Rapid Fire Reviews: Episode 2

Rapid Fire Reviews is a series where I give some quick takes on some albums I recently listened to and did not have enough thoughts on to make a full scale review. Today's episode takes us through a double album, a sophomore effort, a trip to the underworld of Norse mythology, and more. Enjoy your reading, and stay metal.

Demon Hunter - Peace
Demon Hunter - War

Demon Hunter is a great band who have carved out a nice little career, but they have never seemed to pull off an entire album, so obviously they go with the double now to double up the disappointment. Both "Peace" and "War" are exactly what you would expect from the band, with "Peace" showing their more mellow side, and "War" their heavier. In terms of quality, both albums are pretty even, not pulling away from one another in a drag race, but the consistency is a whole different story. "Peace" is much more consistent in its sound, but the true highlights are few, while "War" has some great songs like "Grey Matter" and "The Negative", but there are moments in here that would fit in with "Peace", making this concept a little weaker than it should be. It is as it always is with Demon Hunter, you get a bunch of cool songs you can add to your playlist, but the albums leave little to no impact.

Rating: 6/10 Lesser Gods

Oh, and if you were wondering, "Peace" is to me the slightly better record, thanks to its consistency.

Mark Morton - Anesthetic

Spotify has this thing called "Metal Talks", where metal bands get to talk about their new album and their career so far. It is always interesting to listen to these sound clips because you get more insight on both the band and especially their new material. Mark Morton is in the latest episode, talking for instance about how he got in touch with several of the guest artists that contributed for his first solo record (Chester Bennington, Jacoby Shaddix, Myles Kennedy, just to name a few). Unfortunately, it did not really change my view of "Anesthetic", which I think is sort of the same as Slash's first solo record. It is diverse for sure, but it does not have a red line that ties it all together, not even Mark's famous groovy riff style appears on all songs. There are hits, and there are misses, making "Anesthetic" an interesting, but also a pretty rocky experience. Those who liked him in Lamb of God should give this one a try, just do not expect much metal from it.

Rating: 6,5/10 Blurs

Spirits of Fire - S/T

Oh Tim "Ripper" Owens, you never seem to find your place in the metal world. The former Judas Priest and Iced Earth singer has been searching for a main stay band for quite some time now, and in 2018 he just went for broke, starting up three different projects in hopes to see if anything sticks. Spirits of Fire is one of these three bands, a US power metal group containing Chris Caffrey from Savatage, Steve DiGiorgio from Testament, and former Fates Warning drummer Mark Zonder. It is a good group of veterans that is creating some nice melodic heavy metal that is reminiscent of Dio, Iced Earth, and also Fight. Chris' guitar work is especially splendid, coming with some great riffs and solos. It is not something that is gonna blow your mind though, but it is consistent enough to give a fair shot. It is certainly better than The Three Tremors (not an impressive achievement exactly).

Rating: 7/10 Temples of The Soul

The Raven Age - Conspiracy

I reviewed the debut of The Raven Age about two years ago, stating that the band definitely have some talent, but needs to restrain themselves, not rushing things so that they have time to create more dynamic music. Well, here we are with their sophomore effort "Conspiracy", and it is more versatile alright, but also much more inconsistent. The band have become a little more alternative in their metal style, losing most of the dark, eerie sound they established in "Darkness Will Rise", which is a shame since I think they could have taken that to more interesting places. "Conspiracy" does show some promise still, having a nice variety to it and all, but the overall picture is kind of bleak, not standing out at all as something that will be long lasting. At best, "Conspiracy" is a bland record with some small high points in its song writing, but it is never a good thing when the album cover is the best part of the record.

Rating: 5,5/10 Surrogates

Týr - Hel

The viking kings of The Faroe Islands are back at their own shores after their largest quest yet, and their newest offering "Hel" is showing a band hungry for new music. If you have heard these guys before, you know mostly what you are gonna get, great power metal about Norse mythology while also throwing in some lessons in the Faroe language. It is a fun time from first second to last, and for fans who have been waiting a long time for these guys to once again appear will rejoice. I do think though that "Hel" is a little too meaty for its own good, clocking in at 1 hour and 9 minutes. Týr could have easily cut away some songs to give this record more of an impact, maybe save a couple of them for the next album. Oh well, this album ended up feeling more like Valhalla than Hel anyway, so why complain.

