THE MUSICAL BOX
It was big, it was bold, but was Dream Theater’s last album The Astonishing a step too far for the progressive metal heroes? This fiery new work could bring them closer to the fans again…
New and reissue album reviews from Dream Theater, Tim Bowness, Eddie Jobson, Yes, The Neal Morse Band, David Sylvian, Queensrÿche and more…
Whatever Dream Theater release, the sole certainty is that there’ll be a backlash from some of their more obstreperous fans. Indeed, there’s a feeling that they simply can’t win. Whether they attempt something outside their sizeable musical comfort zone or play to their progressive metal roots, there’ll always be a queue of purists ready to sanctimoniously bash the band. As the lyrics to one of their more overlooked album tracks once accurately surmised, ‘Everything is never enough.’
Their last album – the rather optimistically monikered The Astonishing – was an admirable and well-intentioned concept album that did try to move away from an archetypical prog metal template. Yet for all the commendable execution, the end result had the winceinducing vibe of “Dream Theater go Disney”. Replete with lyrics that transparently summoned memories of 2112, Star Wars and Game Of Thrones, for all the unhelpful online criticisms that the band had lost their soul, mojo and quality controller when founding drummer Mike Portnoy left in 2010, The Astonishing gave that argument an unintended validity. There’s a sense, then, that Distance Over Time is one of their most pivotal releases that they’ve recorded in the last decade.
This album also needs to be placed into some perspective. It’s Dream Theater’s 14th in a 30-year recording history. When you consider that at similar points in their respective careers, Rush released Roll The Bones and Yes produced Talk, you could be forgiven for having low expectations. However, this recording is not the sound of a band in the maintenance phase of their career, coasting towards retirement and joyfully raking in the tour dollars at the expense of innovation and creativity. Instead, Distance Over Time has all the hallmarks of a band reborn, rediscovering their heritage and relishing making accomplished, ingenious music together.
The hallmarks of a band reborn, rediscovering their heritage and making accomplished, ingenious music.
Distance Over Time possesses a punchy heaviness, frequently harking back to 2003’s Train Of Thought in terms of a metal prominence, but with a balance that was arguably missing from that record. Take for example the brittle opening riffs of Fall Into The Light that hint at Metallica, before the Tommy gun drumming of Mike Mangini propels the song into addictive verses and a triumphant chorus. Part-way through, the metal bombast is paused to a slower pace, with John Petrucci’s mesmerising guitar work providing an opulent, mellow break before a pounding climax. Room 137 is similarly pummelling, with filthy, grinding guitar riffs dominating the track and Jordan Rudess fighting for space to elbow in his keyboards. A Beatles-inspired vocal effect adds variety, before a wonderfully rowdy finale. It’s followed by the scintillating S2N, which opens with a cutting John Myung bass riff. It then develops into an archetypal Dream Theater track, complete with ludicrously technical keyboards, as well as a guitar solo that provides a fresh and unattainable summit for the countless Petrucci wannabes. There’s even space for a spot of amusement, with a barely audible, spoken “wow”, during one of the staccato guitar breaks.
Throughout there is the undeniable feel of a band having fun, which in turn gives the album a distinctive, earthy soul that lacks some of the overly technical instrumentals that the band’s critics frequently – sometimes accurately – cite as sounding robotic. Nowhere is that more apparent than in Barstool Warrior, which is one of the finer tracks that Dream Theater have recorded in the last 15 years. The opening minute comes over as Marillion’s Incommunicado had Dream Theater had written it. The Petrucci solo is one of the most emotive of his career and the Rudess piano break is similarly beautiful. Lyrically, it’s a tale of lonely drinkers, lamenting past decisions, fate and broken promises, before the characters escape the roadside neon bar to provide an upbeat ending. There’s also a tenderness in Out Of Reach, an elegant love song which, with an uplifting orchestral section, gives the album poise and a welcome, embracing equilibrium.
Granted, for all the musical dexterity and originality, there are flashes of déjà vu during the vocal melodies on Untethered Angel and At Wit’s End, but Dream Theater simply shouldn’t be creating such swaggering, inventive and fiery albums at this point in their career. Distance Over Time is probably the finest recording they’ve released in well over a decade and one which reaffirms them as genre leaders. This is the album that should have been called The Astonishing.