Dream Theater – Score DVD

Who would have thought that a band could accomplish so much yet still has so much more to offer? Some bands after a few albums will gradually slide the downward spiral of mediocrity, with each subsequent album being rehashes and incorporating more radio friendly tunes. Or some just fall from grace straightaway, now languishing with run of the mill ideas and clinging desperately to their glory days when they were a bit slimmer and their tummies didn’t bulge that much. Not many bands continue to climb, reach milestones and put out material that still continues to surprise old-time fans. Dream Theater is one of those bands. They have been consistently releasing album after album, going on lengthy tours and still manage to find time to do other things.

This concert was filmed at the famed Radio City Music Hall, New York, earlier this year to commemorate Dream Theater’s 20 years together creating progressive metal (purists be damned) music. The video is par excellence. The many times I put my face a few centimetres away from the TV screen made me feel as though the guys were playing in front of me (cross-eyed is so not my look). The sound is pristine with every instrument ringing with clarity and a bottom-end that never fails to rumbles.

Naturally the setlist isn’t to my liking, which is a given since every fan would have his favourites thus no one is satisfied. I would have liked to have seen more of their less popular numbers but I guess they went for the haven’t-been-played-in-a-long-time songs. The material on board is culled from their 8 albums with a good mix of familiar and rarely played songs. Of course, this is also in support of their 8^th album, the good in its own right but overall highly disappointing Octavarium (look out for my review!) so you’ll see a lot of those songs from that album. The two “new” tracks, Another Won and Raise the Knife, sit comfortably with their officially released material and provide fans like me two more songs to like from them. Another Won is from 1985, the year the 3 core members first got together and I must say that it’s a fun song. The melodies are clearly Iron Maiden-esque, with hints from other British progressive rock pioneers. Raise the Knife is from their Falling Into Infinity (FIT) sessions which has a definite pop sound to it, which is not surprising considering that FIT was their most commercial sounding album till Octablahrium overtook it. The bonus tracks consist of songs that I’m not that keen on. Well that was before, as now I’m enjoying the said songs whenever I listen to them.

All is not perfect, unsurprisingly. The evermore stolid John Petrucci has considerably piled on some pounds but what’s the relevance? If a guy as generously proportioned as Dino Cazares (former Fear Factory guitarist) is capable of jumping up and down without so much as cracking the floor then I suppose you’re able to at least headbang or headshake or headnod. I don’t know but he’s just there, rooted to the floor with his pedals at his beckoning and his vainglorious footrests whenever a complicated run takes place. Mike Portnoy drums standing up for crying out loud! Jordan Rudess looks a little tired but as usual delivers a solid performance nonetheless. I’m also happy to report that James Labrie, the man who gets vilified unremittingly because he sounds like Whitney Houston before she got too hooked on crack, gives the performance of his career. There’s passion, anger, and power in his voice that I’ve never heard before in their previous live concerts. Also, he has opted for a more utilitarian approach by shedding the unbuttoned shirt with a tee with unspecified design. I have no idea why I put that in.

The first half is basically a retrospective covering material from their inception to their more recent output. The second half is where things get a little more interesting with the ingeniously named Octavarium Orchestra providing all the (what else?) orchestral bits. Their presence is certainly felt and heard, as they lift the songs, giving more depth and spirit. It’s not like Metallica when they had the San Francisco Symphony with them, where some of the songs just didn’t come together well, this is certainly one of the better pairings. The Octavarium songs are given a new lease, sounding more urgent, and on the whole not as wishy-washy as the studio version.

But the most important question is whether or not you should get it. The answer is a resounding Yes. The second disc has a good history lesson for all you Dream Theater fans who didn't know much of their struggles and achievements. Like most bands seeing them live is an experience like no other. For long-time fans this is as close as it gets and for casual fans it’s a great place to start. After all, if 6000 fans saw this concert it can’t that bad can it?

