Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002)

With one of the best concept album made by any band behind them, Dream Theater went in to the 21st century as one of the biggest bands in progressive metal. But there was one problem. How would they top "Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From A Memory"? Well the band thought that the only way to follow up such a fantastic conceptual album is to write a bigger conceptual album. "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" is over one and a half hours long and extracts itself into two separate discs. Although there is only six songs on this albums the title track takes up one disc itself with a length of 42 minutes which makes this song the longest song the band has ever written. So yeah, this album is not for the weak listeners.

The overall concept of the first half of the album is the struggles we sometimes face in life which includes alcoholism, death, self-isolation and more. In the second disc, we get to follow the journeys of six individuals with different illnesses. I definitely dig the concept but I feel it is still a little weaker than the concept on "Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From A Memory". It just does not have the same dazzling strengths. Never the less it is still a concept worthy of digging deeper in to.

Out of the two discs I would say that the second disc is the stronger but the first disc has it moments. It starts of great with "The Glass Prison", a dazzling song that continues on where the last album ended (literally since "The Glass Prison" starts with the same roaring Noise that ended "Finally Free"). Such a great epic and a perfect way to kick of this album. The following song "Blind Faith" also makes a decent impression on me with a good structure and fine work on the keyboard by Jordan Rudess. But after that it goes somewhat downhill since no other song on the first disc holds the same standards. Do not get me wrong, the tracks 3-5 is no horrible songs but you will probably not be blown away by them. For instance, "Misunderstood" is overall a good song but it feels like some kind of a whining is going through. Also add a annoying ending that is completely useless. There are some good intentions in all these songs on disc 1 but no one (except "The Glass Prison") reaches all the way through.

So let us all jump in to the second disc instead. It is there the magic truly lies. And if you can not stand a song that reaches over 10 minutes then you will probably be pleased to hear that the title track is divided into 8 individual songs that together creates one of the meatiest songs known by man. Individually the songs differ from beautiful and spiritual slow-tempos songs ("Solitary Shell", "About To Crash") to more fast paced and technical metal ("War Inside My Head", "The Test That Stumped Them All"). A good mix of songs that makes the whole disc diverse and unpredictable. Just as we all want it to be. I think that the faster songs are the better parts of the title track since they really reflect on the struggles that the characters on the songs is experiencing. It is also on those song where the band is showing a great amount of skills.

A great overall concept but I am missing that true Dream Theater magic that we experienced on the bands greatest albums. The overall quality of the songs is lower than normal and I have a really hard time to enjoy this album completely. But I still think this is a valid effort from the band but with the quality Dream Theater possesses I know that they got an extra level or two to put in to their music.

Songs worthy of recognition: The Glass Prison, The Test That Stumped Them All, Blind Faith

Rating: 7/10 Solitary Shells

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Falling Into Infinity
Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory
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Black Clouds & Silver Linings
A Dramatic Turn of Events
S/T
The Astonishing

Distance Over Time