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Dream Theater: Octavarium

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Atlantic Records
Released: 2005.06.07
Time:
 75:44
Category: Progressive Rock
Producer(s): John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.dreamtheater.net
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2016
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] The Root of All Evil (Dream Theater) - 8:25
     VI. Ready - 3:58
     VII. Remove - 4:28
[2] The Answer Lies Within (Dream Theater) - 5:33
[3] These Walls (Dream Theater) - 7:36
[4] I Walk Beside You (Dream Theater) - 4:29
[5] Panic Attack (Dream Theater) - 8:13
[6] Never Enough (Dream Theater) - 6:46
[7] Sacrificed Sons (Dream Theater) - 10:42
[8] Octavarium (Dream Theater) - 24:00
     I. Someone Like Him - 8:47
     II. Medicate (Awakening) - 5:01
     III. Full Circle - 4:37
     IV. Intervals - 1:23
     V. Razor's Edge - 4:08

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


James LaBrie – lead vocals
John Petrucci – guitar, backing vocals, producer
Jordan Rudess – keyboards, continuum, lap steel guitar
John Myung – bass
Mike Portnoy – drums, backing vocals, producer

Jamshied Sharifi - Strings Arrangement & Conductor
Jill Dell'Abate - Orchestral Contractor

Orchestra on [7,8]:
Elena Barere - Concert Master
Katharine Fong - Violin
Ann Lehmann - Violin
Katherine Livolsi-Stern - Violin
Laura McGinniss - Violin
Catherine Ro - Violin
Ricky Sortomme - Violin
Yuri Vodovoz - Violin
Vincent Lionti - Viola
Karen Dreyfus - Viola
Richard Locker - Celli
Jeanne LeBlanc - Celli
Pamela Sklar - Flute
Joe Anderer - French Horn
Stewart Rose - French Horn

String quartet on [2]:
Elena Barere - Violin
Carol Webb - Violin
Vincent Lionti - Viola
Richard Locker - Celli

Doug Oberkircher - Engineer
Colleen Culhane - Assistant Engineer
Kaori Kinoshita - Assistant Engineer
Ryan Simms - Assistant Engineer
Bert Baldwin - Additional Studio Assistance
Michael H. Brauer - Mixing
Keith Gary - Assistant & Pro Tools Engineer
Will Hensley - Second Assistant
Pyr Osh - Mastering
George Marino - Mastering
Hugh Syme - Art Direction, Design, Illustrations
Colin Lane - Photography
Frank Solomon - Management

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Recorded in November 2004 – February 2005 at The Hit Factory in New York City.



Prog rockers Dream Theater tallied 19 years as a band with the release of Octavarium, but in listening you're apt to suspect otherwise. As a collective they remain as tight as they were on 2003's obsessively dark Train of Thought (like all music-school outfits, they've exacted an all-for-one formula that doesn't allow a single player more than his share of swagger), but a post-hardcore edge -- call it a leap into 2005 -- has invaded their pledge of allegiance to theatrical heavy rock. Hear it on "I Walk Beside You" and "The Answer Lies Within," both of which, at under five minutes, play like charming haikus from a band known for its epic poetry, and also on the orchestra-backed 20-plus-minute final cut, which skips around from Pink Floyd to Rush to Black Sabbath influences, stopping off every so often at a place fans of My Chemical Romance might find familiar. As with all the band's discs, guitars loom large and both doom and redemption seem no further than the next twisted verse. What's changed is Dream Theater's commitment to carrying on their reputation as underground progressive rock's classicists, and it seems well-timed.

Rating: 3.5/5

Tammy La Gorce - All Music guide



The leaders of the modern progressive hard rock movement are back with their eighth full-length. Wrapped up in always-cool art from Hugh Syme, the excitement pretty much ends there. Octavarium finds the band pulling in the reigns a bit, and while some standard prog-rock trademarks remain (keyboard solos, melodramatic crooning, etc.), there's nothing that blows any minds here, or even gives a mild bend; hell, a good chunk of this disc feels like basic radio rock from the local old-guy bar band. The production is crisp and clear (the best part about the album, really), but even drummer Mike Portnoy seems to reel things in so much he basically sounds like an incredibly solid yet straight-laced drummer here. Sure, there's still really long songs, but apart from that, this just feels like 76 minutes of overdramatic rock, too heavy on the light and weak, and not enough time spent on just showing off, which is really why we come to this band, isn't it?

Greg Pratt - Aug 01, 2005
Exclaim!