Initial Rating: 8/10

Current Rating: 8.5/10

DragonForce – Inhuman Rampage

Quite possibly having one of the silliest band names ever, DragonForce is a force that will leave you wide-eyed, gobsmacked and makes you want to heave your breakfast, lunch and yesterday’s dinner. They play a brand of power metal (silliest name for a metal genre apropos of its silliness) that pushes the boundaries every single time they get their instruments plugged in. This, my friends is an album that will test your fortitude and sanity to the very end.

DragonForce makes no apologies for their brazen, ebullient, and pedal to the metal approach to their music. If they’re going to do something it might as well be to its most extreme they said once. Yessiree, this album has it all and more; riffs and solos that break the sound barrier, vocals that are so high Whitney Houston would be high just by listening to it while the songs are so metal it makes tanks as brittle as wooden horses. It’s like being bludgeoned by Winnie the Pooh. I kid you not.

Even if you have strapped yourself firmly to your seat, right from the start you are pummelled by the musical bombardment and praying for it to end. Your senses are pushed aside and you’re left gasping for air because your breathing space has been wiped out by these mongers of wanton metalness. Opener, Through the Fire and Flames, adroitly encompasses what DragonForce is all about; brimming with extreme confidence in their ability to create mind-boggling, inhuman progressions, and packing more than is necessary that they forget the most important element, the most nascent of things inherent to a composition, and that is the song itself. They go all the way and forget to come back. They sacrifice the listener’s constitution to tolerate such extremity that people of lesser vigour will chuck the album into a darkened corner never to be seen or heard from again. Ever. It’s like stepping on the accelerator of a Bugatti Veyron, the initial shock of gravity pushing your whole body into your seat is terrifying but highly thrilling. You go all the way and the world passes you by in a series of blurry instances. But after awhile you get sick, and even if you could go on there’s not enough road.

I’ve listened to a lot of metal albums, and trust me, I know what I’m talking about. I’ve listened to death metal albums that blast from the first second all the way to the last. I’ve listened to black metal that had screaming and yelling that it became tedious when the 100^th time the vocalist says he wants to kill himself for Satan. But nothing prepared me for this. The first time I played it, I had to stop by the 4^th song. I was exhausted from all the over the top stuff. There is only so much theatrics one can stomach in one sitting. I know of some people who felt dizzy after the first 45 seconds of the aforementioned opener. Imagine what would have happened if they were subjected to the whole song which clocks in slightly over 7 minutes. To listen to DragonForce takes a very strong stomach and a pair of ears made of steel. I don’t know about you but death metal doesn’t seem that brutal after all.

Initial Rating: 5/10

Current Rating: 6/10

Metallica – Ride the Lightning

Riding high on their debut, Kill ‘Em All, they wasted no time in coming up with a second offering. While the debut could be seen as a prototype as to what would become their next albums, it was clear that these lads had more up their leather jackets. The first was unquestionably raw, hoarse in its vocal delivery and basically set the tone for future thrash metal albums. Now with everyone settled in, especially for former Exodus guitarist, Kirk Hammett, and livewire bassist, the late Cliff Burton, provided the band with a whole new approach during song-writing. This new understanding and tight collaboration helped to create a classical tinged, oft melody driven brand of thrash metal. At the same time there were the other thrash metal bands: (collectively known as the Big 4 during their halcyon days), Anthrax rather straightforward, Megadeth still was trying to gain a foothold and Slayer was embarking on a much darker and faster sound.

The sophomore effort of these thrashers saw them travelling all the way to Denmark to record this album and with their new found confidence Metallica themselves produced the album. The sound was atypical of that era; the snare drum as though made of concrete, the guitars wailing and piercing and the bass actually audible through it all. Fight Fire With Fire quickly dispels the notion that they couldn’t write a brutal and melodic song. Featuring a rare, speedy double bass run by the oft maligned Lars Ulrich (he’s a crappy drummer all right but he has a keen sense when it comes to song-writing), it pummels the listener into thinking that the end is truly near. The title track which is repeatedly ignored by fans in their top Metallica songs of all-time, deals with the death penalty. Fade to Black is a song that deals with suicide and it was conveyed in the form of a ballad. Not a sappy, lovey dovey ballad like Whitesnake, but a metal ballad, with driving guitars, desperate vocals and Hammett’s best solo of all-time. They were naturally the recipient of criticism, a slow number in a thrash album is like asking Motley Crue to stop writing about sex and drugs. But they took a gamble and it paid off.

