"I have a theory when it comes to Dream Theater: that they put out an absolute masterpiece (the first being ‘Images & Words’) but then have to go through two album cycles to recharge their batteries to their full potential again. For ‘Black Clouds & Silver Linings’ to follow this pattern, I would expect it to be anything from great to mediocre, though of course bucking the trend should never be out of the question. Things start off very nicely with the bulging goliath ‘A Nightmare To Remember’ and the rest of the album certainly ticks all the boxes. We’ve got the stock yet strangely appealing modern DT riffs, the expansive instrumental workouts and the astronomically high notes-per-minute count. Whilst still fairly dark and heavy, the Portnoy-speared ‘METUL!’ douchebaggery found on a lot of ‘Systematic Chaos’ has cooled down and left more room for traditional proggy sounds, particularly on ‘The Count Of Tuscany’ and ‘Wither’. "
Review from UG about their last album. They're scheduled to release something pretty soon in , I forget what it's called, but I do think that it'll be pretty decent. It'll be strange without Portnoy on it though. I do agree with that last part of the view that kind of talks shit about Systematic Chaos. In my opinion it just tries way too hard to be heavy metal-esque despite the fact that they're really just prog metal/rock. I'm really looking forward to hearing some of their new material though. It's all completely out of the wing of Portnoy who was really their main songwriter previously, and I'd like to hear what's come out of the other band members for once. Even Myung, who's basically not real.
