 | Tracklist:
1. In the Presence of Enemies - Part 1
2. Forsaken
3. Constant Motion
4. The Dark Eternal Night
5. Repentance
6. Prophets of War
7. The Ministry of Lost Souls
8. In The Presence of Enemies - Part 2
| Ranking: #173 for 2007 | |
| | other reviews | Jeremy Price (4.5)
Twenty-one years in, and Dream Theater still know how to be creative, exciting, and powerful, while ... | GenuineImitation (4.5)
This is a great album. It could very well wind up being a Dream Theater classic.... | Eric E. Smith (4)
While not as classic as say "Images and Words", Dream Theater's new LP "Systematic Chaos" is another... | Austin (3)
Dream Theater does just enough to make a passable album, but it's a disappointment considering the b... | Jorn van Schaïk (2.5)
An album that sounds like Train of Thought + Octavarium rehashed, more devoid of originality than an... | Mike Stagno STAFF (2)
Systematic Chaos is an album that showcases a ton of potential, but ultimately falls short of its go... | Locrian (2)
Systematic Chaos is Dream Theater’s attempt to do what they’re just not very good at.... |
On 70 Lists
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| Summary: Dream Theater's erroneous step into the fantasy world. |
4 of 4 thought this review was well written
Ants. I loathe them. They sensibly proclaim their dominance by crawling on anything to search for sustenance, and they invariably piss people off by expanding their repute into territories that they don't belong. These creatures wield a double edged sword; my knowledge of their presence can lead to their death, and their exploration outside their territory can lead to my overflowing food supply. So it's not by my deposition of growing up with ants in my home that I despise Systematic Chaos, but how the album manages to piss me off as much as one of the residual insects. As a fantasy record it is effective from start to finish, but only after a whirlwind of lyrically awkward moments of forced darkness and pretentious instrumental structures. The album seems to exist only to cash in on the paranormal craze of Twilight and the Hot Topic generation with songs about vampires and tragic romances, and every song has a sense of appeal missing from the usual Dream Theater.
While Dream Theater was relatively good at keeping their religion and political views from interfering with their music, the album becomes a sudden bold statement in a career of unbiased thought. As a way to preserve their connection with their fans, they take a commonly held stance against the war on terror with the cleverly titled ‘Prophets of War’ and then with the ‘rebellious’ nature of ‘In The Presence of Enemies.’ The album takes the time to display an unprecedented amount of talent on each song, playing too many flurries of musical scales among their creature features. It could have been just as good at half the length, but it would have remained immensely better by simply adjusting the soloing to a relaxed rate. The songwriting has taken a considerable increase in depth from Octavarium, but the chords have been weakened and the solos dominate the length of the stronger performances. ‘The Ministry of Lost Souls’ takes listeners through six minutes of instrumental confusion in order to squeeze in a piano reprise when the song could have brilliantly right at six minutes. The following drawn out ending to ‘In the Presence of Enemies’ is exhausting and the lukewarm ‘Repentance’ manages to make ‘Trial of Tears’ look as remarkable as ‘Learning to Live.’
Systematic Chaos really is the opposing reactor to Octavarium in it’s display of influences. While the previous endeavor aimed at their lighter influences of Genesis, Yes, Muse, and possibly King’s X, this album is an unabashed dictionary of Pantera and Metallica riffs with all the complicated drumming patterns of Mike Portnoy. 'The Dark Eternal Night' is proof of this and Mike Portnoy's dominating vocals. While Portnoy has done superb work integrating his vocals since before Metropolis Pt.2, Systematic Chaos is almost a tribute to himself with his obsessive bombast of drums and his domination of every song as a backup vocalist. Constant Motion can only be described as a seven minute song of him beating the *** out of a drum set and making some delusional allusion to ‘Pull Me Under’ in an attempt to garner the same kind of lucky fame as in 1992.
It's hard to find the heart of Systematic Chaos among it's 78 minutes of drumming, chanting and ‘evil’ undertones. There's a beautiful motif in the 26 minute epic ‘In The Presence of Enemies,’ a clever instrumental breakdown in ‘Constant Motion,’ and the incredibly short piano segment in the latter half of ‘The Ministry of Lost Souls.’ Everything else shows that Dream Theater’s edge is either dull at this point, or their songwriting is boring without their application to reality. While Portnoy wanted Systematic Chaos to be a ‘balls to the wall’ album, its attempt to show the tough side of the band is a joke in comparison to Awake, and even more so to Train of Thought. Systematic Chaos is void of emotion and any thought beyond mathematics, and is essentially existent as another vessel to advance Dream Theater’s status as kings of progressive metal. While the ant theme isn't as deadly or strong as Dream Theater would like it to appear, it does prove to be annoying, and like an ant Systematic Chaos succeeds in settling too long in places it dosen't belong.
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| Recent reviews by this author | | | |
Album Rating: 2.5
So yeah this still sucks
Digging: King's X - Dogman Digging: King's X - Dogman | | | Album Rating: 3
yeah it still does
good review man
Digging: Goldie - Timeless | | | Album Rating: 2.5
Thanks man. Damn I picked a bad time to put this review up, it nearly got pushed off the page already
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^ I feel you man. Same thing happened to a review of mine last night.
Digging: My Bloody Valentine - Loveless Digging: My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
| | | Album Rating: 3
Nice review. I enjoy a few of the tracks on here.
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
I remember all the noobish sputnikers raving over this when it came out, only then I didn't even have an account.
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you shouldve started the review by saying I dont like sand instead
Digging: Florence & The Machine - Split Digging: Florence & The Machine - Split
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Weirdly enough this has grown considerably on me, so I don't share the same opinion as you anymore Sonicspeed :-(
Digging: Meshuggah - Koloss Digging: Meshuggah - Koloss | | | Album Rating: 2.5
How so Sound? I've been listening to this for 4 years now since it came out and even though i've enjoyed my share of it, it still isn't as welcoming to me as Octavarium or even Falling to Infinity
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
I agree, although I may take it over FiI. I found it really boring since I first heard it in 2007, until now; I think I can thank ADToE for that. But yes, it is still one of the 'lesser' DT records though.
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"It's hard to find the heart of Systematic Chaos"
Good call Sonicspeed.
It's hard to find the heart of Dream Theater since Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory IMO
Great review
Digging: Meshuggah - obZen Digging: Meshuggah - obZen
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
I'm in the same boat as Sound, as the release of ADToE has increased my appreciation for both Black Clouds as well as Systematic Chaos. However, this certainly is a weaker album in the DT discography, and there are a number of cringe-worthy moments and aspects that aren't really forgivable.
I also cannot really understand this sentiment about how this a fantasy record that is trying to appeal to the Twilight and Hot Topic generation. I just never got this impression, probably because I don't like to read into lyrics prematurely.
Once I emotionally connect with the music, then perhaps I will try to extract some meaning from the lyrics once I have that context. I think that helps save me from constructing negative or irrational meaning or connections before I even understand the record from a musical standpoint.
If you go into a record thinking "oh, this sounds like some contrived attempt at catering to a bunch of things I despise", then it's going to be difficult to then take a step back and look at the album in any other light or with any other context.
Aside from that, this isn't an exceptional album by any means. It does waffle between a 3 and 3.5 for me due to a completely subjective personal upside.
Digging: Propagandhi - Supporting Caste Digging: Propagandhi - Supporting Caste | | | Album Rating: 3
Yeah it's not one of my favorite albums either
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