DREAM THEATER — Train of Thought (review)

DREAM THEATER — Train of Thought album cover Album · 2003 · Progressive Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
CCVP
This albums is quite a mixed bag: the instrumental part is perfect, but this is LaBrie's worst album

Train of Thought is Dream Theater's darkest and heaviest album and was made having those things in mind. They wanted to make an album that was as heavy as they could possibly be, an album that could be able to excite, agitate people every time it was played, an album to explore the darker and heavier edge of their music, and that was exactly the final result. Train of Though is truly what it was intended to be, but that caused some problems.

The biggest problem, as in all Dream Theater albums from Images and Words on, are LaBrie's vocals. LaBrie, since ever, is Dream Theater's weakest member and in fact he contributes negatively to the band, dragging it down, since his vocals are not on a par with the rest of the band. Here things get worse because he tries to be a badass and evil like the rest of the band and fails miserably in doing it simply because his voice does not allows him to do so. Something similar happened when they made a Master of Puppets cover, but in MoP he was much worse.

The other problem was not so bad, but it is considerable. Here, because of the heaviness, Jordan Rudess's keyboards, sometimes, simply cannot be heard. I really tried, but sometimes it is really difficult to find Rudess in the songs. That is just not good, since Rudess is a very important member of Dream Theater's instrumental session. However, that is only a problem in the heaviest songs, such as Honor Thy Father, As I Am and This Dying Soul.

About the songs, musicianship and other features, there are somethings i would like to state:

Leaving those problems behind, this albums is an amazing display of great musicianship. As always, specially since Jordan Rudess became a full member of Dream Theater, their music is an incredible extravaganza of musical skills with insanely difficult songs to play because the songs are fast and technically demanding. Here, mainly because the albums is so heavy, the lights are mostly (in my opinion) on Myung and Portnoy.

Most songs of this album are very good. The only one that, in my opinion, is subpar, when compared to the rest of the album, is the song Honor Thy Father. The highlights here goes to the last three songs of the album: Vacant (an interlude to Stream of Consciousness), Stream of Consciousness and In the Name of God. Those three are all the way top Dream Theater-like songs.

Grade and Final Thoughts

Although this album have some problems, specially concerning LaBrie's vocals, the instrumental session, with its many good attributes, was able to avoid and surpass the negative points here. So, because of the constancy of good songs all through the album and the awesome closing (Vacant, Stream of Consciousness and In the Name of God), I think this album deserves 4 stars.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Suffocated By Fungal Odors Deathcore
VISCERAL EXECRATION
Buy this album from MMA partners
Lethargy Metalcore
HEARTLAPSE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Vitriol Deathcore
BEHEADING THE ICON
Buy this album from MMA partners
Cecità Atmospheric Sludge Metal
NITRITONO
Buy this album from MMA partners
Resiliencia Metalcore
SOURCE OF MYSTERIES
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Suicidal Tendencies - Send Me Your Money
SUICIDAL TENDENCIES
UMUR· 12 hours ago
Suicidal Tendencies - Trip at the Brain
SUICIDAL TENDENCIES
UMUR· 12 hours ago
Suicidal Tendencies - Nobody Hears
SUICIDAL TENDENCIES
UMUR· 12 hours ago
Suicidal Tendencies - You Can't Bring Me Down
SUICIDAL TENDENCIES
UMUR· 12 hours ago
Thanatos - Source Of Mysteries (Video Oficial)
SOURCE OF MYSTERIES
Bosh66· 1 day ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed