4/5 Decent But Not Great
  by Kurt Harding (Boerne TX)
With as much progressive rock that I listen to and buy, it comes as a surprise to many of my friends that Dream Theater is not at the top of my list. Oh, I'm fairly well acquainted with the music of some of the members like that of Petrucci, Portnoy and Rudess from some of their other projects. But I never really got around to checking out this band because no one I know who likes them has strongly recommended them. With the three-disc special edition release of Black Clouds and Silver Linings I finally decided to take the Dream Theater plunge.
What's the verdict? Well, the music itself is pretty decent but hardly qualifies as great. James LaBrie's vocals are rather weak but Mike Portnoy's percussion is quite spectacular. If anyone unfamiliar with the band were to ask me what they are like, I'd say that they lean far more towards metal than prog. Judging from the number of reviews in the short time since the CD's release, its apparent that the band has a large and vocal fan base. In the case of this release, its about three to one with a favorable opinion of it. After many listens, I count myself among those who enjoy it.
I like most of disc one; my favorites are A Rite of Passage, The Best of Times, and The Count of Tuscany. Disc Two I am lukewarm on but I most enjoy the band's take on King Crimson's old Lark's Tongues in Aspic Pt. 2. But I think the best part of the set is disc three which features instrumental mixes of songs on the first CD. It makes for great energetic background music.
The CD is accompanied by an attractive booklet containing lyrics, pictures, and pertinent album information. I don't know how Black Clouds and Silver Linings stands compared to previous Dream Theater releases, but when listened to without reference to previous efforts, it sounds fine to me.

5/5 Great Bang For Buck
  by Mr. Joseph P. Dempsey (Melbourne, Victoria Australia)
For my two bits I listen to the instrumental cd of BC&SL more than the normal cd with the vocals, and after that I listen a lot to the second cd with the cover songs, it is especially fascinating as I believe James LaBrie's vocals suit those songs 'Queen' etc better than the actual BC&SL album. Overall I am surprsed to get three cd's from Dream Theater, its great value for money. But that instrumental cd is fan bloodytastic, here is where we can really understand what is in a progressive rock composition and the music stands out, I won't go into actual track detaisl but sopem pf the keyboard and guitar work is lavish and atmospheric. I would like less of Mike Portnoy's voice and a better use of james LaBries almost operatic ability to express a song, passion, desire and anguish to come out in their recordings. Keep it up lads and see you in Melbourne on the 7th Dec 2009.

Joe.

4/5 Sonic heaven and quite an improvement over the last 2!
  by Michael J Harrington (Phoenix, Arizona USA)
I was so excited to read the reviews on the new DT, so I ran out and got the 3 CD set. Was it worth it? Yes. Could they have left out CD #3? YES. But now my review...

I have been a huge DT fan since I&M, and have everything they have done (3 DVD's too, but not all of the live stuff). Octavarium had 2 or 3 GREAT songs, as well as Systematic Chaos - but neither seemed to hold up for the duration and did contain some filler. Black Clouds is a definite improvement, but frankly I was hoping for more. It does have far more GREAT moments of classic DT prog than it's predecessors, and is much better 'as a whole'. In other words, the music flows very well from track to track, with a mimimal amount of lame experimentation (think bad U2/Foo Fighters 'Prophets of War' or half-baked slow stuff like 'The Answer lies within'). All the heavy and soft moments click, BUT I just never felt I was listening to anything very new or fresh. There are some old great riffs in 'Shattered Fortress', but recycling only goes so far. Like others have said, I am getting rather tired of the Portnoy/Petrucci 'dark side' the music seems to have adopted lately, however songs like 'The Best of Times' approach sappiness and rip off Rush like nobody's business (not meant as an insult though, as it is the good older Rush 'sound' from 'Spirit of the Radio' days).

The second CD saves the day, and if CD 1 was better, my review would be 5 stars easily. The songs chosen for remakes were awesome, and LaBrie did an awesome job with some challenging vocals from old Rainbow and Queen. The instrumental choice to do an old Dixie Dregs song (Odyssey) is worth the price of admission, and the other choice to do the quirky but way cool 'Larks tonque in Aspic'...thanks for that MP! Old IM and a great yet obscure number from Zebra top this gem off, and it was reminicent of one of my DT fave CDs 'A Change of Seasons'.

Silly lyrics? Yes. Dark music here and there akin to Systematic Chaos/TOT? Yes. Much better that the last 2? YES. My main concern with Dream Theater, and perhaps the whole Progressive Rock of today (of all heaviness levels) is that making exciting new music in this genre is quite a task, and I salute DT and others (POS, Tool, OSI, Spocks Beard) for trying to do so. It must be hard to and not come off like retreaded ELP, Yes, Kansas or Rush; or on the metal side - Metallica/Megadeth. Should DT change it's musical path? Think of Genesis from Nursery Cryme to ABACAB...ground-breaking prog to commercial pap...well, lets all be thankful that DT has NOT completely gone that path for the sake of 'keeping up with the times' or just changing to just change! Is there prog that out there that we haven't heard yet? I hope so, and I think a lot of fans have put faith in DT to do so and if anyone can do it, they can. It is just the wait that seems to be killing us all judging from many reviews I've read over the last 5 years...good luck DT - you can do it! My personal advice would be to get a fresh opinion on things (new producer/manager) and NOT let the Portnoy/Petrucci regime rule the output of the band for the next few CD's. Think of the influence that Derek Sherinian had back in the I&M days...be interesting to hear what DT would sound like today if he had an equal vote on things - all you have to do is listen to any of his awesome CD's he has done as himself or Planet X since he departed. Pardon the Derek plug...

BC and SL? Get it, and support DT for the upkeep of Progressive Rock!!


5/5 This Album is sound satisfactorily!
  by Nattapon Wichitsiri (Bangkok, Thailand)
I don't have to tell anything about that why I like Dream Theater band. I've always collected their album when I was teenage. I've never heard this album when I bought it. Do not worry anything to buy this album.


5/5 Prog Metal pioneers at their finest, as usual
  by M. Zarruk H (Tegucigalpa, HONDURAS, CA)
This album is perfect. In my opinion, DT has never recorded a bad album and it makes me sad to hear some DT fans badmouth Systematic Chaos, Octavarium or Falling Into Infinity, for they are unmatched masterpieces (along with the rest of their albums). When faced to a musical force like DT you have to understand that there is no other band that has done what they have done, musically speaking. This guys are true geniuses and are the true prog rock pioneers of our time. Their musical and compositional skills are incomparable and they have never, ever had a bad moment. Of course there are a few songs that I don't like but I can count them with the fingers of one hand. All of their albums are solid and never sound like the previous one.

Black Clouds and Silver Linings continues the heritage of excellence this guys started 20 something years ago. Petrucci's solos are just out of this world, Portnoy's drumming is as precise and creative as always, Myung amazes with technical profficiency, Rudess's sounds like a mad genius set loose and LaBrie's vocal abilities shine throughout the whole album without flaw. I won't review this album track by track but just let me say The Count of Tuscany is one of the most inspiring rock songs in musical history; it's the perfect combination of metal and sensibility towards beauty, closing with the most epic of endings.

ALL HAIL DREAM THEATER!!!!!!!!!