Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence by Dream Theater

After 10 years or so Dream Theater has successfully emulated their elders in Metallica. For Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (SDOIT) is a rather average album. Some songs make strides but alas, other songs work too much. SDOIT resumes the course of the band’s promising sounds in 1997’s Falling Into Infinity. But it also preserves just a little, the indulgences of their previous opus, Scenes From a Memory. Its a net sum of one step forward and one step backward. And just like Metallica the band has also abandoned an inconsequential generation of sci-fi faithful in favor of those who relish the more grounded ideas of social responsibility and character diversity - all favorable in the eyes of today’s new generation. Indeed the entire album is a study of (American) society’s issues in its various forms: alcoholism, acceptance, faith versus science, etc. Even CD #2 despite its Olympics documentary-like drama, comes off as a medley for some sort of new Americana. Still its interesting to point out the play of this type of “reality lyrics” versus a fantastic, almost hopeful music that is the bic flick of hope for progressive fans held in the dark. Only Dream Theater can conjure up a Fantasia, instrumentally, where quite possibly the good guys beat the bad guys in a happy, Wizard of Oz ending. Metallica couldn’t possibly do that can they?

Score 2.5/5

by Alzn