Many of the songs on this album went on to become regular fixtures in their live performances and rightly so. For Whom the Bell Tolls with its eerie and haunting end while Egyptian themed Creeping Death provided fans the chance to scream their lungs till it burst with its “Die! Die! Die!” background chant during the breakdown. Closing it perfectly is the H.P. Lovecraft inspired instrumental, The Call of Ktulu (a deliberate misspelling of the ancient horror because for its real spelling alone evokes despair and dread).

Personally, this album means a lot to me. I remember listening to nothing but this and Master of Puppets for 2 years. While many quote the latter album as their most favourite of all-time, I would say that Ride the Lightning is their crowning glory. It’s not as thrashy as the first nor is it as melodic as the third. It’s the perfect blend of both worlds.

When they were at the top, nothing could have toppled them except of course, themselves. And that was the truth.

Initial Rating: 10/10

Current Rating: 10/10

“Are you watching closely?”

The Prestige

I was very close to be disappointed. I knew beforehand what the movie was all about, who the actors are and what I might expect from the director that gave us Batman Begins (brilliant) and Memento (I need to watch this). No, the reason why I was almost disappointed was because I had to sit three rows from the bloody screen. I was afraid that the discomfort of having to crane my neck to watch the movie would have clouded my final judgement. In fact, I was so engrossed that by the end of it I didn’t notice the soreness until after the credits rolled. Now that’s a sign of an enjoyable movie.

Before I move on, I would like to ask when was the last time a mainstream movie actually made you dumbfounded in the beginning but when all is revealed at the end, you sit back, take a deep breath and say, “Shit, how could I been so dumb?”

The Prestige is just that. I know many are going to watch this simply because of ole adamantium claws, and everyone’s favourite Aussie, Hugh Jackman is in this. But you’re in for a surprise as he gives quite possibly his best performance in a movie yet. Forget about the campy fun of Van Helsing or the for ever cantankerous and never out of a catchy one-liner Wolverine, Jackman delivers the goods as a charismatic and tormented magician. There’s also the incredibly intense and engaging Christian Bale who almost single-handedly revived the Batman franchise after the disastrous outing by the swaggering and cocky George Clooney. Throw in Michael Caine who’s becoming the Welsh version of Morgan Freeman, who gives the movie that light touch to a very heavy script the much needed compassion and empathy. Featuring a notable supporting cast the movie is not short on talent. It has enough intrigue to pique even the most hardened whodunits lover who thinks he knows it all. And who wouldn’t want to solve a mystery about the tricks and secrets that make up a magician’s life?

It begins where it ends. I for one love this method of storytelling; I know the end but how? And couple this with the story being simultaneously told by the two main protagonists, the effect is that it keeps on building and building the suspense till the shocking revelations. Of course, if the plot becomes too convoluted or sidetracks then all is for nought. I’ve watched many a movie where the end revealed only disappointment. The Prestige cleverly avoids these pitfalls while still teasing the viewer’s intelligence and perceptiveness throughout the course of the movie. While it may be slightly draggy at parts, it never loses focus on the prize: and that is to see who can perform the greatest magic trick ever.

It is also a story about the effects of obsession, the ultimate sacrifice, and what would you do to get your hands dirty. What was once done out of passion is now done out of pure greed and malice. Each magician tries to outdo each other, at first simply by trying to replicate the tricks. Easy but still no good. Time to up the stakes. With each becoming more and more successful the dirtier they are willing to learn each other’s secret, the prestige. Bale is undoubtedly the most talented, though not as good selling his show while his dedication to the art sometimes pushes his loved ones away. Jackman is the better of the two when it comes to performing. He is charming, suave and eventually is consumed from within when a tragedy occurs. He transforms into this cold and callous man fuelled by the one thing that has caused him so much joy and pain: secrets. Caine at first appears like any other old man; experienced, knows the trade inside out and acts as the voice of reason to Jackman but he has a trick up his sleeve. Bale is calculative and cunning and yet never calm. In the end you’re rooting for everyone and no one.

