Dali's Dilemma
Manifesto For Futurism (99)
This band relies heavily on the Dream Theater brand of prog-metal, not as hard or melodic as DT, but containing some of the chops. Sometimes even sounding as earnest as Bono, the lead singer is more listenable than James Labrie, although he doesn’t get much credit on the CD. The lyrics play with spiritual themes, and almost sound Christian at times unless you really study the lyrics, which are vaguely spiritual at best. Some nice jamming in places, but the machine gun drumming starts getting on my nerves after a while. If your are into the Galactic Cowboys, DT, and bands like that, these guys may be right up your alley. {dt}
Anthology 2: Timeless
This band sounds amazingly like Kansas, with a vocalist that is a dead ringer for Steve Walsh. Musically, they are very adventurous as well, with nice odd time signatures, progressive keyboard interludes, and fat songs about Jesus. A worthy find if you can track down a CD somewhere. I'm checking into that. For now, check out the three songs available at http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/18/damascus.html {dt}
Daniel Amos (USA -CA)
Daniel Amos; Shotgun Angel; Horrendous Disc; Alarma; Doppelganger; Vox Humana; Fearful Symmetry; The Revelation; Darn Floor, Big Bite; Kalhoun; Motorcycle; Bibleland; Songs of the Heart; Mr. Buechner's Dream
Pioneering CCM band DA has umpteen albums all over the map musically with styles ranging from alt-country to new wave to heavy alternative and back again. They are certainly anything but normal, with concept albums, incredibly witty and biting lyrics and bizarre themes galore, which in my book makes them progressive despite an obvious lack of keyboard and guitar wanking and long instrumentals. {dt}
Degarmo & Key (USA)
Straight On; This Time Thru
These two out of print early CCM albums feature some classic ELP style keyboard riffs, some nice guitar solos and instrumental interludes, with a few songs bordering on neo-prog (especially compared to their mediocre later CCM fare). The lyrics are actually pretty good, evangelistic without being trite. Think the Doobie Brothers style southern rock with a qualuded Keith Emerson wanking on the keyboards now and then, and you pretty much have their sound pegged. The song Chase the Wind is well worth checking out. Enjoyable stuff. {dt}
Sea of Doubt
Destra plays music that flows seamlessly back and forth between progressive rock and progressive metal. They hail from Brazil, and sing in English. "Christian songs built primarily around progressive rock guitar riffs and many time changes" best sums it up. {M.T.}
With a couple of full length mp3's to sink your teeth into, this one man band is a pleasant surprise. Really tasteful guitar leads dominate these songs of faith and encouragement. Suffering slightly from the lack of a true band, the programming is actually well done, and overall the sound is very full and well recorded. Bound starts off like a heavy prog instrumental, then morphs into a groove heavy mid tempo rocker, with some very tasty Andy Latimer style leads. At 12 minutes, no one can accuse this of being commercial rock. The vocals aren't particularly strong (could be the mix), but they get the job done. Prisoner is a great little Camel-ish progressive tune, with a slow building into, and a nice syncopated progressive middle section. Who'll be True is the most straight rock ahead piece, a guitar-driven plea for true disciples to step up. Its good stuff. I'm curious whether he has a whole CD worth of stuff - that would be worth investigating. The website: http://www.cableone.net/sdietrick/
The Official Demo Bootleg; Sorrow and Promise (01)
Sorrow and Promise
Divine-in-Sight has finally released their epic album, Sorrow and Promise. It starts off with a bang with the fully realized versions of Black River and By Leaps and Bounds, first heard on their Official Demo Bootleg (reviewed below). These songs sound great - somewhat pruned, the fruit becomes plumper and much tastier. Once again the bass line driving Black River is sublime, a driving, melodic tune that delivers hard hitting spiritual lyrics and a dynamic progressive punch. By Leaps and Bounds still sounds like an early Rush instrumental, but despite the similarities, the tune rocks. But Sorrow and Promise really kicks into creative overdrive on the title track. Sorrow and Promise (the song) is a nearly 50 minute epic of the greatest progressive proportions. The musicianship and production are stellar. Much like the album Catatonia by Salem Hill, the theme of Sorrow and Promise is one of a painful spiritual journey from slumber to a true awakening. The music is a textbook in sonic atmosphere, and takes you on a truly progressive trip literally to hell and back. It drifts from the shuffling sleepwalkers marching toward the abyss, finally receiving revelation and awakening into the soothing promise of eternal dawn.