There was a time when you knew exactly what progressive rock act Dream Theater were going to emerge with from album to album. But that all changed with the release of their fifth full-length release Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory in 1999. Since then, every release from the New York based five piece act (Consisting of vocalist James LaBrie, guitarist John Petrucci, bassist John Myung, keyboardist Jordan Rudess and drummer/percussionist Mike Portnoy) has been a complete turn around in sound and style from it's predecessor in an attempt to keep things interesting (Both for the band and the fans themselves), and to keep them from treading familiar ground time and time again (A common fault amongst progressive acts).

So it comes as no surprise to find that after the very metallic and heavy Train Of Thought from 2003, Dream Theater would return with another shift in direction, and that's exactly what they've done with their eighth full-length release Octavarium (Hence the rather unique title and the associated artwork from Hugh Syme). The album begins with a certain amount of familiarity as The Root Of All Evil is a continuation of the Portnoy penned lyrical themes based around A.A. (Which began with The Glass Prison on 2002's Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence and This Dying Soul on Train Of Thought), with a variety of borrowed riffs, ideas and structures from the previous songs. But unlike the previous two, there's a certain amount of restraint that ensures there's plenty of melodic accessibility this time around, but heavy enough (Especially with Petrucci's guitar work) to bridge Train Of Thought through to Octavarium, and give the album a solid starting point.

Always one to throw the cat amongst the pigeons (Fans in other words), the follow up track The Answer Lies Within moves straight into ballad territory, and with a little help from a string quartet, the song allows LaBrie to really show the maturity his voice has attained in recent years. Having said that, the songs placing on the album (A ballad so soon into the track listing) is perhaps a little questionable. While not entirely a ballad, the subdued These Walls is another slower track that emphasises the song writing ability of the band outside of the over the top progressive style commonly associated with them in recent years (It also shows incredible restraint from Rudess in particular for not over playing the moment), while I Walk Beside You could easily be a throw back to days of 1992's Images And Words with it's overtly commercial appeal and strong sing along chorus.

While the general direction of the last (Slower) three tracks will no doubt have some fans questioning Dream Theater's current direction, the rapid fire attack of Panic Attack soon returns the progressive flavour back into the album, and is primarily a track that could have easily fitted on Train Of Thought with it's overall heaviness. Although hinted in part on the previous track, Never Enough (Which, like As I Am on Train Of Thought, is directed at overly fickle fans) is unashamedly influenced by Muse in more ways than one (Meaning in both the musical and vocal sense), but still maintains the core heavy Dream Theater sound at it's heart. The first track to feature orchestration to it's full extent is Sacrificed Sons (Which could easily be seen as the unofficial sequel to the 9/11 inspired track In The Name Of God lyrically), and at ten minutes long, it sees the band stretch out the more progressive side of their musical capabilities (Especially Rudess and the often 'missed in the mix' Myung) than a lot of the material on the album.

And then there's the final, and title track Octavarium. This track alone will no doubt gather the most attention from fans, and it's with good reason. Not unlike 1995's A Change Of Seasons (In the way it's put together, not sound wise), Octavarium stretches for twenty-four minutes in total (Spread over five chapters), and is another Dream Theater classic in the true progressive sense. The opening four minutes could well have been lifted from Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here album, followed by a lengthy ballad like section (Someone Like Him). The rest of the band soon pick up mid way through for Medicate (Awakening) before really dipping into '70's progressive era Genesis in Full Circle (In which Portnoy name checks his favourite progressive songs and bands). The second last movement Intervals revisits moments that resemble Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence while progressively gets darker and angrier (With some shattering screaming from LaBrie in the closing moments), while the finale Razor's Edge brings back the orchestration in a slow breakdown in true soundtrack style.

In a way, the best way to describe the sound that lies on Octavarium is somewhere between Images And Words, Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence and Train Of Thought, but all the while Dream Theater have forged ahead in a new direction in places. Octavarium is diverse, melodic and hard hitting all at the same time, and while it's worthiness lies purely in the eye of the behold, I can safely say that if you're a Dream Theater fan of the albums mentioned above, you'll more than likely find Octavarium something close to the what you personally consider is the best Dream Theater album to date.

Justin Donnelly - 30/06/2005
© 2016 The Metal Forge



Octavarium is the eighth studio album by American progressive metal/rock band Dream Theater. Released on June 7, 2005, it was the band's final release with Atlantic Records. Recorded between September 2004 and February 2005, the album holds the distinction of being the last album ever recorded at The Hit Factory in New York City. With Octavarium, the band decided to create "a classic Dream Theater album", drawing upon their various stylistic influences while trying to make the music less complex. The album takes as its creative concept the musical octave. Octavarium peaked in the top five in the Finnish, Italian, and Swedish charts, and in the top ten in the Dutch, Japanese, and Norwegian charts. Critical reception of the album was generally positive; the diversity of the music was praised, although critics found some of the songwriting to be inconsistent. Dream Theater promoted the album on a year-long world tour, with the majority of concerts lasting almost three hours and featuring a different setlist each night. The tour finished at Radio City Music Hall accompanied by an orchestra; this performance was recorded and released as a live album and concert video entitled Score. They co-headlined the 2005 North American Gigantour with Megadeth.