Rating: 7,5/10 Sunset Shores

Helloween - Keeper of The Seven Keys: The Legacy (2005)

Going through this discography so far, it is fair to say that Helloween is more than just what the "Keeper..." series has eluded to. The band has created a lot of great music over the years, which has certainly helped them stay relevant during the course, but it is those two legendary albums that fans keeps coming back to, that completely over shadows every other achievement the band has done, which is a crying shame. So from that perspective, it is easy to see why the band took another shot at the series, to see if they could strike lightning in a bottle again with an expansive concept set in this world they have created themselves, to see if they could add anything to its legacy. Gotta admire the confidence of the guys, because it is basically a suicide mission from the start.

The first question that comes up is how you can recreate a legendary (or in this case, two) album with a completely different line-up. The answer, you can't. Let us be clear here, "Keeper of The Seven Keys: The Legacy" certainly has moments that is reminiscent of its predecessors where the band is soaring on those eagle wings again, but as a whole it has more in common with more recent efforts like "The Dark Ride" and "Rabbit Don't Come Easy", having a heavier and darker edge to the music. It is a nice blend of styles, and it is necessary since it is hard to recreate that classic sound. For instance, Andi Deris cannot carry those high soaring vocal parts as Michael Kiske can, thereby the music does not get as much of an impact, making some of the more nostalgic bits in here not as good.

Then it is fair to wonder how many asked for a continuation of this series, 17 years after the last album. Well, whether the fans wanted it or not, they got a mouthful to say the least, 1 hour and 17 minutes of music split into two discs to be exact. It is an incredibly meaty record that takes its time to get through, and it shows. Out of the 13 songs in here, I would say that there are about 5 fillers in here, and each of the opening tracks are over 10 minutes long (which is the opposite tactic from the first two albums that both ended with a 10+ minute song). This is definitely way too excessive, and also an obvious sign that the band was feeling themselves, going for broke as much as they could.

Despite their length though, both of the mastodons "The King For A 1000 Years" and "Occasion Avenue" are two fine highlights of this record, showing once again that the group are excellent at writing long tunes. "The King..." opens up nicely to tie together the past and present Helloween in a dark opener that sets the mood spot on. "Occasion Avenue" is more of the modern era though, having this apocalyptic choir that haunts the listener, bone heavy riffs to make a bigger impact, and a great, epic chorus to seal the deal. They say "Occasion Avenue" a couple times too many though, making sure that the listener does not forget what the song was called again.

As far as comparing the two discs, I would say the first disc is the better one, with a consistency that is impressive, from the nostalgic "The Invisible Man", the adrenaline fueled "Silent Rain", and the incredibly fun and catchy "Mrs. God". Only real downer on that disc is "Pleasure Drone", otherwise the first disc is a great album by itself. The second disc absolutely has its moments, like "Shade In The Shadow", "My Life For One More Day", and the previously mentioned "Occasion Avenue", but it is in here we find most of the boring fillers, which makes the entire endgame a much longer journey than it had to be. Songs like "Come Alive" and "Do You Know What You're Fighting For" should have been left out, because they do not add anything besides some story context.

It ultimately stands clear though that "Keeper of The Seven Keys: The Legacy" might not reach the same heights as its older brothers, but then again, who the hell expected that? This is a record that is way too long for comfort, but there is still enough good quality in here to go around for everyone. With an eye looking in the past, and another looking towards the future, Helloween has created a record that fits the legacy of the band nicely, displaying some mighty fine songwriting from a group that is as confident as ever. Only time will tell if this is truly the last we will hear from the keeper and his seven keys, but I think I speak for most of us that we do not need another sequel, just let the legacy be.