The album sets the mood with In a Box, a sad, lilting intro featuring Bart Boge's soaring high tenor voice. Suddenly things kick into overdrive with the Sorrow and Promise Overture, as power chords, tight rythms, and pounding drums begin developing the themes that abound throughout the rest of the song. When Jonathan Dexter's masterful bass lines start interplaying with Bart's tasty lead work, the listener suddenly finds himself on the path of no return. This is classic art rock, unique and re-defined for the new millennium. While stylistic comparisons with Yes or Rush aren't hard to insinuate, nevertheless DIS creates their own signature sound. Street noises and effects fill in the spaces between the movements, carrying the listener out into the parade, drifting unintentionally yet happily into the March of the Damned. It has a catchy chorus, yet retains a dark plodding feel, thus the mood is captured well of souls trudging mindlessly down the wide road to destruction. The march quickly spins into a dance, with the Waltz of the Plastic Dolls grabbing the listener in it's spell, until it careens out of control into the tight bass line and wild guitar soloing of the bridge that is sure to detach some body parts. From the waltz, one crashes into completely different territory, where a heavy groove that would not be out of place on an early Rush album propels the listener into the very pit of the Viper's Brood. Dexter's bass again takes the melodic lead, winding and propelling the listener through perhaps the best song on the disc. Boge's vocals truly soar, and the band nods its head to the great prog bands of yesteryear, including some vocal arrangements that put Queen to shame. The song vividly drives its point home about the horrors of sin and deception. From the hissing of snakes, the music meanders to the song Sleep and the quiet bedside snores of the multitude of believers, with gentle admonitions to the faithful to rise up and behold the nearly withering harvest at hand. Once again the driving Long Distance Runaround type bass line drives the song into a slowly building frenzy that I can hear blasting loudly on a summer's day through the rolled down car windows of my mind. Into the Abyss follows, the off kilter rhythms and sinister choir on the chorus adding to the forboding nature, with Jonathan's bass lines spinning up heavenward showing a lifeline as sure as the drips of red from the savior's outstretched palms. Bart then unleashes into some of his best guitar playing on the record. By the way, though I have not mentioned it, the drumming thus far has been stellar. Hand over hand the listener is delivered from the abyss to the gentle keyboard swells of Soul of Mine, where Bart's tenor soothes your tortured but delivered spirit into the bosom of the Maker, where angelic choirs rejoice. A quiet piano and an acoustic guitar lead the pilgrim further into the blessed kingdom of discovery, as Bart sings a lullaby of welcome in Make Me More Like You, the finale. After a few minutes of wonderous acclimatization in the blessed place, the waltz of joy and life begins, and the soul is set free to rejoice in this awakening, this shedding of the sandman's curse. Then your lips on their own turn to thanksgiving, even as Bart leads you in a worship chorus that you can feel in your bones. The themes from the Overture then return to bring the journey into a grand sense of completion and fulfillment, summing up one of the greatest progressive rock epics ever recorded. Much like all the great concept albums such as Tommy, The Wall, and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, it is not to be entered into lightly. These songs work best as a whole, and given your full attention. But when you truly need to escape, and you have the time to take a detour from life's friction, Divine-in-Sight will truly take you from Sorrow to Promise. {dt)
The prog world buzzed mightily with the release of
the Official Demo Bootleg by Divine-in-Sight, a classic sounding prog band that
makes lovers of Yes and Rush jump for joy. The well recorded "demo" consists of
three tastily long songs accentuated by driving, rhythmic bass lines. October Man opens
things up, a 23 minute long sweeping treatise to man's pondering of his humanity. Through
loneliness, the reaching out for love, the realization that transparency is the only way
to peace, and then the culmination in the cry to God to free him from himself, the song
brings you on an adventure of discovery. Musically, it's full of clever syncopation and
held together by the steady, creative bass lines and tasty, Leifson-like guitar fills.
