Octavarium

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. ~ Tammy La Gorce

ここ最近リリースの間隔が異常に短いにも関わらず、質の高い作品を連発しまくる夢劇場。前作から1年半、その間ライヴやソロ活動をしていたことを考えると驚異のペースで発表された新作は、今までと同様〈押し〉の楽曲にも圧倒されるが、24分に及ぶラストの大曲を含めた静なる楽曲の深さが絶品!　ピンク・フロイドも真っ青の知的な作品に仕上がっているから驚きだ。16年目にしてようやく本気を出してきたのか?
bounce (C)山口 晃司