Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings

(Note: I actually wrote most of this review over a year ago, before the Great Relative Pitch Drought, so what you see below is my largely unaltered opinion of an album that's over a year old.  I know, I know, like I said, I'm behind and I have a lot of catching up to do.  But I still do like the album, and for most of the same reasons I initially wrote about.  Keep reading to find out what they are.)

Few other bands that have been around for nearly a quarter of a century have the same amount of musical energy and vitality as Dream Theater.  Almost undeniably the biggest name in modern progressive metal, Dream Theater have made their career out of pushing the boundaries of musicianship and composition, churning out new albums like clockwork over the last decade.  But even the most forward-thinking musicians can fall into a predictable pattern, as a few of Dream Theater’s more recent releases have displayed.  As impressive as super-fast guitar and keyboard solos and twenty-plus-minute compositions may be, it became something of a formula with the band, with almost every song following a loosely varied, but rarely abandoned, structure of tempo changes, solo sections, and singalong choruses.  The irony of a progressive band falling into such conventional habits was perhaps the most discouraging thing of all.  With their tenth full-length studio album, however, Dream Theater have proved that they still have more musical creativity and passion than many bands half their age - Black Clouds & Silver Linings is an exciting, varied, and unpredictable album that, in many ways, redeems a band that some had feared were beginning to stagnate.

As its title would suggest, Black Clouds & Silver Linings is all about contrast: dark and light, fast and slow, intense and soothing.  Take the opening track, “A Nightmare To Remember,” which kicks the album off with one of the darkest, most menacing passages in Dream Theater’s catalog.  The next six minutes are mostly standard Dream Theater, though definitely showcasing their heavy side.  The song soon takes an abrupt left turn, however, giving way to a calm, atmospheric midsection with soothing guitar arpeggios and vocal harmonies.  This respite (which would have worked well as its own song) doesn’t last, though - the mayhem soon breaks loose again, bringing the song full circle with some of the band’s most headbanging passages yet.  These musical twists and turns add up to one of the most satisfying musical journeys Dream Theater have created.  The album’s other extended-length suites - “The Best Of Times,” a touching tribute to drummer Mike Portnoy’s deceased father, and the dramatic album closer “The Count Of Tuscany” - display similar ups and downs in dynamic level.  The overall impression of these three tracks is of a band truly stretching their songwriting limits and branching into new territory, perhaps acknowledging the complacency of their last couple releases.  The album’s pair of shorter, “radio-friendly” tracks, “A Rite Of Passage” and “Wither,” are much more standard fare for the band.  Though they may not be as groundbreaking as the rest of the material here, they’re still fun to listen to, and should satisfy listeners looking for something easier to digest than 15-minute-plus epics.

After all, though, this is a Dream Theater album, albeit a very good one - and no DT album would be complete without the requisite amount of over-the-top solos and generally dramatic displays of virtuosity.  Critics of the band’s technical self-indulgence will find just as much to complain about here as on any previous release.  Questionable lyrical choices have also popped up in the band’s catalog in recent years, and a few clunkers slipped through this time around as well.  But Dream Theater’s strengths have always been geared toward the big picture rather than the minute details of songcraft, assembling roller-coaster-rides that leave the listener with the feeling of having gone on a journey, of having really experienced something.  In this regard, Black Clouds & Silver Linings is more than satisfying, and DT fans should embrace this album as one of the band’s best in a long time.

Rating:  4/5

Standout Tracks: 
“The Count Of Tuscany”
“A Nightmare To Remember”
“The Best Of Times”

Release Date: June 23, 2009