My 5 Favorite Prog Metal Albums Of All Time (excerpt)

-----

Dream Theater, A Change of Seasons EP (1995)

This is kind of a cheat because it’s basically the title track and a handful of covers. But I’ve talked about Scenes From A Memory so much and the title track here needs to be celebrated for the influence it’s had on us as a band.

The magic of this song is in how it moves and the 23-minute journey doesn’t feel like an eternity. It’s so cohesive while being a fluid arrangement that’s always pushing somewhere new.

We never set out to write long songs and the nature of not following a formula lends arrangements to have adventures – variations on parts in different feels and dynamics. There's a great thing with expansion from within the tune by all ears being tuned to the same frequency and being able to build off parts in an interesting way – and you can tell they are absolutely tuned in as a group here.

This is a forever influence and guiding light. I learned so much from Dream Theater and all the doors they opened for me to go way, way, way deeper into a musical world that means everything to me.