Reflections of Reality: Black Clouds & Silver Linings

Dream Theater are releasing their 10^th studio album titled Black Clouds & Silver Linings on the 23^rd of June. However, thanks to some seeders, it was leaked on the net, I couldn’t hold back myself and downloaded it. Thankfully my excitement wasn’t betrayed, DT have produced by far their best album after Scenes from a memory. Every time I switch on the PC I can’t help but listen to it.

The album consists of 6 mind-blowing and multi-genre tracks. The album opens up with track A Nightmare To Remember. It’s a 16:10 min track, which has an almost death metal kind of feel to it, with a really heavy opening riff and Mike Portnoy growling in the middle. Prior to the making of the album, Mike Portnoy and Jordan Rudess announced that they are going to inculcate some of the gothic elements into their music. This track is perfect example of that. John Petrucci wrote the lyrics, it’s about a car accident he was involved in as a child.Lyrics like the music is on the darker side and presents a very raw and gory experience of a person who has gone through a tragedy.

The 2^ndtrack is A Rite of Passage it’s an 8:35 min track. It’s a more of typical DT progressive metal kind of song and it sounds very similar to In the Name of God, from the album Train of Thought, though it doesn’t have any crazy solos by Petrucci and Rudess. Though it’s a very apt name for the theme of the album, as the band itself has undergone another rite of passage. Lyrics involves concepts of involves Freemasonry and secret societies.

The 3^rd track is Wither it’s a 5:25 min track. This song could be compared to Vacant from the album Train of Thought, though it has more colour to it. Petrucci wrote Wither about writer's block.

The 4^th track The Shattered Fortress is last song of Portnoy's Twelve-step Suite, which began in the album Awake with the song The Mirror. The series was started as a result of Mike Portnoy’s various experiences with alcoholism. The song has lines from The Root of All Evil, The Glass Prison, and This Dying Soul .

The 5^th track is The Best of Times which is perhaps the most emotional song ever written by DT. The Best of Times is about Mike Portnoy's father, who died due to cancer. It captures the emotions of two of the greatest songs of DT, A Change of Seasons and Hollow Years. In this song Portnoy talks about the great years he had with his father and also about the regret of the time they weren’t together. He played the song for his father prior to his death.

The last track is perhaps the best of the album, titled The Count of Tuscany, it’s an epic song which talks about the writer’s fated meeting with an eccentric man who proclaimed himself as Count of Tuscany. Listening to this song is like journeying into a path unknown. One can’t guess what’s coming next, whether it will be a beefy solo by Petrucci or an elegant piece of work by Rudess. If you think Octavarium was the best piece ever by Rudess, its time that opinion changed. Rudess is absolutely marvelous in this track. The song has shades of Metropolis Part I, may be it’s a foundation of another concept album like Metropolis Part II- Scenes from a Memory. My, my I am already getting excited about it.