The Prog Rock Titans Are Back- Distance Over Time Review
Dream Theater’s Distance Over Time is a fantastic album that was a much-needed release, following the last few albums. Distance Over Time is filled with heavy riffs, soaring melodies, and a very solid foundation, to make for an epic rally back to original form. Singer James LaBrie, bassist John Myung, keyboardist Jordan Rudess, drummer Mike Mangini, and guitarist John Petrucci deliver an excellent, energetic album that completes every task it set out to achieve.
From the 1993 album Images and Words to 2005’s Octavarium and even 2009’s Black Clouds and Silver Linings, Mike Portnoy was the drumming backbone for a powerful, technical, and focused progressive rock band; Dream Theater. With his departure in 2010, the direction of Dream Theater began to change. After a series of auditions to fill the empty seat, they settled on drummer Mike Mangini (ex-Steve Vai) and released A Dramatic Turn of Events in 2011. While this album was already written before Portnoy left, the drumming style and production difference was immediately noticeable, and not entirely loved by longtime fans.
In 2013, Dream Theater released a self-titled album, something bands usually do at the start of their career. This bold statement was made to show that the ‘new’ DT was born and Mike Mangini is now the permanent drummer. Once again, this album was met with mediocre to good reviews, with the most notable track, “Illumination theory”, clocked in at around 22 minutes. With a 2 year hiatus, they returned in 2016 to release The Astonishing, a two hour progressive rock-ballad concept album, written entirely by Petrucci and Rudess. This album was not met with positive reviews, with critics and fans claiming it dragged on and was not true to the typical Dream Theater sound.
Understanding this feedback, all the members secluded themselves in a barn in upstate New York to write, record, and produce their new album. Their main goals were full band inclusion, powerful energy, and a more concise outing. And they absolutely fulfilled their goal; and more. The album is full of heavy, powerful riffs and catchy choruses, an ode to many of the fan favorite albums.
The album's opening track “Untethered Angel” is a great ‘mood setter’, basically because it is a preview of the entire album. Its slow chugging verse riff creates tension that gets unleashed with the vocals in the chorus. Although it is a great album opener, I found myself not revisiting this particular track after the full album release, because it was released as a single beforehand. Next up is “Paralyzed”, the shortest song in the album, at just around 3 minutes. It starts out with a riff that sounds like something out of the 90’s grunge scene, breaking down into a slower, headbanging riff to then cut out into an emotional guitar solo. Although this song was great, it was my least favorite on the album, due to the fact the overall atmosphere and phrasing wasn’t too original, as if I had heard it before.
Thankfully the next track, “Fall Into the Light” is a spectacular song with a new, Metallica-esque ‘thrash’ riff, something I did not expect. The chorus vocals have an incredibly melodic sound to it and is one of my favorites. At around three and a half minutes, the song cuts out into an acoustic guitar build up, almost reminiscent of the song title. After an accumulation of energy, the song fires back into the fast riff, with one of the best Jordan Rudess keyboard solos on the entire album. Following this song is “Barstool Warrior” and, besides the name, is easily one of my favorite dream theater songs- period. The intro follows a more typical progressive guitar and keyboard harmony, with the polyrhythmic drumming and bass playing providing a solid base. The small drum interlude shows the speed and technicality from Mangini is his short “prodigy section”, which then transitions into a very enticing melody from Petrucci. Just when you think the song ends, Rudess plays a short, clean piano interval while the guitar comes back and the powerful solo fades out until the end of the song.
“Room 137” is next, with a heavy and pounding guitar riff chugging along. While the vocals don’t take long to come in, I wasn't a fan of the vocal melody following the guitar riff in this song. The different solos, on the other hand, were by far some of the most creative I have heard in a while, as they incorporate different genres of music and rock. “S2N” follows, starting with a Rush-type bass riff and the rest of the band dynamically jumping in. This track has my favorite chorus on the entire album as well, as it is catchy and follows the instruments extremely well. The many solos on this song are purely insane, as they are technical but suit the overall theme of the track. Then comes “At Wit’s End”, easily my favorite song on the album. The fast intro with Petrucci and Rudess in sync erupts into a perplexing main riff, in a sudden burst of energy. This is the album’s longest song, at just over 9 minutes. The lyrics address recovering from domestic violence, which really fits the dark and gloomy tone of the song. The band plays through many different chord progressions and rhythmic patterns, changing up the mood of the song. They finally end on a very melodic and tranquil guitar melody/solo which fades out and soon fades back in, recorded using only room microphones.
“Out of Reach” is the next track, which is a short and soft ballad. It does a fine job of creating a good standalone song, but its real beauty is the power to perfectly set up the final song, “Pale Blue Dot”. This 8 and a half minute album closer is the type of progressive metal power that you can expect from a band like Dream Theater. Although it is not the 20 minute closer we usually get, it does a spectacular job of showing off fast, virtuosic, and very fast styles of playing, for all the instruments. After the short drum intro, it gets into a militaristic march- Imagine Darth Vader marching down a hall- very fitting. The soundscapes used on this song are staggering and the amount of times it changed into something completely different is astounding. With odd time signatures and polyrhythmic playing, this song can be compared to some of the genre’s greats. Although “Pale Blue Dot” is technically the album closer, the bonus track is fantastic. This jam session of 5 amazingly creative musicians shows off that they really can have fun making this complex music. Its blues-inspired riff reminded made me think about what Deep Purple would sound like if they had figured out how to crank up the distortion. The organ playing from Rudess provides a solid background melody for a chorus that flies high. And both the guitar and keyboard solos are just spectacular in this bonus track.
After listening to this album many times, on both vinyl and through earbuds, I can say that the production and mix is superb. The bass is clearly heard throughout (finally!), and the drum sound is a breath of fresh air. It is very natural and fluid, unlike previous Mangini Dream Theater recordings. While, in the past, James LaBrie has had a tough time keeping his vocal range, after coaching he sounds much improved. The (almost) over-processed vocal effects production works in creating a sound that suits the band, but I couldn't help but notice times when the vocals almost felt buried. The guitar tone is massive, partly due to the fact that John Petrucci himself produced the whole album. Like Petrucci said during an interview “...it jumps out at you. It has a huge voice, it has a ton of character, it's very bold - just like Five Guys - it's very rich, definitely not cheesy, and it has a lot of layers”.
In Summary, Distance Over Time is a very welcoming addition to Dream Theater’s vast catalog. From beginning to end, it makes for an incredibly interesting listen, due to the focus on melody, energy and sheer skill. This is by far the best Mangini era Dream Theater album, really showing off his technical prowess as a drummer and as a bandmate. The mix is remarkable and is very clear, truly displaying just how proficient these musicians are at their instruments. Because of this original writing style, this album almost is a rebirth for Dream Theater and their energy, promising an extremely bright future for a band that has already been around for 30 years. It, in no way, is re-imagining progressive rock/metal, but really building off of the foundation of a genre they essentially pioneered.