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List Price: $39.99 | | Label: Wea/Atlantic
Salesrank: 772739
Released: June 20, 2005 |
| Our Price: $39.99 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Octavarium Track Listing:
1. Root of All Evil
2. Answer Lies Within
3. These Walls
4. I Walk Beside You
5. Panic Attack
6. Never Enough
7. Sacrificed Sons
8. Octavarium
Editorial Review:
Japanese pressing of their 2005 album features the same tracks as the US pressing. Warner/Japan opted in the end to not include any bonus material.
Octavarium Reviews:
Don't pass it by-Remarkable CD not to be skipped. only 10 bucks on iTunes 
2006-10-06 - This CD is unbelievably great! the song Octavarium is an instant DT classic that is absolutely fantastic. Towards the end of the song He SCEAMS "Trapped inside this Octavarium" several times and it still gives me chills when I hear it! . Root of all evil, These Walls and Panic Attack are all awesome high energy songs. "Never Enough" is a right to the point song about a relationship gone bad that is easy to relate to. Don't skip this! this is a good disc to start with if your new to DT then move on to the undisputed champs in their catalog. Train of thought, Image and Words, and Awake. It's also for sale in iTunes for $9.90. For 10 bucks or 25 it's worth it either way!
Dream Theatre's Octavarium will Satisfy, not Delight, Fans 
2005-07-15 - As a hardcore DT fan, I am a bit confused over the band's direction, post "Scenes From A Memory" which I consider their seminal work. Despite the hopes of progressive metal that may spring in fans' minds upon seeing the 24+ minute title track, this is no "Scenes." Nor is this the "return to metal albiet mainstream" direction of "Train of Thought." Frankly, two of the songs ("Walk" "Answer") are fairly simplistic, though well executed, ballads. With other bands, these would be throw-away tracks but DT does execute things a bit better than most.
The opening song is very reminiscent of Pink Floyd ("Welcome to the Machine" "On The Run") and you will find other parts of this work to be, well, derivative. That's not to say the music is bad - these are excellent musicians and they don't miss a beat. However, the epic title cut is VERY reminiscent of Floyd's "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" in its opening. Later, it strongly reminds one of early Genesis ("The Musical Box" in particular and other Gabriel-era tunes) and, for those who know the band, the stylings of "It Bites" (a very decent Australian progressive-pop band). However, once (or if) you can get past this, it is a very good piece of music that is worth not only hearing but, for a musician, study.
Other tracks are very good and heavy ("Panic Attack" is one of my favorite) and despite the seemingly disparaging comments I've made, I would recommend it to DT fans. You can expect the usual exceptional musicianship from the band - Petrucci screams a lot less on the guitar but what he does (and it's still a lot) he does well. Rudess is heavily featured on keyboards and is extremely effective. Myung is his usual awesome self on bass (awesome opening on "Panic" and in "Sacrificed") and Portnoy continues to be one of the few drummers actually interesting in and of himself.
Production and the like are very well done and 5.1 encoding will make this work even more a pleasure. If this were another band I'd give the album a 4-star rating, but DT sets their own standard bar very high.