Songs worthy of recognition: Shade In The Shadow, The Invisible Man, Mrs. God, Occasion Avenue

Rating: 7,5/10 Pleasure Drones

www.helloween.org/
twitter.com/helloweenorg

More reviews of Helloween
Walls of Jericho
Keeper of The Seven Keys: Part 1
Keeper of The Seven Keys: Part 2
Pink Bubbles Go Ape
Chameleon
Master of The Rings
The Time of The Oath
Better Than Raw
The Dark Ride
Rabbit Don't Come Easy
Gambling With The Devil
7 Sinners
Straight Out of Hell
My God-Given Right

Fallujah - Undying Light (2019)

The progressive death metal scene has expanded a lot in the last years, with new bands coming and going quicker than you can say "Wacky wavy inflatable arm flailing tube men", so to stay relevant in this ever evolving genre, you have to be on your toes. The Bay Area boys of Fallujah quickly became a favourite for many with their atmospheric take on the genre, standing out as a unique force of beautiful brutality that reached its peak with the 2016 release "Dreamless". Everything seemed to go in the right way for the group, but here we are three years later, with their fourth record entitled "Undying Light", and with a tide that has seemingly turned on them.

So the biggest change with the band during these three years is in the line up. Co-founder and vocalist Alex Hofmann left the band in 2017, and has since been replaced by Antonio Palermo, thereby changing the sound drastically. Let me be clear from the get go, Antonio is a capable singer, but he is a completely different singer than Alex was, having more of a screaming type that fits more into any of the -core genres. His style of vocals just does not fit in to what the band is trying to do, his high pitch screams ruins the mood that the backing instruments are trying to set, ultimately becoming a distraction. It becomes sort of the same situation that happened to Mötley Crüe when John Corabi replaced Vince Neil for a short period of time, a good vocalist in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Antonio can breath easy that he is not the only problem with "Undying Light", because I dislike the production even more. It might seem like the production is sort of the same as in "Dreamless", but everything in this record is just louder, trying way to hard to get some attention. "Dreamless" was loud too, but only in moments, hitting hard when it needed to. This record goes hard on everything, which makes it lose a ton of that dynamic songwriting that is buried somewhere. It is an incredibly monotone record that secretly has a lot of creativity in it, but it never shows unless you pay an unhealthy amount of concentration towards it.

The most disappointing part about "Undying Light" is probably the fact that there is so much great music not getting the spotlight it deserves. There are several juicy bits in here that makes you remember what this band is capable of, parts like the flowing chugging in "Dopamine", the vibrant melodies of "Sanctuary", the mad blast beats of "Eyes Like The Sun" and "Departure", and the hypnotizing rhythm of "Ultraviolet". This is a record filled with goodies with a bitter after taste, which makes it more frustrating than it have any right to be. It also does not help that the ambient aspect of the band's sound is all but gone now, which is another blow to lovers of the previous records.

So yeah, "Undying Light" is an early front runner in the not so flattering category "Disappointment of the year", mostly because it has small threads of what makes Fallujah so awesome, but do not do anything creative with those bits, while incorporating things that just does not work. I have faith in Fallujah that they will bounce back in the next record, they are talented enough to understand what they can do better and how to utilize their new additions to make more astonishing music. Until then, just go back to "Dreamless" or "The Flesh Prevails" and relish in the great music the band has produced thus far, because "Undying Light" is not a good representation of what Fallujah can be.

Songs worthy of recognition: Ultraviolet, Eyes Like The Sun, Departure

Rating: 5,5/10 Glass Houses

www.facebook.com/fallujahofficial
twitter.com/Fallujahbayarea

More reviews of Fallujah
Dreamless

Source - Totality (2019)

We first got to know the Americans in Source back in 2016 with their debut "Return To Nothing", a progressive metal band that instantly impressed with their delicate song writing and sense of atmosphere. Even if that album had a lot of Tool comparisons to it, you could still see a talented band that was just getting started, a group that have hopes of making music that is meaningful. So now that the sophomore effort "Totality" is here, let us ask the ultimate question, is the band on the verge of breaking out, or do we get another collection of Tool clones that might make the wait for that ever elusive follow up to "10,000 days" a little less painful, but also shows that Source is not capable of much more?