Black River is the real gem, with a great Heart of the Sunrise and Roundabout like feel
perpetuated by the driving bass lines. The lyrics are a metaphor to the life of faith,
taking the plunge in the river and letting God carry you downstream. This song sounds the
most worked out, and if the new album continues in this style, it will be a real
masterpiece. Both songs contain esoteric yet definitely Christian lyrics that make you
think without being preachy. The final song is an instrumental jam straight out of the
early Rush archives, with Alex Liefson licks and a drum solo to boot. It certainly sounds
like Rush, but it rocks nonetheless. The final version on Sorrow and Promise eliminates the
drum solo and some of the Rush similarities, and adds some other tweaks that really make
the song shine. The only thing that could improve these guys would be the addition
of a Wakeman or a Moraz on keyboards to compliment their already full sound. Go to
http://www.divineinsightmusic.net/
for more info, lyrics and sounds, and ordering info. Highly Recommended. {dt}
Speak (96)
CCM veterans Gordon Kennedy (vocals / guitar) and Jimmy Lee Sloas (vocals / bass / keyboards) formed a dynamic duo that dropped into a studio to crank out a Christian rock record saturated in art rock goodness. Heavily influenced by Pink Floyd, with a touch of James Gang thrown in, this is a 70's retro record to die for. Sloas, formerly of the Imperials, and Kennedy, a former member of Whiteheart (appearing on Hotline', 'Don't Wait For The Movie', 'Emergency Broadcast' and 'Freedom'), both played with Geoff Moore. This album, though hard to find, rocks, and is highly recommended. {dt}
When Dream and Day Unite (89); Images and Words (92); Awake (94); A Change of Seasons (95); Falling Into Infinity (97); Scenes From a Memory (99); Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (02); Train of Thought; Octavarium; Systematic Chaos (07)
Dream Theater is a phenomenally talented band that basically invented the prog-metal genre. They are on this list because many of their songs touch on issues of God, faith, eternity, and the right to life. The many different writers in the band take different viewpoints, so the music is a mixed philosophical bag. Generally the most "Christian" sounding songs are penned by John Myung, the bass player, who claimed Jesus as the person with the greatest influence in his life in one interview. But other songs by James Labrie, Mike Portnoy, Kevin Moore and others show signs of earnest spiritual searching. Musically, Images and Words is probably still my favorite, although their later albums have some great songs on them. I'm sure there are others out there that are greater fans of the band that could write a much more comprehensive review (and should, so I can post it). {dt}
Dream Theater is not technically a super group, but with
each member of the group, especially John Petrucci (Guitars), Jordan Rudess
(keyboards) and Mike Portnoy (drums) getting awards as one of the best (or even
THE BEST) in the world, one could think of them as such. The band sounds like a
mix of Iron Maiden, Metallica, Yes, Genesis, and Pink Floyd. Petrucci is known
for his extremely fast shredding ability (mostly alternate picking for those
guitarists out there), but also for his very melodic leads as he is able to play
beautifully slow, and emotionally drenched melodies. His guitar tone is among
the best in the world, and his composition abilities (in my opinion) exceed
those of other guitar virtuosos like Vai, Satriani, Malmsteen, etc.. Jordan
Rudess first played with Petrucci and Portnoy in a side project called Liquid
Tension experiment. They loved him so much, that they asked him to join Dream
Theater. He was raised as a classical pianist and admitted to Julliard at the
age of 9, and has no trouble getting through the likes of Bach, Chopin,
Beethoven, Mozart and others. In his late teens, he became fascinated with Prog
Rock, and incorporated the styles of the greats like Wakemen, and Emerson into
his style, and began experimenting a lot with synthesizers. He played with the
Dregs, and was picked up by Liquid Tension Experiment, then Dream Theater. Mike
Portnoy, Dream Theater's drummer, has received the Best Progressive Rock Drummer
in Modern Drummer Magazine ten times, including 19 awards overall, and is the
youngest drummer at the age of 37 to be inducted to the Rock Drummer Hall of
Fame. Although, he admits, his speed on double bass or with his hands can't
compare to the likes of Marco Minneman, Mike Mangini, Thomas Lang, or Virgil
Donatti, the parts Portnoy creates are superbly developed, perfectly placed,
very catchy, and always very tasteful. He also has one of the best comands of
Odd Time signatures out of any drummer today. Bassist, John Myung, is extremely
tallented, but usually stays within the background of the band, following the
guitar, although his use of of distorted bass soloing, and speed sets him apart
from other bassists.
Dream Theater's albums, all contain some spiritual content. Kevin Moore, their
former keyboardist has a strong spiritual outlook, as is indicated in some of
his lyrics on the Images and Words album like Surrounded. John Petrucci, a
practicing Catholic, wrote a mind blowingly cathartic song with one of the most
beautifully lyrical solos I've ever heard in it containing some very spiritual
lyrics about religious hypocrisy referencing Christ and Mary in a positive and
almost life-affirming way called Lines In the Sand off their Falling Into
Infinity Album. The Spirit Caries On, another soulful balled with a beautiful
Petrucci solo in it off of their Scenes From a Memory album is about the spirit
of man living on after the grave. Although this was written in the context of a
fictional concept album about reincarnation, band members including Petrucci
seem to regard to the song as more of a universal statement about hope and
eternal life, as he mentioned the song has been played at funerals in an
interview. Other songs have very uplifting messages like "Another Day" which
Petrucci wrote about his father and the will to live another day when he had
cancer. Portnoy mentioned in an interview that many people have mentioned to
them how the song kept them from committing suicide. Portnoy penned a song
called This Glass Prison from their Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence album that
dealt with his drinking problem and how he had to give it up to a higher power
to overcome it. Overall, the band's messages are positive and uplifting which
is strange for a band as heavy as they are.
