Dream Theater are back. Ok, that’s literally true, given that “Distance Over Time” is their first album for three years, but it is metaphorically the case too.
Within the first minute of “Untethered Angel” it is clear that the DT signature sound, if you will, is present and correct. In a way, perhaps that it hasn’t been in a while. That’s not to denigrate or criticise their last couple of records either (like everything they do, they’ve been shot through with moments of true quality) but this…..
Well, this it builds ominously, it has a crushing chug that John Petrucci always seems to find and by the time James LaBrie has sung the first few words, its clear that on “….Time” Dream Theater have weighty things on their minds.
“In spite of your best intentions, things could not be worse, chaos and fear have left you hanging by a thread, as you argue with the voices in your head….” Is a powerful line and one which seems to sum up the whole album.
Petrucci puts it thus: “[the record] is about me seeing that a lot of people, especially our youth, are afraid to take their lives in certain directions because of fear. “They have fear of the unknown, fear of what other people think, and fear of not being good enough. So, the song urges letting go of yourself, not letting fear win, and untethering yourself from the feeling of fear that stops you from doing things.”
Perhaps because of this, the band decamped to a barn in upstate New York to record this album, which they’ve never done before and there does seem to be a carefree vibe throughout this.
“Paralysed” noticeably kicks off with a real metal riff, and this album is from the heavier end of Dream Theater’s stuff, and – whilst I know this is incongruous – “Fall Into The Light” has a proper sleazy bit of guitar before Mike Mangini’s trademark frantic drumming and a stadium shaking chorus.
“Barstool Warrior” is an interesting piece of work. Jordan Rudess – who excels on keyboards throughout – is in rare form here, while the words come from the usual place of looking at things in a slightly off kilter way.
If that is one of the more overtly “prog” sounding things on the record, then it is noticeable how (relatively) short this is. Just over an hour for the 10 tracks, we are a world away from the “Change Of Seasons” type epics here.
Instead there is a real maelstrom like “Room 137” which is indicative of the current mindset of the outfit, and that’s that each member of the band should get a run out – like bass man John Myung in the brilliant “S 2 N” but that the song here is king.
That’s not to say that there isn’t some proper lengthy pieces on here either. “At Wits End” is in many ways the centrepiece of the whole thing. A 10 minute meditation on domestic abuse and its horrible consequences, it could only be a Dream Theater song, and they do it magnificently.
In many ways, “Out Of Reach” a beautiful ballad, penned by LaBrie with the first line “there’s something about this girl, some kind of magic” seems a little out-of-place amidst all the heavy subject matter, but probably that’s the point. That there is still beauty in this cruel world.
And there is a lamentation on the world, and our place in it to finish. “Pale Blue Dot”. Taking its name from Carl Sagan’s novel and using his son Nick’s famous “hello from the children of planet earth” line to highlight the transient nature of human existence (and I surely cannot be the only Wildhearts fan who heard this and immediately began singing “Sky Babies” in my head…?)
If that ends things in suitably weighty fashion, then the bonus track highlights the band of brothers making the record in the equivalent of a frat house. But more than that “Viper King” proves that even Dream Theater just want to be Deep Purple when all is said and done.
“Distance Over Time” is an album that Dream Theater needed to make for all kinds of reasons. They are back to making the sort of thing they do best, and when they do it like this, they are basically an unstoppable force.
Rating 9/10
