Their music can be described as progressive metal, taking influences from bands such as METALLICA, QUEENSRYCHE and RUSH. Some pure progressive lovers will find it perhaps too metal, but they have made a lot of epic songs. On the first album with LABRIE "Images and Words", the musicians show impressive abilities on their respective instruments. Good songwriting and also an excellent Kevin MOORE on keyboards. Their third album "Awake" is much darker, with complex song structures and again an extraordinary contribution of PORTNOY and PETRUCCI.
MOORE left the group and was replaced by Derek SHERINIAN on keyboards on "A change of seasons", an album with the 23-minute epic title song and a medley of covers of PINK FLOYD, QUEEN, JOURNEY, DIXIE DREGS and GENESIS. "Scenes from a Memory" (1999) was a truly progressive concept album, with different songs over 10 minutes and long instrumental parts. Jordan RUDESS appears on keyboards for the first time. This masterpiece was recorded live on "Live Scenes From New York", an album which will be remembered also for the fact it was released on 11th of September 2001, with burning WTC towers on the cover, what a coincidence!!
The release "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" of 2002 has been accepted by the fans in different ways, mainly because of the heavier parts on the two cds. The first cd in particular contains some heavy metal stuff, which will certainly attract more youthful metal fans as ever. The title track on the second cd is an epic progressive song of 42 minutes, which contains everything a progger could dream of. Jordan RUDESS adds an impressive contribution to the overall sound.
"Train of Thought" (ToT for short) is the 7th studio album from the masters of progressive metal/rock - DREAM THEATER. After many listens to the album, all I can say is I am amazed. "ToT" is a superbley constructed musical having for anyone who likes the heavier side of DREAM THEATER. It has all the usual ingredients... heavy riffs, thoughtful ballads, crazy time signatures, busy drums, amazing lyrics, amazing bass, melodic and brillant keyboards, wonderful musicianship, and of course the soft masterpieces. This is what DREAM THEATER fans want to hear, straight ahead rock from beginning to end! You really should just stop reading now, and go out and buy this album. Octavarium was released on June 7, 2005, and took the band's sound in yet another new direction. Among its eight songs is a continuation of Portnoy's "Twelve-step" saga ("The Root of All Evil", steps 6-7 in the 12-step plan), as well as the title track, a musically versatile 24 minute epic rivaling "A Change of Seasons". Octavarium received mixed reviews from fans and has been the subject of spirited debate. Octavarium was the last album under their seven-album deal with Elektra Records, which had inherited the contract upon its absorption of EastWest Records.
Dream Theater's next album Systematic Chaos was released on June 5, 2007. The record marked their first with new label Roadrunner Records, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records. Roadrunner implemented increased promotion for the album, and as a result, Systematic Chaos reached number 19 on the Billboard 200. It also saw the release of a video for "Constant Motion" on July 14, the band's first music video since Hollow Years in 1997. An authorized book entitled Lifting Shadows, detailing their first twenty years, was also released in 2007, with an updated and expanded edition released in 2009 Systematic Chaos contains eight tracks, but technically only seven songs. The album contains an epic titled "In the Presence of Enemies", bookending the album as tracks 1 and 8, Portnoy's continuing AA Saga with the song "Repentance", and a song of political nature, "Prophets of War".
On April 1, 2008, a two-disc compilation album entitled Greatest Hit (...and 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs) was released by the band. The title jokingly references the song "Pull Me Under", the band's only significant radio hit. It also includes three song re-mixes from their second album, Images and Words, five edited versions of previously released songs, and a track from a single B-side. Unlike most greatest hits compilations, Dream Theater was actively involved with the album, coming up with the tracklisting that they felt best represented their musical careers.
On October 7, 2008, Dream Theater began work on their 10th album. The album, which is titled Black Clouds & Silver Linings, was released on June 23, 2009. In addition to the standard CD, the album is available on vinyl LP, as well as a 3-disc Special Edition CD that includes the full album, a CD of instrumental mixes of the album and a CD of six cover songs.
source : http://www.progarchives.com/
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