DREAM THEATER — Octavarium (review)

Album · 2005 · Progressive Metal

5/5 · 2010-11-05
The Block

When I first got onto this site, I was very surprised to see that Octavarium had gotten such low ratings compared to the other albums of its caliber. It I was the best Dream Theater album up to that point. It includes eight exceptional songs to go along with it being the eighth DT album so far. These are my thoughts on all of the songs.

1/8 "The Root of All Evil" is the third installment of Mike Portnoy's 12 step AA program and may be considered to be the weakest but with its classic thrash jam, catchy riff, and chorus it is defiantly a good song. The Alcoholics Anonymous suite also includes "The Glass Prison" from 6 Degrees of Inner Turbulence, "This Dying Soul" from Train of Thought, "Repentance" from Sysmatic Chaos, and "The Shattered Fortress" on Black Clouds and Silver Linings.

2/8 "The Answer Lies Within" starts out with nothing but bells but turns into one of the better songs on this album. It is a very slow song with guitar and chorus all through out the song and it is driven by the piano. It is also the main ballad of this work and has heavy emotions throughout the whole song.

3/8 "These Walls" is the first of three DT classics on this album. In the beginning it is a mix of heavy and soaring sounds and this continues through the whole song. Throughout the whole song there is awesome guitar and on the choruses Portnoy's bass kick and Rudess's keyboard playing is masterful.

4/8 "I Walk Beside You" is one of the slowest songs put out by Dream Theater but it is still an awesome song for prog rock fans. It starts out with a soft ticking sound which turns into drums than leads into more guitar and drums. While the song starts out kind of dark it grows into a lighter song and has good vacals.

5/8 "Panic Attack" is one of the songs that shows why DT is such a great band along with Octavarium and some others. It has very good riffs in it with some amazing drumming tucked in. In the middle of it all John Petrucci nails a difficult drum solo which puts this song over the top.

6/8 "Never Enough" has very good keyboards and is one of the better metal songs on this album. The heavy riffs and Labrie/Portnoy lyrics blend together perfectly. The instrumental mid- sectional is owned by Rudess and Petrucci.

7/8 "Sacrificed Sons" starts out with what sound like prayers and actual broadcasts from the 9/11 tragedy. Throughout the whole "broadcast" you can hear a wandering violin in the background. Then in the middle Petrucci hits an amazing solo that transfers great back into the main piece. This song gives you the right kind of emotions for this kind of song; anger and sadness.

8/8 "Octavarium starts out with a Pink Floyd opening that shows signs of Shine on You Crazy Diamonds. After the opening it turns into a small flute solo that sounds very good along with the intro. Than in the middle it turns to a bit of Yes, Rush, and some Black Sabbath. Even though they put all these different bands together they still make it sound awesome. Then they end the song with a great French horn outro.

Great album. Great Rating. 5 stars.