that no other music can. Now when I was introduced to Dream Theater, I was also introduced to other similar bands such as Tool. A sensory overload if you will, but I did not let DT get cast into obscurity. Octavarium is a masterpiece of its time and so are the musicians! Jordan Rudess is a virtuoso, his connection to his instrument allows him to play simultaneously as he thinks, a technique gained by many years of experience. John Petrucci is a mastermind of guitar. His technical ability is milestones ahead of anything else I've seen. And the vocal range of James LaBrie is so astounding that he can incorporate operatic vocal structures to a heavy metal band. I see this band as an arch with five keystones. Together, their music is so incomprehensibly intricate and great that as you may see i have nowhere to start, so i'll start here.
The Astonishing
Concept albums are a tricky thing to do, you could try and fail like most do, or you could completely destroy it and make an album that is so great that it makes Guru get goosebumps. Well Dream Theater did the latter and that is no small feat. In preparation for the release of this album, I have been binge listening to Octavarium to have something to compare it to. Now that its out I realize that there is no comparison.
The plot line in my interpretation is a mix between 1984 and Siegfried (Die Nibelungen) imagine a futuristic kingdom in which it is dystopian. I do not wish to go into more detail, the interpretation is for you to decide.
Do I even have to talk about musicianship? Isn't it obvious that when DT releases an album, it will be leaps and bounds ahead of any other group in the industry? Well we all know how cool and melodic their songs can get, the diversity between songs (i.e "The X Aspect" vs. "A New Beginnings") It creates a great aura of the intended theme (Game Of Thrones-esque) The length of the album could be interpreted as too long (34 songs), but it's tied together so well that that shouldn't be an issue. All of the songs had a hook that interested me, it seems as if they have mastered the technique of writing good hooks. All and all, this album is simply Astonishing.
This album gets a Guru rating of 9.8 one of the highest ever awarded.
(This post was written by Guru on Grand Pooba's Ipad, Guru's laptop is not charged)
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