At first I was not too enthusiastic about the CD. I thought she was not bad, but have offered not quite on the level, the Dream Theater otherwise. At first glance, simply tricky Metal with a good portion of groove, but the songs somehow lost much faster than usual, its charm. My problem was similar to many others, in the extreme hardness of the album. Not that I basically anything against hard music had - I can still do that with pleasure music whose hardness is far beyond this disc. But on "Train of Thought" is apparently bludgeoned everything from guitars and drums at the first hearing. That was simply not the Dream Theater, I knew. Sure, the songs were complex, breaks without end, on the instrumental Leistungsn I need not to talk, but since nowadays there other bands that. The master (see Meshugga, Spastic Inc, Spiral Architect, ...) What Dream Theater finally took off in my eyes from the now no longer too small mass of the prog metal bands, was the ability to combine complex structures and perverse instrumental skills with tunes that could produce pure goosebumps. In addition, the myriad details and gimmicks in the music that you sometimes only ever discovered the x-th pass. But now I have my opinion about "Train of Thought" changed thoroughly. Take all DT-typical characteristics also apply to this album. But the "Play", hot With the CD a lot a harder than before. This dark, sometimes very hard metal, the addition rather grooves like hell (what for live gigs course is perfect !!!), must be only once properly digested and seen through. If one has only once "incorporated", also opens up the style as a logical consequence of the development in recent years (at least as I see it). Seemed to me "Six Degrees ..." somehow indecisive and half-baked, is on the new album all of a piece. I would not dare to say, "Train of Thoughts" would be better than the masterpieces "Images and Words" or "Awake" or even "Scenes From A Memory", but it is undoubtedly not significantly worse. Whether it's enough to become a classic, time will tell. One should perhaps be mentioned: "Train of Thought" is, as with Dream Theater already tradition, fantastically well-produced and mixed. However, a good system is compulsory, with this album the difference is clearer than most others I've heard. Then so many notices that John Bass Myungs not about missing (he was missing on any recording ...), but simply is so damn deep that a small kitchen radio simply can not represent him. The keyboards that are apparently perished in some reviewers in mushy, suddenly reappear * g *. But if there is a halfway reasonable system available, then the sound is crystal clear, of course, and at the same time so powerful that it is a real pleasure. For me, the absolute reference recording in harder rock area!