So the first thing you will notice while going through the track list in "Totality" is that the length of the songs are far shorter than those on "Return To Nothing", which is an obvious sign that the music is not gonna be the same, something the album later confirms when that play button is pressed. It is still that type of floaty progressive metal with some crunchy riffs added that we first heard from the band, but the Tool influence is not as present this time around, with the band being more grounded in reality instead of that trippy kaleidoscope realm.

You can see that the band has been hard at work trying to create its own identity, and the work seem to have paid off, with added influences coming from bands such as Opeth, Mastodon and Leprous. These influences makes "Totality" a more versatile album that does not flat line anywhere throughout its run time. Most of the music in here has that smooth surface that flows through your ear holes like a spring river, but the group has learned to roughen up their sound as well, adding some nice, heavy bits to give the music a bit of a more complex texture.

The strength is still when the band finds the zone, where the music phases the listener to a different state of mind, one that only contains bliss. Mesmerizing songs like "Sinking" and "Intimacy" are just a wonder to behold, two prime examples of how moving music can be. It is however a musical style that does not do all to well when you listen to it repeatedly in a short amount of time, gets pretty tiresome after a while, so the life expectancy of "Totality" will only be long if you restrain yourself a little. Another issue I have is that while Ben Gleason is a fine vocalist, he does tend to be kind of monotone in this record, not getting through all of the emotions. Nothing that bothers me all that much, but it does keep "Totality" from being a home run hit.

As far as a sophomore effort goes, "Totality" is just what you would want to hear. It has the spirit of the debut, while also adding new ideas and keeps on experimenting to create that perfect metal brew that will hopefully turn into a successful career. Source certainly has the chops to make it, and this record definitely shows that they are more than just a simple Tool copy. Lovers of atmospheric prog should not miss out on this one.

Songs worthy of recognition: Sinking, Benjamin, Intimacy, Unsure

Rating: 7,5/10 Philiacs

www.listentosource.com
twitter.com/listentosource

More reviews of Source
Return To Nothing

Children of Bodom - Hexed (2019)

Children of Bodom is back! Well, that is what most people are saying when they first hear the Finnish melodic death metal legend's 10th studio offering "Hexed", and to that I respond with the following words, they never left. Sure, the band is easily categorized into two categories, pre-"Hate Crew Death Roll", and post-"Hate Crew Death Roll", with most people (as it commonly is with metal bands in general) preferring the earlier version of CoB. Personally, I think there is a charm to each of the eras, not thinking that one is better than the other (although I do admit that some albums in the second era are more inconsistent). So let us see if "Hexed" is truly a return to good old form.

So there is definitely an aura of nostalgia going throughout this record, from the murky painting like album cover that might have suited a doom band better (and also makes Roy look like a brittle old lady), and also through the music. There is a raw aggression to this record that certainly takes your mind back to that original trio of records that kickstarted the band's career. Songs like "Kick In A Spleen" (what a title!) and the title track are some of the heaviest tracks the band has done in years without adding too much of their patented melodies. It is pretty cool to see that these guys still know how to be brutal.

Still, "Hexed" is through and through more of what we have seen from the band in the last decade or so, where it is the mad technical work of the keyboard and the guitars that takes the charge. "Under Grass And Clover" displays this the best, having this almost happy main lead to be the building block of this fun, but surely divisive song. There are more songs in here that some CoB fans are gonna love, while others will hate. Tunes like "Platitudes And Barren Words" and "Soon Departed" will leave no one untouched.

It is pretty safe to say though that the sheer amount of quality in "Hexed" is enough to make the ride enjoyable, showing a great variety of memorable speed demons ("This Road", "Glass Houses"), haunting anthems ("Hecate's Nightmare"), and of course a lot of guitar gymnastics. As far as innovation goes though, there is not a lot of it. Most of the material in here sounds familiar and true to the CoB formula, but it is well made enough to not make it feel stale or boring. So in a way, this is really good old Children of Bodom we are hearing, showing a band that knows exactly who they are, and that they are not apologizing for it even for a second.

