Dream Theater - "Black Clouds and Silver Linings"

Dream Theater
"Black Clouds and Silver Linings"
Roadrunner Records
Released June 23, 2009

In which prog superstars Dream Theater channel their inner Rush fanboy. Sure, there is plenty of crunch, speed and blinding solos, but the shadow of the Canadian arena rockers looms large over most of Dream Theater's new CD, from the Hugh Syme album cover to the guitar riffs and drum runs on "The Best of Times." Indeed, the final track, the epic "Count of Tuscany," almost shamelessly steals from Rush.

The disc is also Dream Theater's most mainstream offering in over 10 years, from the power ballad "Wither" to the previously mentioned "The Best of Times," a tribute to Portnoy's father, who passed away during the recording sessions.

That's not to say Dream Theater has hidden its speed metal side - the opening "A Nightmare to Remember" is one of the band's heaviest tracks, and is marred only by drummer Mike Portnoy's cookie monster vocals at the end.

In fact "Black Clouds" is probably the most "Dream Theater-esque" album they have put out in quite a while - the prog virtuosity is balanced well with the heaviness throughout the disc and the result is as strong as 2000's "Scenes From a Memory" or Dream Theater's 1992 breakthrough "Images and Words".

"The Shattered Fortress" concludes Portnoy's 12-step suite, five songs, one from each of Dream Theater's last five albums, examining Portnoy's recovery from alcoholism, with plenty of musical allusions to previous songs in the cycle.

The only real flaw is the cookie monster vocals, but they are only used in a couple of small places on the album. (Thankfully!) An aside: Can someone explain the whole cookie monster vocal thing to me? Please?

The album is also available in a three-cd version, which has a disc of instrumental versions of all of the songs, and another disc of cover tunes from inspirational bands, including Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow ("Stargazer") and King Crimson ("Larks Tongues in Aspic Pt. II").