Album: Distance Over Time
Artist: Dream Theater
Genre: #Metal
Sub-Genres: #ProgressiveMetal
Label: InsideOut
Non-Airable Tracks: n/a
Release Date: February 22nd, 2019
Description:
Dream Theater is back with Distance Over Time which ranks as their best album since Black Clouds and Silver Linings back in 2009. It would seem as though the band consciously made this new release to please fans after the divisive double release The Astonishing from 2016 shook their fanbase. The album starts off well enough with “Untethered Angel” providing some hazy atmosphere but quickly reveals itself to be short on new ideas thereafter. Among the pop metal pieces (“Paralyzed” and “Room 137”), some standard, frenetic prog for the band (“Fall into the Light” and “S2N”), the ethereal ballad “Out of Reach” (which recalls “Another Day” from 1992) and the mini-symphonies (“At Wit’s End” and “Pale Blue” which recalls “Metropolis” from 1992 in structure), Dream Theater are summarizing their career like a walk down memory lane and it doesn’t help that the quality of LaBrie’s vocals have been declining since 1994. If you’ve any Dream Theater album from the 90s, then you have heard all the musical ideas Dream Theater present here and I would suggest saving some time and avoiding it unless you’re a hardcore fan of their 90s stuff.
Sounds Like: Dream Theater
Recommended tracks for radio play: Any of them
Reviewer: Bryan Burnett
Review Date: January 29th, 2019