Review Summary: The kings of prog metal are back with another good but ultimately slightly disappointing album.
Dream Theater are undoubtedly the kings of Progressive Metal, providing album after album of consistently good (or at least decent) material. It is because of this that when they come so close to making a classic to join their finest hour 'Images And Words' at the top of the prog tree it is infuriating. 'Octavarium' has so much potential and yet most of it is left unfilled.
The album gets off to a promising start with the continuation of Mike Portnoy's 'Alcoholics Anonymous Suite'.
The Root Of All Evil is less distinguished than Portnoy's previous efforts in the same vein but it is still good enough to give the album a bit of a kick to get things started. It's such a shame that the band then provide the first hammer blow preventing this album getting to where it could have done. Dream Theater have always done ballads, or at least tried to, but few have ended up sounding quite so lame as
The Answer Lies Within which, despite only lasting around five and a half minutes, seems to drag on for at least twice that. The only positive of this song is James LaBrie's vocals which are amongst the best I've heard from him since his vocal problems in the mid 90s. Fortunately my interest, and senses, are regained with the next track
These Walls which, despite sounding a little like Linkin Park, passes by quite satisfyingly. It's Muse like intro also sounds great. The song ends with a rather dramatic heart beat sequence seguing into the next song
I Walk Beside You. Now I don't have any evidence to back this up but I swear that this song was placed here just to irritate me. Just when I've recovered from the own goal the band had scored a couple of tracks ago they bring out another total failure, almost as if trying to persuade me to turn the record off. The only word I can think of to describe
I Walk Beside You as is bland. It sounds horribly like U2 at their most gut wrenchingly average and it should really be the end of this albums chances.
The second half of the album however saves the record by containing three examples of Dream Theater at, if not the top of their game then somewhere nearly at the top.
Panic Attack opens with one of Myung's finest bass lines and proceeds to dole out an aural panic attack to the listener with both Petrucci and Portnoy at their best. It's up there with most of previous album 'Train Of Thought' as Dream Theater at their heaviest. Penultimate track
Sacrificed Sons is the, now seemingly standard, political song on the album. Opening with a confusing and rather disorientating mixture of arabic whisperings and 9/11 news bulletins it flashes by in a ridiculously quick ten minutes.
Before moving onto the closing masterpiece that is the title track,
Never Enough better be mentioned. Sandwiched between
Panic Attack and
Sacrificed Sons it seems rather unimpressive but if listened to on its own it can be realised that it really isn't all that bad, despite what some people say. It's up there on heaviness and Portnoy really gets going as the song progresses.
As you undoubtedly know the last song on the album is
Octavarium itself. The word 'song' doesn't really do it justice though. An epic concerto would be more appropriate. All the band members play their part with Myung's bass unusually audible and Rudess's continuum sounding like it's having far too much fun. James LaBrie also impresses with some soaring vocals and some surprisingly good screaming towards the end. The whole thing is slightly reminiscent of 1995's 'A Change Of Seasons' in it's twenty-four minute run time and journey through different movements. It all ends before you know it with Petrucci's guitar and Portnoy's drums being abandoned before a solemn flute returns from earlier in the song to provide a haunting coda.
Overall I think you know what I'm going to say about 'Octavarium'. I think perhaps I gave away a little too much in the opening paragraph and I think, well know, that I'm not the only one with this opinion. 'Octavarium' has some superb moments but when you've finished listening you cannot help but feel let down because you can't stop thinking about what might have been if Dream Theater had just abandoned or at least drastically refined two or three of the songs here. The phrase 'so near and yet so far' comes to mind.