"Hexed" is far from a perfect record, but I would definitely hold it as one of the strongest Bodom record in recent years. Maybe it is not as good as "Halo of Blood", but "Hexed" still has enough juicy melodic death nuggets in it to make most fans of the band satisfied. It does make me wonder though, where is the band going from here? The predecessor "I Worship Chaos" may have been uneven, but it at least tried to show growth, something "Hexed" did not do. Well, I still enjoyed this record, so I can wait another album to make that assessment, let us just hope that Roy puts on a few more pounds, he looks like "Whistler's Mother" in his current state.

Songs worthy of recognition: Glass Houses, This Road, Kick In A Spleen, Hexed

Rating: 7,5/10 Knuckledusters

www.cobhc.com/
twitter.com/cobhc/

More reviews of Children of Bodom
Halo of Blood
I Worship Chaos

Helloween - Rabbit Don't Come Easy (2003)

After a trip through "The Dark Ride", Helloween went back to their happy place with a more uplifting effort for their 10th full length effort, one that definitely rivaled "Pink Bubbles Go Ape" in how wtf the album cover was. The phrase "Rabbit Don't Come Easy" is actually a play of the classic saying "pulling a rabbit out of the hat", referring to the line up changes that happened prior to the album, including Roland Grapow being replaced by Sascha Gerstner, and Mark Cross playing two of the tracks before falling ill, forcing Mikkey Dee of Motörhead fame to quickly step in. It is a fun title, but why did it have to be accompanied by that CGI abomination of an image? It is like watching the original "Toy Story" again, it has not aged well.

Fortunately for us, the music have not aged that much, building on that high octane power that we saw from "The Dark Ride", excluding the dark bits. It certainly has that Helloween feeling of pure power metal epicness that has made a lot of people falling in love with the band, and a lot of this comes from the massive amounts of fun this band seems to have playing this record, even slipping in some naughty lines in the lyrics like "Something's growing in my pants as I look into her eyes". It is silly, but what did you expect from a bunch of pumpkin heads.

The ideas has been flowing as well, with twelve songs coming together for just over an hour of run time. It is a meaty album for sure, but it goes by quite quickly with all the cool songs making you forget all about time. We have a bunch of really catchy songs in here that might make you scream, like the opening duo "Just A Little Sign" and "Open Your Life", the mid tempo groove item "Never Be A Star", and the heavenly "Hell Was Made In Heaven". There is definitely a chance your vocal chords will scream and beg for you to stop, so make sure you do not get too carried away while listening to this record.

The most impressive thing about this album though is the diversity of it, having the strength to show off a complete set of different moods, tempos, and styles. "Don't Stop Being Crazy" for example is a 90's Metallica style ballad that works as an excellent change of pace in the middle of the record, or how about "Liar" which is the exact opposite, a heavy, hard hitting steam roller of galloping riffs and pure anger. "Back Against The Wall" is heavy as well, but in a more fluent way where the drums commands the show more than the guitars. And to add a little nostalgic touch as well, we have "The Tune" that will surely make the old school fans happy.

The two most interesting songs in this record though can be found at the very end, starting with "Listen To The Flies" that has a great structure to it, building up to this neck hair rising chorus where the falsettos are on point, striking high on the epic scale. Still, it has some slower and melodic moments, making it an interesting case of metal goodness. Then we have "Nothing To Say", one of the strangest Helloween songs I have ever heard, just for the fact that it mixes so many different genres. We got this classic rock vibe that is very reminiscent of Def Leppard in the verse, which then goes into straight up reggae in the bridge, only to become slightly more modern rock in the chorus. It is strange, but it flows actually quite well, making it incredibly intriguing. The thing though that takes this song from being good to awesome is the ending, where the band goes full on "Stargazer" with its headbanging drive and epic feel. I am not kidding on this one, they even say "I see a rainbow rising", making it obvious that this is a full on tribute to the Rainbow classic. What a way to end a record.

So if you have not caught up to what I have said yet, "Rabbit Don't Come Easy" is a fun record, and while it is a tad bit long and have a couple of fillers, it is still a hell of a Helloween record, overflowing with neat ideas and memorable moments. It might be the most innovative Helloween record up to this point in their careers, which is impressive knowing what kind of struggles they had leading up to it. Well, they obviously had fun making "Rabbit Don't Come Easy", and it is just as fun listening to it.

