Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence

Artist: Dream Theater
Label: Wea
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 2
EAN: 4988029731142
ASIN: B00005UDE7

Release Date: 2002-01-23

Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence

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Tracks:

The Glass Prison
Blind Faith
Misunderstood
The Great Debate
Disappear
Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
Overture
About To Crash
War Inside My Head
The Test That Stumped Them All
Goodnight Kiss
Solitary Shell
About To Crash (Reprise)
Losing Time Grand Finale
Solitary Shell (Radio Edit) (Bonus Track)

Album Description

Full title, 'Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence'. Japanese limited edition of 2002 album. Includes one bonus track, 'Solitary Shell' (Radio Edit).

Album Details

Japanese Version featuring a Bonus Track: 'solitary Shell (Radio Edit)'

Customer Reviews:

Progressive Rock Explosion.......2006-07-26

Progressive rock in general tends to attract comments such as pretentious, bombastic and self-indulgent. This CD shows little reluctance to refrain from these appellations. The length of the music, the threading of the elements into a complex tapestry, the effusive explosion of ecstatic instrumental energy and alternating between obscure lyrics and descriptions with moments of diamond clarity come together to provide fodder for even the most benign of critical detractors. In summary, this CD is fantastic.

The opening track to this two CD masterpiece, "The Glass Prison," has some of the most phenomenal guitar work of any band I have ever heard. Every time I listen to how quickly the lead guitar is being play I am in awe that human fingers can move so fast. The style combines hard rock, progressive rock and a flavor of nu-metal to create an original, technical, and yet artistic song. There is much in this song to commend it to a much wider audience than is typical of any one of these individual genres. Progressive long at nearly 14 minutes, the group uses a variety of influences to create an evolutionary song that is simultaneously challenging and listenable. This song is the antithesis of shy.

The second song, "Blind Faith," is generally much mellower than the dynamic and explosive first song. The song begins slick and smooth with less heaviness than the first song, sounding almost pop. However, the build up to the chorus puts to flight the thought that this song is anything other than a vicious wolf in sheep's clothing. The charging guitars in the lengthy bridge cracker crunch into the notes leading to a lovely (yes, that is what I meant) piano piece before getting into a bass driven run-up to instruments enthusiastically alternating for the lead until the last vocal set is reached. This song is well-crafted with an excellent balance of art and technical skill.

There is Moody Blues transition between "Blind Faith" and the "Misunderstood." Unless you are watching the track changes you could easily miss the beginning of this track as there is no pause between tracks. "Misunderstood" is one my favorite tracks on this CD. The quiet, slow, introduction lulls you into a passivity that is instantly and violently blown away as the instruments and vocals shatter drivingly into your brain. I think I hear a mellotron in this song, which I always enjoy.

"The Great Debate" takes on the challenge of human stem cell and other human cell research. The song begins with speakers stating portions of the opposing viewpoints, coming from opposite speakers. The complexity of the song matches the complexity of the subject, and the tone of the song is somber and sincere. The music and the lyrics provide ample opportunity to contemplate the content of the lyrics, which summarize the opposing viewpoints nicely (moral and ethical versus practical and beneficial), and suggest that we as a race are at a crossroads of sorts and we need to make a decision. The song suggests that we need to "turn to the light," which I take to mean we need to face this issue rather than turn away, as our decision may define who we are.

The heady moral complexity of the previous song contrasts with the simpler, and yet emotionally more powerful content of "Disappear." Since this song deals with death and loss, some of the lyrics in the previous song are put into perspective, because you sense by the position of this song on the CD that failure of science may have led to the loss felt in this song. Every word sung is painfully wrought and pulled from a deep secret place where you may have thought they were secure. The song has hopeful elements, but the dark nature of the music indicates that the singer is still grieving over the loss of she who gave him hope. This song is one of those that you should listen to only when you are not already feeling morose.

Thus far I have only discussed the first disc of this CD. The second disc deserves its own, completely separate review because it bears no relationship whatsoever to the first disc. In the classic tradition of progressive rock, the second disc is a concept with an introductory instrumental overture that combines some classical elements with hard rock, and an exit finale that sums it all up. In between is an exploration of the human mind, and what can appear to be insanity, or sanity, as there is no single definition for sanity. The music ranges from contemplative to crispy, from idle slow to light speed fast, from quiet to blast-off. This disc contains a concept album to rival some of the best progressive rock music concepts.

