| CD Reviews Last updated: 10.8.05 Dream Theater Falling Into Infinity Tracklist: 1. New Millennium (Lyrics: Portnoy, Music: Dream Theater) (8:22) 2. You Not Me (Lyrics: Petrucci/Child, Music: Dream Theater) (5:00) 3. Peruvian Skies (Lyrics: Petrucci, Music: Dream Theater) (6:43) 4. Hollow Years (Lyrics: Petrucci, Music: Dream Theater) (5:55) 5. Burning My Soul (Lyrics: Portnoy, Music: Dream Theater) (5:29) 6. Hell�s Kitchen (Music: Dream Theater) (4:16) 7. Lines In The Sand (Lyrics: Petrucci, Music: Dream Theater) (12:07) 8. Take Away My Pain (Lyrics: Petrucci, Music: Dream Theater) (6:04) 9. Just Let Me Breathe (Lyrics: Portnoy, Music: Dream Theater) (5:29) 10. Anna Lee (Lyrics: LaBrie, Music: Dream Theater) (5:52) 11. Trial of Tears (Lyrics: Myung, Music: Dream Theater) (13:05) I. It�s Raining II. Deep in Heaven III. The Wasteland Total: 1:18:22 Introduction: Dream Theater�s Falling Into Infinity arrived three years after their third album, 1994�s Awake. This is the band�s first and only full-length album with keyboardist Derek Sherinian, who replaced Kevin Moore in late 1994. Because of a change of management at their record label, the band was forced into tweaking some of their songs a bit to cater to a mainstream audience, instead of a niche one, so to speak. Synopsis: Falling Into Infinity commences with the appropriate opener, �New Millennium�. This is the first of two songs that John Myung plays an instrument known as the Chapman Stick. �New Millennium� features some heavy, yet catchy guitar and bass riffs, calculated drumming, and some cool keyboard sounds as well. You can hear a mixture of Dream Theater�s influences meshed together in this song. �New Millennium� is a very cool opener. �You Not Me� is not a very good song. The band knew it too, and this song was going to be left off of the album. However, the band�s label got songwriter Desmond Child to change the song a bit, resulting in a track that doesn�t even sound like a Dream Theater song. The song does have a great instrumental section after the chorus, but that is all it really has going for it. Track 3 is one of my favorite songs on the album. �Peruvian Skies�, written by Petrucci, is a song about a girl from Peru who is abused by her father. The song opens up with a slow, calm intro. Eventually, the song picks up tempo around the time when Petrucci delivers an amazing solo. The song ends with a heavy, awesome instrumental section. Track 4 is the mellow, acoustic track known as �Hollow Years�. The song contains some deep, thoughtful lyrics and calm, soothing music. I, along with pretty much every Dream Theater fan, prefer the band�s live version that often features an amazing extended guitar solo by Petrucci. Next up is �Burning My Soul�. I�ll admit that the lyrics aren�t very good, but it has a memorable bass line and guitar riff, not to mention a killer keyboard solo by Sherinian. �Burning My Soul� leads straight into the instrumental, �Hell�s Kitchen�. �Hell�s Kitchen� was originally an instrumental section in the middle of �Burning My Soul�, but eventually became its own track. Compared to the band�s previous instrumentals, �Ytse Jam� (from When Dream And Day Unite) and �Erotomania� (from Awake), �Hell�s Kitchen� is fairly bland. But, nevertheless, it�s a really good instrumental. There�s an awesome Petrucci guitar solo, as well as some killer keyboard work from Sherinian. �Hell�s Kitchen� fades right into the next track, �Lines In The Sand�. �Lines In The Sand� is one of the longer songs on the album. It has a cool sounding introduction section, and a powerful chorus. �Lines In The Sand� features backup vocals from Doug Pinnick, of King�s X fame. This vocals add to the intensity of the chorus, and are a welcome addition to the song overall. Meant to be a follow-up of sorts to �Another Day� (both have the same subject, John Petrucci�s father), �Take Away My Pain� is not a ballad like �Another Day� was. Instead it eccentrically has kind of a funk feel to it. The lyrics of the song are well written, however. And LaBrie�s singing is excellent and emotional. This is also the other song in which John Myung employs use of the Chapman stick. �Just Let Me Breathe� is the ninth track of the album. Like �Burning My Soul�, �Just Let Me Breathe� expresses anger. Mike Portnoy wrote the two songs targeting the record label, sending a message to them that they should let Dream Theater handle their own music. I�ll be honest; I don�t like �Just Let Me Breathe� much. It�s too different from Dream Theater�s sound, and the lyrics aren�t that great either. It is quite heavy though. Many a fan ridicules the next song, �Anna Lee�, but in fact, it�s a very good song, one of my favorites on the album. Right from the start, you can tell Elton John, who is one of Derek Sherinian�s idols, heavily influences this song�s piano parts. The song features some heartfelt lyrics, as well as a beautiful guitar solo. �Anna Lee� is very underrated. The closing track of the album is the John Myung penned epic, �Trial Of Tears�. The song is the longest track on the album. I�m a fan of John Myung�s previous works, �Learning To Live� and �Lifting Shadows Off A Dream�, and I really enjoy �Trial of Tears�. The lyrics are great, and the instrumental work is excellent as well. The guitar solo in �Trial Of Tears� is one of the best ones on the album. Derek Sherinian plays some great keyboard parts here, and LaBrie sings exceptionally. Highlights: "New Millennium", �Peruvian Skies�, �Lines In The Sand� Overall: Falling Into Infinity is an album that accommodates the mainstream audience, with a few song, but it still has a lot of progressive elements in a mjority of the tracks.some mixed results. Some songs ended up really good, while others contain simple structures and straightforward melodies that you wouldn�t expect to hear from a prog band like Dream Theater. Some fans of the band will not like this album, I can tell you that. But, for what it�s worth, I believe the band put out a really good, but not great, album that contains a lot worthwhile songs to listen to. Final Score: B Any questions, comments, submissions, or anything related to the site should be e-mailed to me: shadowdragonxx [at] hotmail [dot] com. Don't take anything from the site without permission. |
| Falling Into Infinity Album line-up: James LaBrie � Lead and background vocals John Myung � Bass guitars and Chapman stick John Petrucci � Guitars and background vocals Mike Portnoy � Drums, Percussion and background vocals Derek Sherinian � Keyboards and background vocals Additional Personnel: Doug Pinnick - backup vocals on �Lines In The Sand� The Del Fugio Monks � backing vocals Desmond Child � co-author of �You Not Me� Release Year: 1997 Label: EastWest Records Produced by: Kevin Shirley |
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