Songs worthy of recognition: Listen To The Flies, Just A Little Sign, Open Your Life, Nothing To Say

Rating: 8/10 Liars

www.helloween.org/
twitter.com/helloweenorg

More reviews of Helloween
Walls of Jericho
Keeper of The Seven Keys: Part 1
Keeper of The Seven Keys: Part 2
Pink Bubbles Go Ape
Chameleon
Master of The Rings
The Time of The Oath
Better Than Raw
The Dark Ride
Keeper of The Seven Keys: The Legacy
Gambling With The Devil
7 Sinners
Straight Out of Hell
My God-Given Right

In Flames - I, The Mask (2019)

It is that time again when In Flames has released a new record, and most of the metal community goes bitching and moaning over how awful the band has become and that they should either quit or go back to their death metal roots. While I am in the minority of fans who still supports the band and their decisions, even I cannot hide the fact that the quality of the last couple of records has not been up to par thanks to some uneven approaches, and after listening to the first two singles for "I, The Mask", I was very worried that the gap between the good and bad songs were gonna be bigger than ever.

So basically, "I, The Mask" is a tale of two halves, and the first single of the record represents the first half. When I first heard "I Am Above", I was first struck with how strange the video was, but also how much this sounded like something out of "A Sense of Purpose", which definitely made me happy. The riff is heavy, yet fluent, and the whole song structure is so well crafted, making it a clear return to form. Fortunately for me, and hopefully all of you as well, there were more of this to be found on the disc.

All of the first four tracks are just great In Flames songs, harking back to the pre-"Siren Charms" era where the band was on a whole different level. Besides the previously mentioned "I Am Above", we have the catchy "Voices", the epic "Call My Name", and also the self titled track that is on a league of its own, having a flow we have not heard from the band in so many years, almost forcing you to scream "in the maaaaaaaaaaask", and also adding a great, melodic solo. It is as strong of an opening to an In Flames record you could ever hope for. The album takes a slight dip after that in the acceptable "Follow Me", but then we come to the second single of the record, officially entering the second half.

From here on out, we are witnessing a complete nose dive for "I, The Mask", starting with "(This Is Our) House", which is one of the dumbest In Flames songs I have ever heard. It starts out with the children's choir bullshit that we also heard on "Battles", which then leads to some interesting chugging riffs and build ups that gets your hopes up just enough for you to get disappointed again once Anders Fridén goes falsetto. God damn, this is one of the most disjointed songs out there, changing tempos at will, going everywhere and nowhere at the same time, never staying in one place long enough for the listener to get orientated. I truly hate this song, and I do not understand how such talented guys could look at this song and feel good enough about it to actually release it at its current state.

While that was rock bottom of the album, "I, The Mask" does not exactly get better for the rest of the run time. What follows is a mish mash of forgettable songs that do not get out a lot of emotions out of me, and the few emotions that do escape my hollow shell are not good. No other song does make me rage like "(This Is Our) House", but songs like "We Will Remember" and "Deep Inside" just makes me uneasy because they are basically pop rock radio songs, unimaginative ones at that. I kind of like "Burn" for its intensity, and closing track "Stay With Me" has some sweet moments (showing off the improved clean singing of Mr. Fridén), but the rest of the second half is so dull that it becomes pure misery just reaching the end of the record.

Well, this is about as two-faced of an album I have ever encountered. "I, The Mask" is pretty reminiscent of its predecessor "Battles" in how uneven it is, but "Battles" did mix the ups and downs in the track list, making the entire experience much more bearable. I believe "I, The Mask" would have been perfect as a 5, maybe 6 song long EP, because there is genuinely great material in here, but with so much filler and other shit, it just does not make a good album. It is just like "The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask" in that it contains a lot of masks, some are really good for you, and others are just horrifying.

