Originally published in Rhythm magazine 222 · November 2013
Dream Theater (self-titled album) review
By Dream Theater
Review1 min read
Dream Theater
DT album two for Mangini
Rating: 2 out of 5
This, Mike Mangini’s second outing with prog titans Dream Theater, is a frustrating affair. Dream Theater showcases frightening technical prowess (none more so than Mangini’s incredible tub thumping), but it often does so at the expense of the song.
Mangini’s playing is incredible. His syncopated tom, snare and kick work on opener ‘False Awakening Suite’ is superb, but the band’s love of the grandiose does bite them on the backside.
‘The Looking Glass’ is what ‘Jump’-era van Halen would have sounded like if they’d been fronted by a calculator, and ‘Enigma Machine’ could well be Steve Vai playing the Inspector Gadget theme tune.
There are some bright spots. ‘Behind The Veil’ is modern prog at its finest and the 22-minute closer ‘Illumination Theory’ is epically indulgent – and all the better for it. (RC)
Download: ‘Behind The Veil’