Review Summary: A good album, but ultimately disappoints overall by Dream Theater's standards.
This album, albeit somewhat disappointing, is pretty good. Released in 2005, it was a step back from the more metal-oriented sound that Train of Thought had. With this album, Dream Theater was able to go back to a much lighter style, and thus, be more accepted among music fans. Personally, this album was too accepted. Unfortunately, Dream Theater appears to have gone for a very mainstream focus with this release.
The album is a very unique concept about the concept of a musical octave, revolving around the numbers 5 and 8. Each song is in a different key, which is a very cool idea if you ask me. It's also very cool how The ROOT of All Evil is the root of the octave and OCTAVarium is the last of the Octave. There are 8 songs and the final song has 5 parts.
To start off with the songs themselves, half of the songs on Octavarium (The Answer Lies Within, These Walls, I Walk Beside You, and Sacrificed Sons) are ballads. This allowed them to have a more mainstream approach, due to the emotional connections they could achieve. The lyrics to some of these songs feel very corny, such as "Face each day/with both eyes open wide/and try to give/don't keep it all inside" from The Answer Lies Within. Even with that, Sacrificed Sons' lyrics about the 9/11 attacks are pretty good. Even though these songs are very light and simple, they are still good songs.
On the darker side of the album, there are some very good songs. The Root of All Evil, although not my favorite part of the AA Suite, is a fantastic song and does a wonderful job of opening the album. I also like how it introduces the Octavarium melody. Panic Attack is also another one of the darker songs, and is done very well. Unlike the rest of the album, it feels like something straight off of Train of Thought, and is a great change of pace from the three-ballad streak. Also, the lyrics about self-anxiety are very metal. Never Enough is the last of the darker side of the album, but is a bit disappointing. The song feels bland and uninteresting, as with the boring lyrics. I do enjoy the the keyboard intro, however.
Finally, most certainly the best song on the record, as well as one of Dream Theater's best recordings ever, is Octavarium. The theme of Octavarium was introduced in The Root of All Evil, and is one of the most memorable melodies in Dream Theater history. The 24-minute epic remains quality through and through, and is a nearly perfect closer to an album. The part where the lyrics mention every song on the album does a fantastic job of making the album feel conclusive.
The weakest part of this album is transitions. Between almost every song, there is some sort of ambient noise going on, and is used to act as a transition between the songs. For me, all of the transitions feel extremely forced and the album would've been better without them. For example, the ending of These Walls has clocks ticking into I Walk Beside You, but I don't think I Walk Beside You has anything to do with time. I do understand they do it to make the album feel cohesive, but if they wanted that, they should have looked at what they did Metropolis Pt. 2. The Octavarium melody also should have been used more throughout the album. A good example of reusing a melody is how in The Mirror from Awake, they make a musical reference to Space Dye Vest.
Octavarium is a good album. It captures many elements of lightness and darkness and pulls off its concept well. However, some of the songs are much worse than the others. That doesn't stop it from being an album you should most definitely check out. At least its better than Systematic Chaos.
Most Noteworthy Songs:
Octavarium
The Root of All Evil
Panic Attack
Sacrificed Sons
