Perfomance: From a serious epic to light cover tunes

Hot Spots: “A Change Of Seasons,” “Funeral For A Friend,” “Achilles Last Stand.”

Bottom Line: The two faces of Dream Theater revealed.

Here’s something different from Dream Theater: their first large-scale epic, “A Change of Seasons,” plus a whole batch of groovy cover tunes. The title cut kicks off with lilting, baritone-sounding arpeggios that segue into a thrashy overture with lots of DT trademarks: odd-meter rhythms, dark, minor-flavored passages, and the vicious power riffing of John Petrucci. Stylistically, this isn’t much of a departure from DT’s standard fare--just a lot longer.

The musicianship of Petrucci and his bandmates is stellar as usual (there’s one stunning instrumental riff in the middle that delightfully blasts off into the chromatic ozone), though if you weren’t a fan before, this probably won’t convert you. Really, “A Change Of Seasons” is a love letter to the band’s loyal cult of fans, in effect thanking them for the years of support. No doubt, the Theaterheads will go gaga for this epic, much the same way Rush fans went berserk over the side-long “Hemispheres” back in 1978.

The cover tracks, on the other hand, show a lighter side of the band. Gone are the minor-key shadings and the overly dramatic vocal posturings of singer Jamie LaBrie; instead, you’ll hear faithful covers of such tracks as Elton John’s “Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding” and Deep Purple’s “Perfect Strangers,” in which Petrucci absolutely KILLS during his solo. Equally exciting is their take on Zeppelin’s “The Rover” and “Achilles Last Stand,” which has another barnburning guitar break.

Less successful is the medley of “Carry On Wayward Son,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Journey’s “Loving, Touching, Squeezing” (now you know why the singer sounds like he does), The Dixie Dregs’ “Cruise Control,” and Genesis’ “Turn It On Again.” These latter performances are perfectly fine and you can see why they would go over well in concert, but as small snippets of famous tunes they don’t seem to have any purpose in a pre-recorded format. The full-length Purple and Zeppelin tracks work far better.

Ultimately, no matter how you slice it, this Dream Theater disc is simply a gift to their existing fans. And when you hear the band playing simpler, more straightforward cover material so successfully, you’ll realize that it’s food for thought, too. Check it out and feed your head.

– Pete Prown