During Dream Theater's carrier we have seen many sides of the band. From heavy to epic, commercially attractive to progressive. But on "A Dramatic Turn of Events" is the band taking the safe route by making a mix of ballads, heavy songs and epic mastodons. Maybe the reason for this safe approach is because the band wanted to make it as easy as possible for Mike Mangini to slide in to the band before he starts contributing to the song writing process. Well I do not care are as long as the album sounds good in my ears, which it does.
The single "On The Back of Angels" opens up this album like a technical version of "Pull Me Under". A great song where Mangini directly is showing what he is made of with several difficult fills and edgy beats (listen especially closely around 3:30. The speed Mike is showing is ridiculous). A perfect choice for a single. The commercialism continues on "Build Me Up, Break Me Down". Even though I enjoyed this song I feel that the chorus is a little too mainstream and the musicality is not at top. Such a shame since this song had good potential.
We have a total of four songs that have a length of 10 minutes or longer on this album. Out of the four there is two songs that really stands out and raises the quality of this album to a much higher level. "Lost Not Forgotten" is a good mix between the heavy and the melodic Dream Theater. A thrilling ride where the band is showing of most of their register. But the real top of this album is "Bridges In The Sky" that is very similar to "Lost Not Forgotten" but the chorus here is one of the most beautiful choruses the band has ever made and the technicality is just pure awesomeness. Just the music you would want to hear if you was riding actual bridges up on the sky. The other two mastodons are not the worst I have heard from the band, they are actually great as well but compared to "Bridges In The Sky" and "Lost not Forgotten", "Outcry" and "Break All Illusions" is easily left in the shadows. But they are still worth checking out if you are a Dream theater fan.
We also have three ballads in "A Dramatic Turn of Events" but sadly, they do not cut it for me this time. Out of the three I would say that "This Is The Life" is bringing out the most emotions and has the best musical structure while "Beneath The Surface" is close behind and "Far From Heaven" is just plain boring.
So to answer the question I asked in the begginging, yes, Mike Mangini is a great replacement for Mike Portnoy. His technical skills and perfect timing are just what Dream Theater wants so they can keep doing what the have done for over twenty years. As far as "A Dramatic Turn of Events" goes, it is an unstable album where the long songs rule and the ballads fail. It is far from their worst album but this album is a clear evidence that the band took the safe way to ease it up for their new drummer as much as possible. But for the next album, I expect that Mangini gets in to the writing process and that the band at least tries to write more exciting material. So welcome to the band Mike Mangini. May you have several fun years with one of the best bands in the progressive metal scene.
Songs worthy of recognition: Bridges In The Sky, Lost Not Forgotten, On The Backs of Angels
Rating: 7/10 Outcries
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