After completing a North American tour supporting one of their main influences, Yes, in summer 2004, Dream Theater took a two-month break. The band reconvened at The Hit Factory in New York City in November 2004 to begin work on their eighth studio album. The Hit Factory, a studio in which artists such as Michael Jackson, Madonna, Stevie Wonder, U2 and John Lennon had recorded, was earmarked for closure. Dream Theater was the last band to record there before it was permanently closed. After writing the concept album Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory, the double album Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence and the metal-focused Train of Thought, the band decided to create "a classic Dream Theater album". Keyboardist Jordan Rudess described it as "really going back to creating a real band effort, as well as drawing upon all our various stylistic influences." On Octavarium, the band wanted to make the music less complex, featuring songs which Rudess regards as "quicker to appreciate", although noted that the twenty-four-minute "Octavarium" was not as accessible. Guitarist John Petrucci noted that they wanted to focus on writing strong songs. To achieve this, the band stripped the sound down to piano, guitar and vocals when writing, focusing on the melodies and song structures. Drummer Mike Portnoy dismissed claims that Octavarium was an attempt to write a more commercial album, stating that the band simply "[has] that side to [them]. We love bands like U2 or Coldplay, as well as liking shorter songs as well." Portnoy noted that, after writing Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence and Train of Thought, they had not written an album of shorter songs for some time. He said that the band had found writing longer songs easier than writing shorter ones, and that the band was not trying to write a radio hit as "the label wouldn't have done crap with it anyway."The band had previously written an orchestral-style piece in the form of "Overture" on Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, but recorded it using keyboards. The tracks "The Answer Lies Within", "Sacrificed Sons" and "Octavarium" marked the first time Dream Theater worked with an orchestra, conducted by Jamshied Sharifi (who studied at Berklee College of Music at the same time as Portnoy, Petrucci and bassist John Myung). The orchestra was selected based on their sight reading ability, allowing all their parts to be recorded in a maximum of two takes, even though they had never seen or played the music before. Sharifi would later go on to conduct the Octavarium Orchestra on Dream Theater's Score album.

When starting to work on what would become Octavarium, Portnoy noted that it would be their eighth studio album and that they had recently released their fifth live album, Live at Budokan. This sequence mirrored the octave on a musical keyboard: each octave contains eight naturals and five accidentals. Portnoy suggested that they use that concept for the entire album. When writing, the band delegated each song a different key. Sound effects were placed between songs to connect them: for example, "The Root of All Evil", written in F, and the following track, "The Answer Lies Within", written in G, were connected by a sound effect in the key of F#. The album's lyrics and song titles featured references to this concept. Portnoy cited the titles "The Root of all Evil" (referring to the musical term "root") and "Octavarium" ("the octave of the octave") as two examples of this. Octavarium begins "The Root of All Evil" with the final note of the band's previous album, Train of Thought with "In the Name of God". Train of Thought started "As I Am" with the last note from Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence with the title track, which in turn started with the noise that ended Scenes from a Memory at the end of "Finally Free". Portnoy was inspired to do this thanks to the Van Halen album Women and Children First; the outro of the album's final song ended with a new riff being played which faded out. Portnoy recalled that he expected Van Halen's next album to start with that ending riff, but was disappointed when it did not. He later realized he had "dug a hole where we're expected to do it every time". He solved this problem on Octavarium, where the final track ends with the beginning of the first one. This made the album a cycle in itself, allowing the band to have a clean start with their next album. At 04:52–5:17, there is a lyrical and musical reference to the chorus of "This Dying Soul" from Train of Thought.

