Dream Theater

The Astonishing (Roadrunner)

Reviewed by Phil Ashcroft

Since Dream Theater stepped into the limelight in the early nineties with the ground-breaking Images And Words, they’ve never really made the same album twice. While some fans were originally taken aback by the relative commerciality of Falling Into Infinity, the ferocity of Train Of Thought, the diversity of Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence or the darkness of much of former drummer Mike Portnoy’s later input to the band, I suspect The Astonishing will still take their loyal fans completely by surprise. They’re no strangers to concept albums of course; Scenes From A Memory was their 2112-styled middle finger to the industry, and one that paid off handsomely, but here we have a two hundred and ten minute, thirty-four track opus that’s light on trademark long songs, the dazzling instrumentation and virtually the whole Metal side of their make-up, but with a heavy dependence on piano, strings, choirs and plenty of sub-five minute songs.

Leaving the fine details of the easy to follow story for you to discover yourself, it’s basically set many years in the future when technology and music have been left behind, outlawed by the powers that be. A young man, Gabriel, tries to show the beauty of music and turns the world on its head, a familiar concept for fans of Rush and even Styx (Kilroy Was Here), but in true Dream Theater fashion they take the whole thing in a more complex and involved direction. Epic orchestration and a few short instrumentals link together plenty of tuneful songs, mostly based around Jordan Rudess’ piano and Hammond Organ, with plenty of slower, gentle tracks and the occasional wild instrumental section. Songs like ‘The Gift Of Music’, ‘A Better Life’, ‘A Life Left Behind’ and ‘A New Beginning’ are the highlights of the first disc, each showcasing the more melodic side of the band and singer James LaBrie’s breathy lighter tones, but there’s still no shortage of impressive bass and drums and main-writer John Petrucci’s lively riffs and wonderful guitar solos.

The second disc is a mammoth thirty minutes shorter but still contains plenty of great moments, with the more familiar speed riffs of ‘Moment Of Betrayal’, the superb ballad ‘Losing Faythe’, the simple acoustic builder ‘Hymn Of A Thousand Voices’ and the epic closer ‘Astonishing’ wrapping up the experience with a breath-taking reprise of many of the best melodies. It’s all beautifully done and adds up to the most melodic album the band have ever made, but it does feel a little too long to listen to in one sitting when you consider that it’s almost twice as long as The Wall, Quadrophenia or even Tales From Topographic Oceans. The only other misgiving I have is LaBrie singing the parts of all the characters, which I feel takes much more concentration to keep up with the story, especially as The Astonishing has far more lyrics than any other Dream Theater record.

The production is up to the usual pristine standards and every instrument shines, but the longest and most complex subject matter in their career thus far is balanced by much of their simplest and most accessible music. It’s definitely more Progressive Rock than Progressive Metal and only time will tell if the album has the legs the band hope it will. For now, just set aside some time and dive in... there’s a lot to enjoy.