Songs worthy of recognition: "I, The Mask", Voices, I Am Above

Rating: 5,5/10 Houses

www.inflames.com/
twitter.com/inflames_swe

More reviews of In Flames
Siren Charms
Battles

Dream Theater - Distance Over Time (2019)

We are now into the fourth record in the post-Portnoy era of Dream Theater, and I think it is pretty safe to say that while the previous three entries have been pretty decent, they have had their flaws. "A Dramatic Turn of Events" had at least two generic ballads too many, the self titled album was a little too safe, and "The Astonishing" was ambitious and grand, but was mostly filled with musical fluff. It is understandable though why it has been like this, it is very rarely that a band who loses one of their main contributors bounce back in the next record, and while it seems like Dream Theater has complicated things again here with "Distance Over Time" (which is just a pretentious way of saying velocity), they might have found their way back home.

With "Distance Over Time", Dream Theater is going both forward and backward, implementing new ideas together with familiar tactics that we have seen from such albums as "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence", "Train of Thought", and "Systematic Chaos". Take for instance "Barstool Warrior", an obvious song about alcoholism (something Portnoy used to write a lot about since he has suffered from it) where the melodies are just as vibrant and flowing as they were in the beginning of the 21st century. That in itself is a clear statement that the band is back in form. Another call back is "Room 137", which would have fitted right in the "Train of Thought" line up without any problems, and the closer "Pale Blue Dot" is just another one of those ultra epic progressive goodies that only this band would produce. Pure magic.

Then we have the newer ideas that also shine just as bright. "S2N" has these playful Rush patterns that will make any prog fan drool, with the band going back and forth in different tempos and time signatures, while "Paralyzed" opens up with an incredibly groovy guitar line that still somehow merges nicely with the epic build up that is classic Dream Theater stuff. And to show that Dream Theater take newer progressive acts to notice, how about "At Wit's End" that has that djenty tech feel that we normally hear from Animals As Leaders, while still implementing that Dream Theater magic.

Yes, this is definitely one of the most imaginative DT albums for some time, and the performances shows that the band has had a blast recording this. The duels between guitarist John Petrucci and keyboardist Jordan Ruddess are thrilling as hell, constantly trying to one up each other without losing the musical melodies. Drummer Mike Mangini also does a great job in this record, also having writing credit for the first time ever with the song "Room 137". And then we have the "weak" link James LaBrie, who might do one of his finest vocal performances so far, getting even more emotions out to the listener than he normally would. He still has a voice that might not suit everyone, but he is not holding anything back in this disc.

The strong suit of this record though might be its length. After the exhausting experience known as "The Astonishing", it feels great that we get a more scaled back version of the band, with an album that goes just under the hour mark (just the third time the band has released an album this "short") and no track going over ten minutes. It is enough music to quench the thirst, and not much more, which I am totally fine with. It still makes the classic mistake of having a very generic ballad in it just to widen the range of the record ("Out of Reach"), but the bonus track "Viper King" kind of makes up for it with its fast paced blues metal, being the grooviest song the band has ever made. That song is not gonna affect the final score since it is a bonus track, but make sure to not miss out on that one, it is one of the funnest tracks of the year.

This is without a doubt the strongest Dream Theater record since "Black Clouds & Silver Linings", a record that once again shows just how awesome this band could be. The band has found that perfect balance of nostalgic goodness and innovative thinking that everyone wants to see from this band. They do not need to impress us with ambitious story writing, or wow us with some insane technical skills, just write awesome songs and you are good to go. "Distance Over Time" is a marvelous and solid record that should bring all the past Dream Theater fans back to the band, but most importantly, it is a record that makes a statement, that Dream Theater is still the kings of progressive metal, and that it's gonna take a hell of a lot of effort to over throw them from their throne.

Songs worthy of recognition: Pale Blue Dot, Paralyzed, S2N, At Wit's End

Rating: 9/10 Barstool Warriors

dreamtheater.net/
twitter.com/dreamtheaternet

More reviews of Dream Theater
When Dream And Day Unite
Images And Words
Awake
Falling Into Infinity
Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Train of Thought
Octavarium
Systematic Chaos
Black Clouds & Silver Linings
A Dramatic Turn of Events
S/T
The Astonishing