Black Clouds & Silver Linings

Dream Theater released their latest studio album, Black Clouds & Silver Linings, yesterday.  Their work is hard for me to describe.  Of course, it’s progressive metal.  This album is up to their usual standards and is as complex as ever.  It is going to take me some time to figure out what I really like about it.

One song that jumped out at me early on that I really like is on the “Bonus Disc”:  Too Tame A Land.  This is their take on Iron Maiden’s classic work about Frank Herbert’s classic novel Dune.  The song is great (both versions).  In this version I really like the effect that the keyboards bring to the song.  It really makes it sound more desert-like, more futuristic, more exotic than the original.  If a band is going to cover an already well-done song like To Tame A Land, Dream Theater is definitely the band to do an excellent job.  For me, this one song makes the purchasing the album a wise investment.

P.S.  I’d love to see them perform To Tame A Land live, but they so rarely come to the Pacific Northwest.

Tags: Dream Theater, Heavy Metal