Dream Theater

Dream Theater (Roadrunner)

Curtain rises on formidable fretboard fantasia

Rating: 4 out of 5

So this is Dream Theater’s 12th album – but their first to be self-titled. It’s hard not to read that as a defiant statement that says: ‘We’re still standing’. The exit of drummer and founding member Mike Portnoy in 2010 prompted much soul-searching among the remaining members, who eventually hired Vai alumnus Mike Mangini to thump tubs to complete the band’s last album, A Dramatic Turn Of Events.

Now the smoke has cleared to reveal Dream Theater with their ‘race face’ on – ready to make another giddying flight into the heavens of operatic metal amid a blizzard of 64th notes. With (presumably unintended) irony, opening track, ‘False Awakening’, proves a bit of a dud, sounding like a synthesiser battle-march culled from a video game. It’s a relief, then, that the following track, ‘Enemy Inside’, sees John Petrucci roll up his sleeves to deliver a barrage of punishing, intricate riffs, before blazing across the sky with a solo that recalls Marty Friedman’s exotic style. Petrucci’s lead tone is so saturated it sounds like an angry sine wave at points, as the band negotiate twists in meter and melody that would tax the brain of a physics professor.

Meanwhile, ‘The Looking Glass’ sees the band connect with the knack for melody that makes their ambitious metal sound oddly pop-like at times. Meanwhile, the 22-minute closer, ‘Illumination Theory’, is a glittering cascade of neoclassical licks that Petrucci directs with relentless precision towards a cinematic finale, as the credits roll on an album that would secretly like to be an expensive sci-fi movie.

For scintillating energy and formidable fretwork, Dream Theater set the bar absurdly high – even if the result won’t be to all tastes. Some listeners will merely be dumbfounded that so much intensity and talent was invested in a work of overblown fantasy. For others, however, it’ll prove a truly epic ride. [JD]

Standout track: Illumination Theory

For fans of: Megadeth, Periphery, Rush, Symphony X