Dream Theater's "Dream Theater" Review

In an industry where legendary feuds and destructive break-ups are the rule rather than the exception, it's reassuring to see a band like Dream Theater still relatively intact after nearly thirty years of toruing and recording. The band's history is definitely an abnormality in the age of instantly-created pop stars and Youtube sensations – from taking two years to find the right vocalist after firing their first one following the completion of their first album, to the recording of their landmark Images and Words three years after the release of their debut album, the revolving-door history of their keyboard players (the current one, Jordan Rudess, is the third), to the most significant event in the band's history since the addition of James LaBrie in 1991 – the departure of founding member, drummer, and songwriter Mike Portnoy in 2010. It's fitting, then, that the band chose this year to release a self-titled album to mark their time together, celebrate their career so far, and (hopefully) silence any naysayers who have doubts about the band's future in these uncertain times.

With all of this turbulent history, it makes the band's massive legacy and acclaim even more impressive. Dream Theater is a progressive rock band that managed to swim against the current of alternative and grunge rock in the early nineties with their own special blend of highly technical instrumentality, their ear for hooky riffs, and their unquenchable thirst to continually push their limits. Having any kind of success as a progressive rock band after Nirvana's Nevermind seemed like a long shot at best – but not only did their 1992 album Images and Words gain them significant critical praise, they only attracted more attention as they honed their unique prog formula down the years – no small part owed to their legendary reputation in concert: their shows regularly reach the three hour mark, with no intermission and no opening act, and they're probably the most heavily bootlegged band in recent history thanks to their penchant for performing a rotating set list crafted to ensure as few repeats as possible during the tour and a habit of surprising fans with spectacular covers and goofs – anything from randomly playing the theme to “The Simpsons” mid-song to diving into renditions of Elton John and Metallica songs without warning. Nowadays, they're considered giants who forged a new genre of music imaginatively dubbed “progressive metal” and have inspired countless bands with their unabashed love for obscure time signatures, intricate (sometimes purposely so) instrumental passages, and poetic lyrics.

And does Dream Theater live up to this challenge? Well, yes and no. Any fans expecting a radically different sonic experience stemming from the addition of replacement drummer Mike Mangini (formerly of Annihilator and Extreme among others) will be disappointed. While Mangini and Portnoy undoubtedly have very different techniques and habits, the percussion here sounds eerily similar to what we've come to expect from the band, and much credit is due to the band as a whole for integrating Mangini into their sound so deftly. As a whole it is a bit lower key than previous albums, but anyone worried about Mangini's placement into the band's greater sonic picture will be reassured by this record.

As for the songs themselves? Well, this is still a Dream Theater album. While the opening numbers “False Awakening Suite” and “The Enemy Inside” make for a promising start, the mid-tempo “The Bigger Picture” abruptly ends any fond memories of righteous headbanging by upping the Rush influence to “obvious to someone who doesn't even listen to Rush” levels. This template is repeated for the remainder of the album until the final track, the twenty-two minute epic “ Illumination Theory”. One of Dream Theater's longest endeavors, the track lacks the cohesiveness of past long-players like “Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence” and “A Change of Seasons” - rather than consist of a series of shorter songs sharing a single thread (like the former) or follow a single long-winded theme (like the latter) it just feels patched together. Periods of total silence or lightly ambient instrumental sections jarringly give way to LaBrie's vocals, which are unremarkable on this record. It's surprising, given a band of Dream Theater's ability, that so many of these songs are so consistently tame – you would think with increasing influence from both old-school icons like Rush and younger, fresher talent like Bring Me the Horizon (LaBrie has admitted to being a fan of newer hardcore bands, unlike most of his bandmates) that each track would be memorable or distinctive in some way. That isn't the case here though, with “The Looking Glass”, “Behind the Veil”, and “Surrender to Reason” all blending into one another – and not in a good “they're all part of a suite” way, either. “Enigma Machine” deserves special mention as the first instrumental track since 2003's Train of Thought and is one of the highlights of the album.

The rest of the band sounds fine, although considering each member's prodigious musical talents, “fine” for Dream Theater is more advanced than most bands will ever dare to attempt. John Petrucci's guitar playing is certainly mind boggling, but after nearly thirty years it's no longer as interesting as it once was. The same can be said for Jordan Rudess' keyboard work – this time opting for a more subdued performance unlike his more explosive past efforts. The bass guitar is quiet, as is the way for most metal albums – an unfortunate genre cliché that really should be reversed.

Dream Theater is a strange record. While it has been proclaimed as a “musical re-invention” by the band, the material here is some of the most vanilla and toothless they've ever put out. Everyone slows down with age, and Dream Theater certainly aren't in their twenties anymore. With the amount of talent they possess, they could do anything musically – and if they want to slow things down, that's fine. That's ultimately the best and worst aspect of this album – it checks all the boxes that Dream Theater albums have always checked, but without much new ground broken. It could be argued that they've already broken so much ground that they've barely got any left to stand on – and no band is more deserving of a break than this one. But whether Dream Theater will reinvigorate or solidify an already slowed-down band remains to be seen. 

