Review Summary: An overarching discourse on mankind's various mental demons
I can't honestly say that I am a Dream Theater fan boy, nor that Dream Theater is one of my favorite bands; however, when “jonesing” for some progressive metal, I infrequently find them to be the right aural “fix”. I picked up this album at a CD Warehouse (RIP) a few years back. As usual, I went looking for any Stoner Rock I could find, regrettably found none, and opted to purchase this album instead. At the time, I didn't even know that this album had a concept. Only later did I realize that this album presented an overarching discourse on mankind's various mental struggles (demons) explored across six different tracks – one of which being a sprawling 8 part track.
This review focuses on the mental struggles being portrayed lyrically in each of the six tracks. Little to no focus in this review is provided for the music itself. Musically, this is a great Dream Theater album and a worthy addition to their discography, but not my favorite of their albums. Lyrically, it is a juggernaut and masterwork.
The first track (The Glass Prison) deals with alcoholism and is broken into three parts. References have indicated that these parts roughly correlate with the initial 3 steps of the 12 step Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) program. Part I (Reflection) finds the protagonist in the throes of addiction - “been beaten to a pulp” and “sick and tired and laid low”, with the desire for drink inescapable, “overwhelming, unquenchable”. The protagonist's attempts to “stop the progression” or “lift this obsession” are desperate at this point. A drink brings the protagonist back to their own “glass prison”, which is “a place where no one knows” and where he/she is “so much safer here”. Also, in the glass prison, he/she can “forget about my daily sins”. Part II (Restoration) finds that the protagonist has escaped the glass prison, leaving a shattered wall behind, but has a long way to reach the “distant oasis before me”. The Protagonist can't escape without support - “Help me, I can't break out of this prison all alone”. It is inferred that this track signals the point at which the protagonist joins an AA group (“this temple of hope”) and relies on the group's support to help him fight - “We'll help you perform this miracle”. Part III (Revelation) find the glass prison “now gone”. Although the door was shut at first; with faith, the protagonist has opened the door to recovery, with the door “wide open” and “a light shining through”.
The second track (Blind Faith) questions the current state of religion. It references the popular conception by believers that their faith in God/Jesus resolves them of their sins - “Sorry you must excuse me, I've painted my own Mona Lisa, She's fixed everything, now I'm spoiled beyond my wildest dreams”. It also speaks to the sheltered and closed off environment that religion has become - “Our system works for whom I ask, Yeah I have it all, The bigger house, an iron fence to keep you out”. Similarly speaking to religions institutions not serving/helping those in need - “take your time and look around, in this utopia you've found, sick of all of this, the suffering and we just carry on”. The songwriter challenges the Messiah to “show us how, how our spirit drowns” and to “throw us a pure lifeline”, and questions whether the Messiah has “done all you can do”.
The third track (Misunderstood) deals with self isolation and loneliness. Honestly, this track affects me most of all, as I have infrequently struggled with this and can empathize. In my younger/college years, I was the life of the party and knew everyone (if only surficially). Looking back to those times, the lyrics - “how can I know so many, never really knowing anyone” apply. In my older years, I have become more reserved and secluded - “I turn from surreal to seclusion, from love to disdain...from a god to God save me”. The following lyrics further hit home (for me) - “It challenges the essence of my soul, and leaves me in a state of disconnection, as I navigate the maze of self control”. Frequently I, like the protagonist of the track, feel that “I have been misunderstood”, feeling that none share my passions and thoughts - “How can I feel abandoned even when the world surrounds me, how can I bite the hand that feeds the strangers all around me”. To throw in a similar line from the Doors, “People are strange when you're a stranger, people look ugly when you're alone”.
The fourth track (The Great Debate) concerns stem cells (“the embryonic clay”, “life to save life”), their benefit (“Hopes are high in certain scientific circles, Life wont have to end, You could walk again”) and “miracle potential”, and the resultant “fierce debate” between “sanctity of life” and science. The lyrics state - “Do we look to our unearthly guide or to white coat heroes searching for a cure”. Although “we're divided”, as is the song which provides both viewpoints, a strong argument is presented for continuation of stem cell research - “the embryonic clay...would be thrown away or otherwise discarded” and that “turning away would be a terrible mistake”.
