“Black Clouds and Silver Linings” may not be perfect, but surely strong

By Nathan Norton
Western Herald

When it comes to proficiency in instrumentation, the musicianship of progressive heavy metal is next to none.

And if we’re talking prog metal musicianship, you can’t go wrong with Dream Theater.

You just can’t. At all.

The New York quintet has been pumping out their particular brand of technically masterful metal since 1985, so it comes as no surprise that “Black Clouds and Silver Linings” is another gem in a long career of outstanding records.

Except for “Awake” which was the musical equivalent of a root canal.

And “Octavarium” which was the equivalent to having that root canal botched and having to go through the same procedure again, only this time it’s slightly less painful and has two good songs.
In keeping with typical Dream Theater manner, there are only six tracks on the album.

Those six songs supply over seventy minutes of music.

Do not listen to this album if you have important places to be and/or a face you would prefer not be repeatedly melted.

Resident guitar virtuoso John Petrucci is at the top of his game with this release.

His axe work is genuinely staggering.

He’s just . . . so . . . good.

Petrucci’s inhuman skill is painted on every song with a vibrant twenty coat-thick application.

DT usually shares the work load insofar as instrumental interludes are concerned, passing the torch between Petrucci’s guitar, Jordan Rudess’s keys, Mike Portnoy’s drums, and less frequently John Myung’s bass.

“Black Clouds,” though, seems to be guitar-bent, which is far from a bad thing.

Rudess gets his fair share of alone time, but it’s John Petrucci who gets the widest spotlight beam.

Petrucci takes the added responsibility with gusto, fashioning face-meltingly fabulous solos at nearly every turn. And there certainly are turns galore. It is Dream Theater, after all.

If there wasn’t at least two modulations, four time signature shifts, and six to eight guitar solos per fifteen minute track, I’d be concerned.

The problem with writing an album like “Black Clouds” with its prolifically prolonged tracks loaded with enough content to drive a transcriber insane is the prospective danger of a twenty minute long song with only a single minute of music that isn’t huge amounts of terrible.

It’s happened before (see “Octavarium’s” title track), and there was reasonable worry that the sixteen minute “A Nightmare to Remember” could be one of them. Or the twelve minute “Shattered Fortress.”Or the thirteen minute “Best of Times.” Or the nineteen plus minute opus “The Count of Tuscany.”

But, surprisingly, DT steers clear of most musical monotony in these pieces.

There are chunks of these epics that threaten to discard your attention; the disc isn’t perfect.

The chunks go down fast and are easily digested, however, and the lengthy songs are more than worth listening through to find the many delightful sprinkles strewn within.

Often times, DT’s mastery of their craft detracts from the music itself.

It sort of comes off like an album reviewer might were he to utilize an excess of supercilious and prepensely verbose (though admittedly nongermane) locution to promulgate the proclivity with which he scrupulously orchestrates each morpheme of every word to function with assiduous volition.

Thankfully, though each track is chock full of complex arrangements, the complexities are really rather good, displaying an impressive musical whirlwind of talent while simultaneously maintaining the interest of the listener.

It’s a rut the band tends to fall into, and one mercifully sidestepped throughout the majority of the album.

Dream Theater delivers a fairly strong one with “Black Clouds and Silver Linings.”

It’s not flawless and it’s not without elements best left on the cutting room floor.

But it’s a show of strength we can only hope for in the Theater’s next effort.

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Jun 29 2009. Filed under A & E. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Cody Kimball
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