The pace is kept at a comfortable speed, with the scenes going back and forth to reveal bits and pieces. You can’t be complacent, you have to keep your senses focused because just when you thought you had it the movie drops another mystifying plot twist. I watched it without wanting to overanalyse it, I wanted to be surprised and slap my forehead at the simplicity and genius of it at the end. I still am.

This is one of those movies where there’s no second time watching it. Well maybe not so soon but it’s one that you have to really think back and remember what you saw. Only then will you peel away the layers, and marvel at the brilliant script. It’s also one movie where a sequel is totally out of the question. I mean, what are they going to call it? The Prestige 2: The Return of Scarlett Johansson’s Décolletage?

You really should have been watching closely…

Slayer – Reign in Blood

The reason why we have metal bands singing about wanting to deface Christ during lunch and why God’s a lady in red with a pink tutu is because of this band and this album. Anthrax was busy goofing around and taking things seriously unserious, Megadeth was trying its best to prove that hey, Metallica sucks because their riffs sucks while Metallica was trying their hand at dominating the world. But Slayer, oh my, they were the like rebellious teen; hair was a bit too long, the pants were a little too tight and the costumes they donned gave rise to the movement that it was okay to wear 10-inch nail bands on your wrists. And Slayer just didn’t give a damn. All they wanted to do was to make the fastest metal record and play it to the masses that were ravenous for some really fast and heavy thrashy stuff. Reign in Blood did just that (before a small band from England by the name of Napalm Death usurped them of their throne) and many have hailed it as one of the most influential metal albums of all-time. This is no small feat, what with bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and the reason for it all, Black Sabbath, who themselves have released monumental albums of their own.

Look, I don’t give a flying toss (or a stationary toss for that matter) but a thrash metal album isn’t Shakespearean poetry, it’s all about thunderous drumming, speedy riffs, atonal solos, vocals that make you wish American Idol was on and enough attitude to keep school councillors busy for ever. Angel of Death kicks things off by introducing to the world that it was a-okay to scream like a girl amidst a barrage of double bass and a flurry of really thrashy riffs. Satan wasn’t as ala mode then but it did get the people talking. Short history lesson, the angel of death they’re referring to is none other than the infamous Josef Mengele who decided to gas people to see if they would die quicker, all in the name of science, madness and the Third Reich. Rumour has it that this is the most covered metal song. Necrophobic is a Slayer song that will leave you, like it’s said in the lyrics, gasping for air. It’s only a mere minute and a half yet it still manages to deliver a brutal punch to the senses. Jesus Saves has a riff so headbangable I have to remind myself that operations for neck injuries are very costly. The next few songs onwards merely go through the motions and sets up the finale of all metal finales, Raining Blood. A staple in their live shows, this song is for people to go absolutely wild to. Never mind what the lyrics mean, just listen to the breakdown in the middle. Bands have taken up instruments just by listening to that alone. I kid you not. And rumour has it that this is the most covered metal song.

But why is Reign in Blood so influential? As we look back, not all the songs are perfect or even great for that matter but nonetheless good. If you take each song and analyse each one by one then I’m afraid you’re missing the point completely. Clocking in no more than 30 minutes, Reign in Blood is a tad short at first but then you notice the genius behind it. Even if it was 5 minutes longer or shorter it would’ve ruined the vibe. Reign in Blood is the best album of its generation simply because it doesn’t pretend to be anything more or less. You could say without Venom there wouldn’t be Slayer. But without Slayer, the metal that we know it wouldn’t exist. And for that, Reign in Blood thoroughly deserves the praise and tributes.

So there you have it, a metal review by yours truly! More to come, so stay tune. In the mean time, Bang the head that doesn’t bang!

Initial Rating: 10/10

Current Rating: 666/10