The fifth track (Disappear) speaks to passing from life to death, from both perspectives. The dying person speaks “Will I ever feel this again, Blue sky, Ill meet you in the end...Free me, and rest 'til I'm with you”. For the living person that remains and mourns, “My whole world has been changed, nothing you say will help ease my pain”. Over time, “days disappear” for the mourner “and my world keeps changing”. Although the mourner feels the presence of the departed (“I feel you here and it keeps me sane”), he/she decides to move on (“she'd want me to move on”) in the end of the song - “And I'll carry on the best that I can without you here beside me”. The mourner also finds peace in her death - “I gave you my hand, I said it's okay letting go, time to leave her...let him come take you home”.
The final sixth and title track (Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence) narrates the stories of six individuals suffering from various mental illnesses. It is divided into eight parts, as follows.
- Part I (Overture) is an instrumental
- Part II (About to Crash) is about a “perfect teenage girl” who was “raised in a small Midwestern town”. When she became a woman, she “lost her mind” and suffered from bipolar disorder. She has manic episodes - “She can't stop pacing, she never felt so alive, her thoughts are racing, set on overdrive”. Subsequently, she has depressive crashes - “Even though she seems so high, he knows that she can't fly, and when she falls out of the sky, he'll be standing by”. During the crashes, “she sleeps the days away” and “all she wants to do is cry”. At the end of this part, she moves to her next manic episode - “she resumed her frantic pace, boundless power, midnight hour, she enjoyed the race”.
- Part III (War Inside My Head) describes a former soldier, who experienced “years and years of bloodshed and warfare”, and is afflicted by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – a “permanent psychotic hell”. PTSD for this soldier includes “hearing voices from miles away, saying things never said, seeing shadows in the light of the day” and “feeling strangers staring my way, reading minds never read, testing danger with each word I say”.
- Part IV (The Test that Stumped Them All) is about a boy who suffers from schizophrenia, and the associated delusions and thought disorders. He is kept “between these hollow walls” where the doctors are “hoping to find in me the answers to the test that stumped them all”. From the doctor's perspectives, the boy “is just simply crazy”, “lives in a world of fiction”, and “might need an institution”. Upon testing results “providing not a clue”, the doctors decide to “try shock treatment, it really might do some help, we have just the tools to fix him, to save him from himself”.
- Part V (Goodnight Kiss) concerns a mother who loses her young baby. The mother reminisces on putting her baby to bed (“so sweet as you lie down, sweet dreams that run through your head”), and suffers long-term depression - “It's been 5 years to the day and my tainted blood's still the same”. The mother is “so lonely without baby's love” and “would die for one more moment”.
- Part VI (Solitary Shell) tells the story of an autistic young boy, who “was considered somewhat odd, kept to himself most of the time” and steadily declined “into his solitary shell”. As he grows to be a man, he becomes “a danger to himself, fearful and sad most of the time” and drifts “in and out of sanity”.
- Part VII (About to Crash [reprise]) returns to the girl with bipolar disorder. She experiences a brief manic episode (“I feel strong, I've got a new sense of elation, boundless energy, euphoria fixation)” followed by an equally brief depressive crash (“Still it's hard to just get by, It seems so meaningless to try, When all I want to do is cry”). These episodes never end for her.
- Part VIII (Losing Time) describes a woman who experiences a dissociative personality disorder, where she “doesn't recall yesterday”. Her relative amnesia results in her waking up each day “only to find she'd been miles away” and that “faces seem twisted and strange”. In the end, it appears that she has inflicted this on herself - “She had created a way to survive, she learned to detach from herself, a behavior that kept her alive”.
- Part VIII continued (Grand Finale) provides the executive summary for this track - “Hope in the face of our human distress helps us to understand the turbulence deep inside...A journey to find the answers inside our illusive mind”.
