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List Price: $24.98 | | Label: Roadrunner UK
Salesrank: 584219
Released: January 13, 2008 |
| Our Price: $17.64 |
| Used Price: $17.62 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Editorial Review:
Progressive rock masters Dream Theater return in full force with their ninth studio album Systematic Chaos. The album features heavy riffs, soaring melodies, and intricate arrangements. Dream Theater appeases its loyal fans but also reaches out to all rock fans with hook-laden hits like "Constant Motion," "Forsaken," and "The Dark Eternal Night."
Systematic Chaos Reviews:
Underrated. 
2009-06-25 - I can't believe the amount of terribly negative reviews this album has! Ok, it's nowhere near as good as Images And Words, Awake or Scenes From A Memory, but what is? Man, it seems that some people don't like DT's most recent albums only because they aren't as good as Images And Words... Wake up, it's IMPOSSIBLE to make an album better than Images And Words! Anyway, enough whinning... In The Presence Of Enemies alone makes the album deserve 5 stars! It's easily one of their best songs! It's very epic, it's full of amazing melodies, it's full of great riffs and it has many very catchy parts! The other songs are nowhere near as good, but none of them is weak. Forsaken is a good accessible catchy song, Constant Motion has many great riffs, The Dark Eternal Night has some very heavy riffs and a pretty damn catchy chorus, Repentant and The Ministry Of Lost Souls are nice ballads and Prophets Of War is very catchy and I love the keyboard in it! All in all, this album really doesn't deserve all of the hate that it gets. It seems that some DT fans are never satisfied. Everything is never enough.
4.5/5 because I have to admit that Forsaken, Constant Motion and The Dark Eternal Night are pretty average for Dream Theater songs. They're very good. The problem is that they're nowhere near as good as the rest.
A Good Album, But A Step Back For DT 
2009-06-15 - Dream Theater's ninth studio album is by no means a bad album, but if one views it from the front, looking back at the rest of their discography, it can't help but lose a bit of its shine. Before any conclusions are jumped to, it IS a very good collection of songs, and still one of my more favorite albums. But it's definitely one of my least favorite DREAM THEATER albums.
In Systematic Chaos, we see a Dream Theater that is looking for a bit more mainstream exposure while at the same time holding on to what it is that makes them unique - technical instrumentation, catchy melodies, and best-in-class hooks and riffage. These are still present; however, the focused, driven, and confident sounds of Awake (1994) and Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002) tend to get lost among the more "radio-friendly" cuts like Forsaken and Constant Motion. As such, the end result conveys the impression of a band that is writing and playing in a domain where they may not be most comfortable or best suited.
This is more of a "big picture" analysis; each member of the band is in close to top form, technically speaking. John Petrucci's melodies and solos are still among the best in the music world today, James LaBrie's voice displays both aggression and grace with ease, and Jordan Rudess continues to be at the forefront of keyboard innovation. It's just...when everything is put together here, the end result is probably a bit less grand than the aged Dream Theater fan might expect.
Be it that Dream Theater fans may have a thing or two to complain about here, Systematic Chaos is still a great album. Music fans with little to no exposure to this genre will almost certainly find something to like, and the increased accessibility of the songs creates a convenient bridge for those listeners that may have shied away from progressive rock/metal in the past. All in all, it's definitely worth a spin. It still gets one every now and then from me.
Inspired and Awesome!
2009-06-10 - I think this is one of Dream Theater's best albums. It pulses with the same hard-edged energy that has permeated their albums ever since "Train of Thought". But it also has memorable melodies such as those in "Forsaken", "Prophets of War", and "The Ministry of Lost Souls". The last is especially beautiful and haunting. Overall, the album strikes a good balance between intense metal, rich melody, and interesting story-telling.
While some reviewers have characterized some of the lyrics as juvenile, I happen to like science fiction and fantasy and appreciate that DT is telling some stories in those genres. These stories are actually more sophisticated then you might think at first hearing and have interesting sources including a Turgenev short story and Korean and Japanese manga (comic books); check out the Wikipedia entries and related links for details.
I strongly encourage you get the special edition, not so much for the documentary video, but for the outstanding 5.1 surround sound mix. It's only an extra $7. The engineers did a wonderful job with this alternate mastering, fully exploiting the possibilities of the extra channels. There are several points including the opening of "In the Presence of Enemies - Part 1" where the sound actually moves around between the speakers. While this is not a realistic sound concept, it is very cool to hear. Fortunately, the engineers did not overdo these tricks; the sound is more stable most of the time, while delivering excellent separation and depth. In contrast, several live concert DVDs that I've purchased recently (Deep Purple, Rainbow, and Heaven and Hell) disappointed me with their use of 5.1 surround sound, failing to offer any benefit beyond the stereo soundtracks except for some extra depth. (In fairness, the Deep Purple and Rainbow albums were recorded in the 1970s and might even have been recorded in mono sound which would prevent any separation between instruments and singer.)
Regarding the two part "In the Presence of Enemies", a friend of mine thought that Dream Theater was going Satanic and advocating some kind of devil worship. But if you study the lyrics (or the Korean manga "Priest" that inspired them), you'll see that this is not the case. Instead, you'll see that the main character ultimately resists the lure of the "dark master", regaining possession of his soul.
Not their best... 
2009-05-24 - Dream T. has better albums than this. Althought is a very good album, and I have the special edition with the DVD with the entire album in 5.1 surround sound (I didn't hear yet).
really happy...
2009-05-06 - Great album! this version of systematic chaos is incredible!!
the cd is in excellent conditions (new) and the shipments was as agreed!
I'm really happy!