When I listen to this two-disc set I hear influences from an array of groups, and I hear something completely new. When I was introduced to this music by another reviewer (now going under the name Samhot), it was so different from anything I had previously heard that it has taken me more than a year to come to grips with the music. This music is faster paced and more complex than early progressive rock. This music brings in modern rock elements, along with music from several other groups, to revitalize progressive rock, which had become somewhat moribund in the 80s and early 90s. The modernization of progressive rock is welcome to an old-timer like me, who has followed progressive rock from its roots in "Sgt. Pepper" to the seminal "Days of Future Passed" and its explosion into a separate genre populated by King Crimson, Yes, Genesis and a few select others. This new generation of artists is giving a new generation of listeners and an old generation of listeners a reason to return to progressive rock.

Note that this CD is an import from Japan. The U.S. release is readily available and costs much less. Choose the version that meets your needs.

A mind-boggling, enthralling batch of music.......2002-10-30

Dream Theater is a truly phenomenal band, featuring five of the most gifted musicians I know. Their music is complex and challenging, not at all for the faint of heart or musically ignorant. This CD continues their fine tradition of producing stimulating and complicated music, and may even take it a step further. Scenes From A Memory, their previous release, took off in a new direction for the band. It was their rock opera, their Tommy, if you will. This album continues that idea in a scaled-back approach, while also looking back to the past with a disc of shorter songs (at least for Dream Theater- 3 of the 5 are still over 10 minutes) and a disc containing only one 42-minute song, albeit in 8 movements.

I will discuss in detail my two favorite works from the album, though I could passionately talk about all of them. The opening track, "The Glass Prison," is a truly amazing piece, encompassing three distinct sections. After a short, slow introduction centered around a bass harmonic idea, the band launches into a fast-and-furious first section, complete with lightning double-bass work by Mike Portnoy, odd time signatures, and a cool wah-wah riff from John Petrucci. The song throws us a curveball by opening with John P. and Mike singing call-and-response vocals in treated, filtered, almost computer-like voices (at least, I think it is John and Mike; if it isn't them, it is one of them with James LaBrie's voice, also highly treated), before James' normal, strong, smooth voice enters the picture, describing a bleak outlook. The first section really starts to take off when the keyboards enter, Jordan Rudess playing a frantic motive while James backs off a bit, singing little half-note ideas ("Fatal descent; spinning around..."). The second section, unbelievably, only turns up the heat, with the background vocals doing their best James Hetfield impression. James L. continues his amazing singing, jumping from angry, busy action on the low end ("I'll be fearless and thorough to enter this temple of hope.") to smooth-tone, pleading vocals ("Help me, I can't break out this prison all alone.") The third section totally switches gears with the drums concentrating on tom-toms, and the guitar playing a beautiful arpeggio part with a pedal upper and a moving bass line. The song ends apruptly with an unnecessary sample of glass breaking.

"Misunderstood," the third track on the first disc, is another highlight. The range of emotion in the song is wide, from complacency and calm to fire and rage to confusion and disbelief. I feel that the song is talking about the undeserved hero-like status that the public places on celebrities. The song opens with a simple but pretty solo guitar part mixing chords with short melodic lines in between. The chords quickly become more complex and jazzy, though, before the keyboards flutter into the mix. The chord progression repeats as James enters. ("Waiting..") The full band enters on a new idea, which ends up being the chorus ("How can I feel abandoned ...?") with John M. playing cello (nice touch!) and some shakers from the percussion end. John M. then moves to bass on the bridge ("It challenges the essence of my soul."), the drums enter sporadically, and there's some nice Mellotron-type work from Jordan. The song then totally explodes, as the guitar feeds back for just a second before the full band comes crashing in on full tilt for another, more angry chorus. The next section would be some sort of development or vamp, and is characterized by a sound I would link to paranoia or dementia. The keyboards dominate here, swirling and swelling in and out, until the harmonized guitar solo enters. The drums sound muffled and filtered, almost electronic. The guitar solo is jagged and discourse, with Petrucci apparently selecting an unique harmony setting on his processor. The bridge then reenters with LaBrie adding some more layers to it, building even more tension than the first run-through. Portnoy throws in yet another of his impossible time-defying fills before the chorus repeats. The song closes with the paranoia section sans guitar solo fading out after about 2 minutes. The song is unbelievable.

The rest of the tracks are still incredible. "Disappear" is probably underrated, it gets better and better with repeated listenings. It is easily the least complex song on the album in terms of playing chops required and technical proficiency, but it is still in 5/4 time, and is slow so requires careful precision and expression. "Blind Faith" has a great verse/chorus discrepancy, as the verses are mellow, while the choruses are powerful. The middle section features a fantastic guitar and keyboard duet along with some astounding drum work. "The Great Debate" has some excellent musical moments and is thought-provoking in its subject matter. The title track on the second disc is loaded with fine moments, some furious, some happy and joyful.

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