My favorite album by them is probably Images and Words, which came out after
their debut with When Dream and Day Unite. I also love Scenes From a Memory,
the second disc of Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence and Train of Thought. Their
newest album, Octavarium focused more on their pop and alternative influences
like Muse, although the last song is a twenty minute epic influenced highly by
the YES and Genesis days. They are now releasing a DVD of a concert in New York
playing with a Live Orchestra called SCORE. The DVD is scheduled to come out
August 29th, and fans are watering at the mouth (including the writer of this
review) to hear what Dream Theater sounds like with a live Orchestra. It gives
me goose bumps just thinking about it. God gave each member of this band
abilities that exceed human comprehension and their creativity attests so well
to God's greatness and genius, as only through him can such beautiful and
complex music come. As Christian Philosopher Peter Kreeft mentioned, the music
of J.S. Bach could not exist if there were no God. When one hears music such as
Dream Theater's, it's so easy to realize that for such awesomeness there has to
be a source beyond brain functions telling them to write down or play a musical
note, because such depth can't come from the brain alone. {Mark Chenoweth}
Reviewed by Jason Mandryk
In 2007 Dream Theater released Systemic Chaos. This album is a self-confessed effort to capture the essential Dream Theater-– explosive, powerful, diverse. Musically, this is certainly the case. The composition is as varied, demanding and as virtuosic as ever. Newer and more mainstream influences (such as Muse, Metallica and even Evanescence) take precedence over the older ones (Rush and Genesis), but there is still more than enough by way of prog elements to satisfy all but the most expectant prog-aholic.
What is most noticeable about Systematic Chaos as an album is the change in lyrical content. This album is possibly lyrically darker than any bar Train of Thought, but the nature of the writing has shifted in what will be to some spiritually-oriented listeners a disappointing direction. These 40-something married fathers and family men have confessed to lacking the ability to continually churn out material about destructive lifestyles and the philosophizing that comes with recovering from the same – they are settled and happy in their lives. Nor do we see any of the deeper soul searching that characterized some of the earlier material when the writers were still finding themselves as people (this might be good – how much soul searching can a band do before we tire of their vanity?). What we discover in its place is the inclusion of fantasy elements in the writing (caricatured as “Dungeons & Dragons lyrics” by one magazine). The epic 2 part In The Presence of Enemies is derived from a Korean comic Priest, wherein the protagonist sells half of his soul to a Dark Master in exchange for the power to destroy enemies who have wrought terrible destruction on him, his family and all humanity. Cue carnage, musical and lyrical. There is a twisted version of the 23rd Psalm as the Dark Master assumes the role of protector and shepherd, signifying the temptation of evil and the power it offers. Fallen angels and undead armies are slaughtered by said Priest in order to gain revenge and save humanity. But the piece concludes in typically Dream Theater fashion, where the protagonist realizes where he stands and reclaims his soul, no longer willing to fight for the Dark Master. Other pieces include fictional accounts of a man visited by a female vampire (Forsaken), an ancient Egyptian monster wreaking destruction Mummy-style (Dark Eternal Night), and in more vintage DT style, the grief and loss felt by a young woman whose life was saved by a nameless man at the expense of his own. This third fictional piece, The Ministry of Lost Souls, is emotionally very poignant and may well contain echoes of a parallel theme about Christ’s self-sacrifice redeeming us and our obligation to live our lives meaningfully in the light of that. Musically all of these tracks are outstanding, but those looking for strong, overt Christian themes might finding themselves straining and squinting. Lyrically, the most connected pieces arrive in the other three tracks. Prophets of War continues to ask about the morality of war, encapsulated by the recurring line “It’s time to make a change”. Labrie sings here as well: “The only thing that I believe will help us see this through is faith. Pray they will forgive, forgive our arrogance, so we can make it right,” The title track, penned by Mike Portnoy, explains his self-destructive need to constantly be active and engaged in something (testified to when he dropped from exhaustion and was hospitalized during one tour). “Be still and know that I am God”, anyone? Repentance continues Portnoy’s theme of Alcoholics Anonymous’ 12 Steps – here, steps 8 and 9 are included. This slower track deals with the need to confess sins to be free of them and to reconcile with those we have wronged. It includes voiceovers from a number of prominent musicians, including Neal Morse, asking forgiveness from people they hurt in the past. The climax comes when the narrator concludes “You are only as sick as your secrets, but the truth shall make you free.”
In retrospect, those who love DT’s music will certainly not be disappointed; they are as majestic as ever. Myung and Petrucci and Rudess shine as usual and even break a little new ground stylistically. Labrie moves from a James Hetfield growl to a soaring clear tenor effortlessly. The band will probably find some new fans as well. The spirituality of the lyrics is a little less obvious, but it is clearly there once you examine the material. Although it might involve fictional undead-slaying warriors and spirits calling from beyond the graves for people to not waste their lives in some cases, you will find much food for thought amidst this fantastic prog metal feast.