Como saben, Dream Theater lanzará en verano de este año, su novena producción, Systematic Chaos. Ese disco será el antecesor de su Octavarium, que además de hacerlos girar por el mundo, los llevó a celebrar su 20 aniversario en el Radio City Music Hall de Nueva York.

Se dice que Systematic Chaos comprenderá los riffs pesados de Train Of Thought (2003), y el aroma progresivo que caracterizó a Octavarium (2005).

No me queda duda que Dream Theater va a satisfacer a sus más exigentes seguidores (me incluyo) alrededor del mundo.

Octavarium comprendió buenos temas, pero no me dejó totalmente emocionado como anteriores materiales que sacaron; aunque temas como The Root Of All Evil y la que da nombre al álbum, son composiciones que ilustraron la ascendente carrera de la virtuosa banda.

Otro punto a destacar es que este SC contendrá otro tema épico de 25 minutos de duración.

Rock Candy Records es una compañía disquera que se dedica a rescatar materiales viejos para volverlos a meter en el mercado de la música, reeditándolos. Esta empresa, se dirige por Dante Bonutto y Derek Oliver, quienes recientemente se han iniciado a trabajar con Roadrunner Records, la misma que acaba de firmar a Dream Theater para lanzar su nuevo CD; y además DT es la primera de la cual se volverán a a ver sus añejos LP’s en las tiendas de discos por parte de esta colaboración entre Rock Candy y Roadrunner.

Uno de sus dueños, Derek Oliver, es también periodista y tuvo la oportunidad de poder escuchar Systemathic Chaos. Lo que sigue es la opinión que Oliver sostiene sobre la escucha, transmitiendo toda la emoción detallada de lo que es este compendio de heavy progresivo. Su opinión es importante y además es fundamentada en su experiencia auditiviva y sensorial, llegando a concluir con pasión en su crítica.

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Derek Oliver habla sobre Systemathic Chaos.

«Systematic Chaos is pretty full-on. You’ll all be very surprised. It’s undoubtedly the best record that they’ve recorded in many years – very accessible, very heavy and very melodic. They’ve managed to combine a sense of the past with the future and, unlike Rush, haven’t dumped their glorious past in favour of annoying skinny tie affectations or garage rock pretence.

There are two absolutely killer tracks, Constant Motion and The Dark Eternal Night, the former is like Metallica with keyboards and the latter showcases the most intense and heavy musicianship that they’ve ever recorded – think Pantera jamming with Iron Maiden. Those tracks will be regarded as master classes in progressive metal for years to come. And they both boast lashings of melody.

The most accessible track is titled Forsaken, a blindingly obvious radio song that mixes contemporary modern rock ala Evanescence with the old school power balladry of Queensryche’s Silent Lucidity whilst still packing a progressive rock punch. Do I smell a potential radio smash? Quite possibly.

Surprise contenders for classic status include Repentance, a brooding 10 minute creepy crawler that seeps its way into one’s inner psyche from the first few seconds of playback. The impact of this track is enhanced by an abundance of unexpected spoken word contributions from a number of well known musicians. I won’t spoil it by revealing exactly who they are as its a lot of fun trying to decipher for yourself. Musically think Pink Floyd duetting with Metallica on a decidedly trippy space rock epic.

The other major surprise is Prophet’s Of War a magnetic and compelling six minute romp that appears to be a combination of electro pop and classic arena metal and it works brilliantly. Imagine walking into a Berlin discotechque at 2 in the morning with 2,000 nutters jumping up and down to a wild electro mash-up of the Prodigy, Queen, Robbie Williams, Metallica and Rammstein whilst Dita Von Teese dances in a cage.

Trad DT faire is offered up with The Ministry Of Lost Souls. Initially a piano driven ballad which builds into a colossal prog rock hoedown allowing Jordan Rudess to utilise every keyboard that he’s acquired through the ages amongst a cacophony of wild jamming. Once the battle has been won, its all back to the main theme for a piping hot cup of cocoa and bed.

The 25 minute epic In The Presence Of Enemies is indeed a pleasure to experience. Split into two parts, which bookend the album, the vibe here is dark and distant. The song is driven by a particularly impressive bass riff and a full, open chorus with evil lyrics delivered convincingly by a more assured and focussed James LaBrie. Then, in the blink of an eye, it all kicks off as Portnoy jumps in with double kick drums thumping at an alarming speed and its heads down for the final push with swords, guitars, knives and keyboards re-enacting the Charge Of The Light Brigade.

Man of the match? Impossible to say as all of them are at the top of their game on this one.

Portnoy? Well, he’s just being Portnoy – crucially the most accomplished drummer of modern times.

Petrucci? He’s off his head on virtually every track delivering the heaviest riffs this side of Black Sabbath and the fastest most precise plank spanking I’ve ever heard.

Myung? The guys doesn’t have much to say for himself in interviews but his playing on this record speaks a thousand words.

Rudess? Possibly the bastard child of Keith Emerson and Rachmaninov. His playing is historic and, understandably, quite perplexing.

LaBrie? I have great pleasure in announcing that he, out of them all, has risen most magnificently to the challenge. Its clear that he’s taking this particular moment in the bands career to up his game considerably, approaching each track with an intelligence that belies his previous output. By adapting his delivery to suit the mood of each song this fine fellow has breathed new life into an old frame. A great and significant accomplishment.

I came away from this album thinking that – and I’m not taking a pot shot here – if Iron Maiden and Metallica were currently writing and performing to this level of excellence then the world of rock would indeed be a far better place.»