Dream Theater is one of those bands that as a musician, you can love and hate at the same time. Each member is a vituoso in their own right, and together they make the most amazing progressive music on the planet. I feel sorry for anyone these guys play with live.. because after DT.. anything else is a letdown.
Six Degree of Inner Turbulence is the followup to the what most considered progressive musical perfection in Metropolis Part 2 - Scenes From a Memory. Scenes IS the Holy Grail for progressive music. I personally didn't think it would be possible for DT to match Scenes, let alone top it, but as they have shown over and over.. just when you think it can't get any better, they take it that one step further.
Six Degrees is 2 cd's of pure aural ecstacy. CD 1 is 5 songs and just over 53 minutes.
1) The Glass Prison - Talk about just ripping your head off. One of the most technically brilliant pieces of music ever recorded. It's 13:53 in length, and NEVER let's up.
3) The Great Debate - The topic of cloning tackled from alternating viewpoints. In fact, in the recording of the song, the liberal voices are coming from the left and the conservative from the right. The song gives both viewpoints without taking sides, and just as musically diverse as the opposing opinions.
5) Disappear - A 180 degree departure from the rest of the CD, Disappear is very textural in nature and gives you a glimpse at the less technical, more emotional side of Dream Theater's music. Disappear is centered around one person's struggle to move on with life after losing their partner and takes on a very Pink Floyd like quality in the delivery.
But Six Degrees really comes into its own on the 2nd CD, the 46 minute title track delving into 6 different sides of 'sanity', from depression and withdrawl to multiple personalities and the threat of suicide, wrapping up with the perspective of the person affected at the end. Musically it is just as diverse, taking the listener on a ride as wild as the lyrics suggest.
The only downside of the title track is that I simply cannot listen to just pieces of it. If I'm going to listen to it at all, it has to be from start to finish, because it really isn't complete for me any other way. So in that respect it's a big bite to swallow.
Overall.. this is musical viagra.
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