Dream Theater

10 Studio Albums, 5 Live Albums, 1 Greatest Hit, 1 EP, 7 VHS/DVD and 20 Official Bootlegs. These works have all been accomplished in a span of 20 years by none other than progressive legends of our time Dream Theater. Being known as some of the most talented musicians to come together, they have done it again and squalled upon us a new record in Black Clouds & Silver Linings. As a 10th studio album, it has been released in four different formats: regular CD edition, 3 disc special edition, double vinyl, and deluxe collector’s edition box set.

Like every Dream Theater record the songs are lengthy, but you never lose interest with how they structure said songs. The longest track on the record is timed at 19:16 and entitled “The Count Of Tuscany”. The difference from this record to the other Dream Theater releases is that they took more of a softer approach to the album and also managed to make it sound darker than previous releases. The darker tones of the record work well with the lyrics which were co-written by Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci.

The lyrics talk about personal experiences the artists have gone through such as a car accident depicted in “A Nightmare To Remember” or about Portnoy’s father who died of cancer (“The Best Of Times”). Also the song “Shattered Fortress” is the final part of the Twelve-step Suite written by Mike Portnoy which discusses X-Restraint, XI-Receive, XII-Responsible. In this song there is also a cameo part from a past track from “This Dying Soul” off their album Train In Thought. This album is definitely for anyone who wants to listen to progressive and very talented music. For fans of Symphony X, Opeth, Rush, this album is a big YES.  [ END ]

Track Listing:

01. A Night To Remember
02. A Rite Of Passage
03. Wither
04. The Shattered Fortress
05. The Best Of Times
06. The Count Of Tuscany

Run Time: 75:25