Mass Effect and Making Choices Matter

So I recently played through Mass Effect 2. I played the first game like 4 years ago, and didn't remember much of it. Even so, Mass Effect 2 fucking rocked, especially in the area of choices. Basically, that's all the series is about when it comes down to it - you making decisions in situations. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's boring, and sometimes it's so fucking tense I'm YELLING at my TV because of it. And as someone who has played waaaaay to many shitty games recently, it's nice to play one that at least attempts to have some emotional impact.

One of the reasons Mass Effect in general, and 2 in particular are so good is that they present you with choices that actually matter that affect characters you actually care about. Whoa. I'll give you a for instance: Far Cry 3. The story in this game stopped being interesting after you killed Vaas, and the "choice of ending" was pretty unsatisfying.

That's it. This is the first time in this game's campaign that you're actually presented with a choice. It must have some serious repercussions, right? Haha, nope. Depending on what you do, you get a different ending cutscene. After the credits roll, you get the option to go back to the island and keep playing. After that, it's like no campaign even happened - nothing in the environment is different save for one location, and no one makes any kind of comment on what you chose.

If you're going to make the ending, you know, the end of your game, at least make it really the end. If Far Cry 3 had simply ended after picking an ending, without the option to continue playing afterwards, I think it would've worked much better. Certainly would've felt more significant. Also, the characters in this game are so bland I forgot one of their names during the campaign. Forget about feeling any sort of emotional attachment - while it's definitely easy to blame it on the game's uneven writing, you also don't really get to see much of your friends so it's hard to give a shit.

Mass Effect, though, forces you to spend the whole damn game recruiting and doing missions with your buddies. While this doesn't instantly make them super well fleshed out, their optional loyalty missions are all interesting and at least give you some basic background info on them. And Far Cry 3 may not be the best comparison - it's an FPS game, not really on the same plane as Mass Effect.

Which is another thing Mass Effect has that makes it more interesting - you're fighting for the survival of the fucking galaxy. Far Cry 3's quest to save some whiny white kids seems microscopic in perspective.

Oh yeah, and the Illusive Man is badass.

What the fuck is up with the Far Cry 3 handbook entries?

So in Far Cry 3, there's an in-game handbook with little blurbs about basically everything in the game - weapons, people, even the different flowers.

The content of these blurbs range from boring, to funny, to BONE-CHILLINGLY HORRIFYING. Seriously.


I can tell you'd like an example. Here's the text from the entry for the wild boars:

"Hope you aren't kosher, because boars are the primary food source on Rook Island".

(Side note: some of the entries refer to "Rook Island" and others say "The Rook Islands". Which is it? It's like the writers forgot there are 2 damn islands in the game. What did they call the South Island? "South Island"? So we have 2 islands to explore in Far Cry 3: Rook Island and the South Island. GJ, Ubisoft.)

Anyway... so that was pretty harmless right? Not really funny, but cute at least. Now here's the entry for the jellyfish:

"The screams through the night. The hot air of explosions shaking the treetops. The bodies. Some faceless. They were only following orders."

Jesus Christ, when did Far Cry 3 become Apocalypse Now: the Game? Every time I read that, I laugh because it's so jarring - completely at odds with the tone of the game.

Want more? Here's the entry for the fucking seagull:

"Every night I watch the skies from inside my bunker. They'll come back. If I watch they'll come. I can hear the voices from the sky. Calling my name. There's the ridge. The guns in the jungle. Screaming. Smoke. The blood. All over my hands."

Again, holy fuck. Where is this coming from? As far as I know, only these 2 animals' entries are this weird. A lot of them are lame, but none of them are this out-there. Why? I'm not sure, but I have a theory.

These 2 animals, seagull and jellyfish, are both huge pains in the ass to actually kill. The seagulls are only found on the beaches and fly the hell away from you pretty much as soon as they see you, so you have to be a little creative. The jellyfish, on the other hand, are literally invulnerable - the only way to kill them is to go to a certain part of the ocean that's glitched out and is just a normal patch of seafloor you can walk around on, and throw a Molotov at one. Obviously, the average gamer is not going to give a shit about these handbook entries (which don't count towards anything), so they'll probably never see any of these entries.

And since they figured no one would go to the trouble of getting these entries, the writers probably wrote something fucked up for fun. Like I said, I can't confirm this, but it seems the most logical answer.

The next best explanation is that they intended for these entries to seem like they were ripped from the script for The Deer Hunter just to... I dunno. Enhance the atmosphere? Maybe they thought it would be funny? I don't know, but it's interesting, and I like games that interesting tidbits hidden in them. Especially after I thought I had pretty much beaten this game to a pulp.

About

My name is Alex and I'm a 21 year old senior at Grand Valley State University in Michigan majoring in technical writing.

I'm 6'9" and no, I do not play basketball.

I'd like to say this blog will be full of interesting life experiences and philosophical inquiry. In reality, it will probably be me attempting to matter by giving out unsolicited opinions and petty slander. Enjoy.

First post

I finally started a blog. Since I'm going into technical writing I figured I should get myself one of these.

So stay tuned for cool blog posts about me and the cool things I do.

Bye.