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Dream Theater - Score review



Reviewer:
9.2

151 users:
8.95
Band: Dream Theater
Album: Score
Release date: August 2006


Disc I
01. The Root Of All Evil
02. I Walk Beside You
03. Another Won
04. Afterlife
05. Under A Glass Moon
06. Innocence Faded
07. Raise The Knife
08. The Spirit Carries On

Disc II
01. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
    1 - Overture
    2 - About To Crash
    3 - War Inside My Head
    4 - The Test That Stumped Them All
    5 - Goodnight Kiss
    6 - Solitary Shell
    7 - About To Crash (Reprise)
    8 - Losing Time / Grand Finale
02. Vacant
03. The Answer Lies Within
04. Sacrificed Sons

Disc III
01. Octavarium
    1 - Intro
    2 - Someone Like Him
    3 - Medicate Me
    4 - Full Circle
    5 - Intervals
    6 - Razor's Edge
02. Metropolis Pt.1

As always with Dream Theater every year means a new release and so one year after their highly anticipated and well received studio-album Octavarium, which offered very varied songwriting, they return with another live album and DVD. Their website states that SCORE is the "20th Anniversary World Tour grand finale" and because it was recorded in the band's hometown of New York you know the audience won't be holding back. But on to the details of the album itself.

The set-list is in my opinion is not as good as the one on Live at Budokan. On SCORE they decided to add some never-before-played-live material: the song Another Won from the time when the official band name was still Majesty and Raise the Knife from the Falling Into Infinity sessions (you actually wonder why it wasn't on the original album in the first place). Besides the last and first two songs the set-list is made in chronological order starting from Another Won all the way up to Octavarium. From CD2 and on they even play with an orchestra which really makes songs like Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, Vacant and Octavarium stand out live.

The performance of all the band-members is what really makes this album worth owning. There are no audible mistakes and you don't need to know anything about music to tell they play it better than most other artists. They always try to enhance their live-shows in different ways and SCORE is no exception. The extended intro to The Spirit Carries On is one of the highlights, the full-scale orchestra is another. Jordan Rudess makes an incredible continuum-solo during the extended Octavarium intro which'll leave you breathless at least until the incredible climax of the song.

I just have to add the fact that James Labrie sounds amazing on this album. I've never heard him this great live and although I've never had any problems with his singing live I know a lot of people have. So you have nothing to worry about. Perhaps you'll be surprised how great he can actually sing. Finally, the production of the album is top notch. Produced by the band's own John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy it really presents the music as close to the real live-performance as possible.

So we've got a full-packed 3 hour set of entertainment from one of the worlds biggest Progressive Metal-bands with flawless production and a great variation of songs which makes this album both a great way to start out a Dream Theater-collection and for old fans to hear an incredible live-performance.

Best: The Spirit Carries On, Octavarium, Metropolis.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 10
Songwriting: 9
Originality: 9
Production: 9

Written by Storchillarn | 23.03.2007




Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.


Comments

Comments: 12   Visited by: 35 users
24.03.2007 - 13:25
Rating: 8
Katatronik
Angel of Lust
Simply amazing, as always...
Six Degrees with orchestra is incredible, Metropolis too... Great live!
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"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear,
and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."
Howard Phillips Lovecraft
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25.03.2007 - 03:46
tulkas
el parcero
I've heard oppsoite comments on this one. some say the budokan is better, and other say this one is better. unfortunately I haven't been able to watch it, but considering them playing with an orchestra (something I've always wanted from them) I still expect a lot
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love is like a jar of shit with a strawberry on top
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28.03.2007 - 07:31
Bitch Boy

I've to say that I agree with you when you said that LaBrie sounds amazing here, I was quite impressed. The performance is really great. Good album and good review
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29.03.2007 - 00:01
Storchillarn

Thx, first review here. As I said in the review I don't think the set-list on score beats the one at budokan but the overall performance is better, especially by Labrie..

Check out Metropolis on youtube and you'll be completely sold. =)
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31.03.2007 - 17:42
RavenLord

Written by Bitch Boy on 28.03.2007 at 07:31

I've to say that I agree with you when you said that LaBrie sounds amazing here, I was quite impressed. The performance is really great. Good album and good review


I beg to differ. After watching the video of Metropolis on YouTube, I was left wondering why they even bothered. The orchestra did nothing to add to the song (really, just playing keyboard parts on real strings doesn't cut it...even Metallica did more!), and LaBrie's vocals are weak and watery, although I've always found him as a pretty poor vocalist (hence the fact that he could only cover half of 'Cemetery Gates' live).

That said, though, the rest of the band are absolutely solid, as you'd expect. They should toss LaBrie out and become a full-time Liquid Tension Experiment, in my opinion.
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31.03.2007 - 22:28
Bitch Boy

Written by RavenLord on 31.03.2007 at 17:42

Written by Bitch Boy on 28.03.2007 at 07:31

I've to say that I agree with you when you said that LaBrie sounds amazing here, I was quite impressed. The performance is really great. Good album and good review


I beg to differ. After watching the video of Metropolis on YouTube, I was left wondering why they even bothered. The orchestra did nothing to add to the song (really, just playing keyboard parts on real strings doesn't cut it...even Metallica did more!), and LaBrie's vocals are weak and watery, although I've always found him as a pretty poor vocalist (hence the fact that he could only cover half of 'Cemetery Gates' live).

That said, though, the rest of the band are absolutely solid, as you'd expect. They should toss LaBrie out and become a full-time Liquid Tension Experiment, in my opinion.


I have to agree with you that LaBrie has poor vocals, but when I said that I was impressed by him it's because I expected much less of his vocal work on stage, I mean, he was ok. And I also think the orchestra wasn't that bad though.
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31.03.2007 - 23:22
RavenLord

Written by Bitch Boy on 31.03.2007 at 22:28

I have to agree with you that LaBrie has poor vocals, but when I said that I was impressed by him it's because I expected much less of his vocal work on stage, I mean, he was ok. And I also think the orchestra wasn't that bad though.


The orchestra were by no means bad...they're musicians, and will play what they're told to play. It's just that as this was marketed around the fact that DT were playing with an orchestra, I expected it to have a larger, more interesting role. Of course, perhaps Metropolis is just the bad track for demonstrating the orchestra's skill, but I'm of the opinion that DT are a studio album band anyway...they're quite boring live.
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31.03.2007 - 23:32
Bitch Boy

Written by RavenLord on 31.03.2007 at 23:22

I'm of the opinion that DT are a studio album band anyway...they're quite boring live.


It happens the same with me, but not only with Dream Theater, but with most of the bands. For me they aren't boring live but I prefer them in studio
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01.04.2007 - 00:14
RavenLord

Aww, fuck...funny April Fool's, guys...now I can't read anything!
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22.05.2007 - 22:24
carrie_st
Account deleted
masterpiece!
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30.06.2007 - 00:09
Rating: 10
Warman
Erotic Stains
My favourite album so far actually! I love live albums with orchestras (Kiss, Metallica) and this is without doubt the best one! And yes, James' voice is breathtaking, just compare his vocals on this and on Once in a LIVEtime.
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09.07.2007 - 17:17
BloodTears
ANA-thema
It'll arrive here tomorrow eheh. I'll tell you what I think then but judging by this review I wont be disappointed.
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Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29

Like you could kiss my ass.


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