Review Summary: On Octavarium, Dream Theater cut down on wankery and aimed for a more accessible album. It's a solid but slightly disappointing release, not quite living up to the band's potential despite some excellent songs.
The Journey Through Dream Theater, Part 9
With
Octavarium, Dream Theater chose a different path than the increasingly heavier direction they had been pursuing. It’s a much lighter album than
Train of Thought. The wankery the band is known for was significantly cut down, and there appeared to be an attempt at reaching the mainstream.
Octavarium had potential to be one of the best works, containing some great songs. The problem is that for nearly every outstanding track, there’s a throwaway track to go with it.
Root of All Evil is a pretty standard opener for the band. It’s the third song in Portnoy’s AA saga, so naturally it does some borrowing of riffs and melodies from the previous installment,
This Dying Soul. It’s not as heavy, but it still manages to be a good high energy track to kick things off, with a solid performance from LaBrie. The middle section features a few tempo changes and the normal Petrucci/Rudess solo trade-off, but it’s much more toned down than the usual effort from the band. It’s clear that Dream Theater was trying to make this album more accessible.
Unfortunately, the album becomes very hit and miss from there. The attempt at making the album more accessible means the band ends up sacrificing a lot of their personality. The most accessible tracks are among the weakest the band has written in the last decade, with the lone exception being
These Walls. Driven by a flowing keyboard line, it’s up-tempo and catchy, and LaBrie’s vocals are among their best here, giving the track a surprising amount of emotional power. Petrucci’s short, restrained solo in the bridge is excellent, and fits the song perfectly. Sadly, the band can’t replicate that level of quality on the other accessible tracks.
The Answer Lies Within is a lame attempt at an uplifting ballad that falls flat on its face. LaBrie’s vocals can’t be faulted, but the song goes nowhere and the lyrics are akin to a cliché high school graduation speech.
I Walk Beside You is a bland U2 rip-off. The band has shown way too much talent in writing effective ballad material in the past to settle into radio-ready, power chord-driven blandness.
Never Enough starts off with a promising quick-paced riff, but it devolves into a lackluster Muse takeoff, with LaBrie’s boring delivery of slow, dramatic vocals in the style of Matt Bellamy. Rudess’ extended keyboard solo in the middle is pretty impressive, but that alone can’t save the song.
Thankfully, the band didn’t completely ditch their heavier side.
Panic Attack is an explosive, quick-paced rocker that makes up for the less energetic first half. A frenetic bass intro by Myung leads into a rampaging metal riff that dominates the song, assisted by Portnoy’s frantic drumming. The instrumental section in the middle is focused and doesn’t just wander off in different time signatures, which was a wise move. Even Petrucci’s signature shredding solo is cut shorter than usual. LaBrie’s vocals, which are very hit and miss on this album, are thankfully very good here.
Sacrificed Sons shows the band taking on familiar territory. It starts off slowly and builds up to a long instrumental section, where the song transitions into a heavy rocker that could have easily fit on
Train of Thought.
But it’s the title track that makes this album worth hearing. It’s one of the band’s best constructed songs since
A Change of Seasons. It clocks in at 24 minutes and doesn’t waste a second of it. It starts off very low-key, with a long ambient intro and excellent vocals from LaBrie. From there it just builds and builds, getting faster and more musically complex; highlights include a rare audible bassline from Myung around the nine-minute mark and a keyboard interlude midway through. It grows in intensity until it finally reaches its climax. It’s so well done that LaBrie’s questionable attempt at screaming is not bothersome in the least, and Petrucci’s solo that follows is one of his best, filled with emotion and not unnecessary hyperspeed shredding. Then it closes with the intro to
Root of All Evil to bring the album full circle, closing out a spectacular song. This track is where the band’s full potential is realized, and it’s a shame that it took until the end of the album to see it.
Octavarium could have been a great counterpart to
Train of Thought, in the way that
Awake was to
Images and Words. It also could have been a great statement to their critics since the band cut down on the instrumental wankery this time around. Unfortunately, the watering down of the band’s sound on several tracks prevents this from being a truly excellent release by the band. Although its accessibility could be quite effective in bringing in new fans (unlike its 90’s equivalent,
Falling Into Infinity), it lacks the excitement of most other Dream Theater releases despite having some excellent songs, and the weak even-numbered tracks break up the flow of the album. It’s still a very good album in its own right, but as seen by the title track, the band had potential to do even better.
Top Tracks: Octavarium, Panic Attack, These Walls
Dream Theater is:
• John Myung – Bass guitar
• John Petrucci – Lead guitar
• Mike Portnoy – Drums, Percussion
• Jordan Rudess – Keyboards
• James LaBrie – Vocals
To Be Continued…