"The Root of All Evil" is the third part of Portnoy's Twelve-step Suite, a set of songs from various Dream Theater albums which describe his journey through Alcoholics Anonymous. The song contains parts six and seven of the suite: "Ready" and "Remove". "The Answer Lies Within" and "I Walk Beside You" are the two shortest tracks on the album. Rudess regards them as radio-friendly songs which still maintain Dream Theater's style. Portnoy wrote the lyrics to "Never Enough" as a response to fans who Portnoy perceived to complain about every thing that Dream Theater did. Portnoy stated that while he appreciated the devotion of Dream Theater's fans, he was frustrated because he was "constantly tearing [himself] away from [his] family" to give more to the fans. He found it discouraging that, even though he spent "countless nights" writing special setlists and the band spent days rehearsing, some fans would still complain that they went to a show and did not hear "Pull Me Under". "It's discouraging and makes me crazy sometimes," he said. "Sacrificed Sons", at just over ten minutes long, is the second-longest song on the album. Its lyrics, written by vocalist James LaBrie, deal with the September 11 attacks. Rudess noted that the band enjoyed writing about more serious topics instead of love songs. When working on the lyrics, LaBrie said that there was "a lot of discussion" about the song's wording and how direct it should be. The title track "Octavarium" is the longest track on the album, at 24:00. Petrucci stated that the band wanted to write an epic song that thematically developed and would use an orchestra. The band was heavily influenced by the progressive rock sound of Genesis, Yes and Pink Floyd. The instrumental introduction, heavily influenced by Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", was performed by Rudess using a lap steel guitar and Continuum. Additionally, there are many references to other progressive rock songs in the lyrics.

Hugh Syme provided the artwork for Octavarium. The idea of depicting a giant Newton's cradle was born out of discussions between Syme and Portnoy. The two talked about how "for everything you do in music you create either a cluster or triad", according to Syme. "And then it became evident that for every action there is an opposite reaction. So I thought we could do something based on the Newton's cradle." There are numerous references to the numbers five and eight throughout the artwork, alluding to the album's concept. For example, the Newton's cradle has eight suspended balls, and there are five birds on the cover. The album booklet features an octagonal maze, spider and octopus, among other references. The landscape on the cover is made up of a sky and grass from Indiana, and a background from the Lake District.

A week before the scheduled release of Octavarium, Portnoy shut down the official Dream Theater and Mike Portnoy forums. Blabbermouth.net reported that this was in response to the album being leaked. Portnoy stated that "[he] chose to do this mainly [emphasis removed] to build anticipation for the big 'official' unveiling next week", although noted that "the repeated requests to refrain from spoilers and links for the new album against the band's wishes were frustrating". Octavarium was released on June 7, 2005. It was their final album with Atlantic Records, ending a contract which had lasted fourteen years. Although in recent years the band had been allowed creative freedom, they were dissatisfied by the lack of promotion the label offered them. Portnoy released a DVD entitled Drumavarium in 2005, containing footage of his drum performance from the Octavarium recording sessions. Rudess released a solo piano version of "The Answer Lies Within" on his 2009 album Notes on a Dream. "Panic Attack" is featured as a playable song in Rock Band 2, where it is listed as the hardest song for both bass and drums.

Octavarium reached the top five in the Finnish, Italian, and Swedish charts, as well as the top ten in the Dutch, Japanese, and Norwegian charts. Critical reception of the album was generally positive. Writing for Blistering, Justin Donnelly praised the album as "diverse, melodic and hard hitting all at the same time", ranking it as one of Dream Theater's best releases. He particularly praised the title track, considering it to be "another Dream Theater classic". Billboard considered the results of the band's attempt to write shorter songs and use warmer instrumental textures to be "excellent", particularly praising "The Root of All Evil", "These Walls" and "I Walk Beside You". Harley Carlson of MetalReview.com regarded Octavarium as "successfully [showcasing] the band's ability to craft emotive music," although noted that it is "unquestionably Dream Theater, yet there is something missing." Vik Bansal of musicOMH praised "Never Enough", "Panic Attack" and "Sacrificed Sons", but dismissed "The Root of All Evil" as "Dream Theater by the numbers". He criticized "Octavarium" as "bloated", although noted that fans of the band's A Change of Seasons would enjoy it. He said that "there's enough on the remainder of Octavarium to keep the rest of us interested and the prog rock haters whining dismissively". Writing for Exclaim!, Greg Pratt praised the album's artwork and production, but said that "there’s nothing that blows any minds here, or even gives a mild bend; hell, a good chunk of this disc feels like basic radio rock from the local old-guy bar band". He noted that although there were some longer songs on the album, "this just feels like 76 minutes of overdramatic rock, too heavy on the light and weak, and not enough time spent on just showing off". Donnelly considered Octavarium to be "somewhere between Images and Words, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence and Train of Thought". Carlson stated that the album "draws closest comparison to Falling into Infinity and Metropolis II: Scenes from a Memory, but with far less complexity and edge." Tammy La Gorce of AllMusic noted that "a post-hardcore edge - call it a leap into 2005 - has invaded [the band's] pledge of allegiance to theatrical heavy rock... What's changed is Dream Theater's commitment to carrying on their reputation as underground progressive rock's classicists, and it seems well-timed." Critics noted a strong Muse influence on some tracks, on some cases generating negative reviews.

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