September 23, 1997 - Falling Into Infinity

A month after my last release and two years since their EP "A Change Of Seasons", Dream Theater released their fourth album "Falling Into Infinity" on September 23, 1997. This is their first full album with Derek Sherinian on keyboards and while it's definitely still the same progressive metal style, Dream Theater were under pressure from their record label Elektra to make a more radio-friendly album and so there's also a more pop-y side to some songs. Let's listen to some new Dream Theater!

The album kicks off with "New Millennium" and Sherinian and John Petrucci lead the way with some solid keyboards and guitar, but it's fairly tame for Dream Theater. James LaBrie sings an alright verse, but it's nothing too special honestly. Once John Myung starts playing some pretty cool bass there's a nice instrumental part where everyone gets a short chance to show off a bit. Then it's back to the main riff, which is alright, but certainly not Dream Theater's best. Up next is "You Not Me" and Petrucci plays some cool lead guitar, bit it falls away for a light verse before returning for a decent nut pretty light and made-for-radio chorus. I hope the label was happy, because it's sufficiently lame and unexciting. Pop-y Dream Theater is not what I want, but thankfully there is a pretty awesome guitar solo as Petrucci plays some nice fast stuff to spice things up. This song had cool moments, but was just too fluffy for me for the most part. Track 3 is "Peruvian Skies" and it's a slower one with Myung playing a nice slow bass riff and Petrucci leading the way with some slow guitar. They play a couple slow and pretty bland verses before the music finally gets louder and sets the stage for a guitar solo. The solo has it's moments, but is also pretty slow for the most part but it leads nicely into a heavy new riff that is more what I'm talking about! This part is fantastic with some great contributions from everyone and the final loud chorus is also way better than the first half of this song. The next track is "Hollow Years" and it just might be the worst track Dream Theater have ever recorded. Petrucci plays the lamest and lightest guitar riff to lead the way while LaBrie sings a high and very pop-y verse and chorus. Sherinian's light piano only makes it worse and it's hard to believe this is Dream Theater, it's so warm and cuddly, and not metal at all! Pressure from the label really got to them! Track 5 is "Burning My Soul" and it's got a heavier, more typical Dream Theater riff with some solid contributions from everyone. Cool bass, drums, keyboards, guitar and even LaBrie's vocals sound solid on this one. After a couple cool verses and choruses it's solo time and it's Sherinian who takes off for a really fast and pretty cool keyboard solo. They jam out the chorus a little long to end things, but this was definitely a step up after the past few songs. Up next is an instrumental track called "Hell's Kitchen" and it has a pretty light backdrop, but Petrucci plays some pretty sweet lead guitar.  He is just shredding it at times on this one, but the background is so light and fluffy, it's an odd fit. Sherinian eventually joins in with some cool keyboards as well and the two sync up towards an epic finish that leads right into track 7, the twelve minute "Lines In The Sand". Sherinian plays some trippy and pretty cool keyboards in an epic opening and Portnoy adds some fittingly epic drum fills as they nicely fill out things and form a pretty solid main riff. Almost three minutes in LaBrie finally joins in and sings a quiet but decent verse over some cool bass by Myung. Sherinian plays some coop piano and other keyboards, but the chorus isn't my favourite and I don't like the backing vocals. After a couple goes through the mood shifts to soft as Sherinian plays some light but decent piano and Petrucci proceeds to solo very stylishly overtop. LaBrie sings a soft new part with some high vocals that are a little on the lame side and Sherinian get some good piano in at the end of it before they return to the main riff nicely and play a final verse and chorus to end it. A decent, but not amazing twelve minute song. The next track is "Take Away My Pain" and it's another cookie cutter made-for-radio song with a super light guitar riff and exactly what I don't want Dream Theater doing. Even the solo has a lame factor to it and while I don't think it's quite as bad as "Hollow Years", the fact that it's in the conversation is certainly telling of it's lesser ability. Track 9 is "Just Let Me Breathe" and it has a nice upbeat and pretty metal main riff with Sherinian adding some cool synths to the heavy guitars and bass. Even LaBrie sounds pretty good on this one and I think this might be my favourite song on the album. Sherinian and Petrucci both get a chance to show off as they both play some pretty cool stuff in a long back-and-forth solo. The ending is pretty sweet too, definitely the best song so far. Up next is "Anna Lee" and it's another slower and sappy song with Sherinian playing some decent but very sad piano while LaBrie sings softly overtop. The rest of the band doesn't join in until the second verse, but they just add to the sappiness with some really basic stuff.  LaBrie tries to sound epic, but it sounds pretty lame along with this music. Petrucci's solo is alright but definitely too slow for me, as is this whole song. The final song is also the longest, the 13 minute "Trial Of Tears". It's got a psychedelic opening and Petrucci's guitar comes out of the trippiness to start things up. The bass and drums nicely play around the guitar and eventually LaBrie comes in to finish a decent main riff. The chorus is pretty similar but Myung's bass stands out. Sherinian plays a short but pretty sweet keyboard solo that leads into a rockin' new riff where Portnoy just goes off with some awesome drums! Great stuff! Myung and Portnoy cue up a new riff after this and Petrucci beautifully solos overtop, his playing is so ridiculously fast, but also so smooth! It's a really long solo too, and it's followed by an equally long and possibly equally awesome keyboard solo by Sherinian! Wow, both those solos were amazing! Out of the madness Petrucci plays an acoustic guitar riff and LaBrie sings a soft verse to match. Sherinian adds some soft piano and suddenly things feel very different; still good, but different. They end it as it began with more psychedelic stuff and this was a pretty sweet way to wrap things up.

That is the end of "Falling Into Infinity" and I thought it was a decent, but not great album. It certainly had it's moments, but there were some real softies as well and this commercial-friendly Dream Theater is not the direction I want the band headed in. I think it's easily their worst album and even though there are some great musicians in this band, there is certainly room for improvement. Time to step it up!