Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
In true fashion afforded those who find the resilience and the love to return to a former position of power, the reintroduction of Mike Portnoy to the realm of Dream Theater must feel like a dream come true, the only effects of Parasomnia in this case being one of united fulfilment, and sheer adoration as the music from one of the finest examples of Neo-Progressive Metal/Rock asserts its position and flexes a series of muscles designed to illuminate, reestablish order, and whilst Mike Mangini’s tenure in the drums overlapped with some intensely exciting albums, the sense of excitement in the returning Mike Portnoy is almost inflammable, combustible, fiercely and brilliantly overwhelming.
Parasomnia is a dream of nightmares, it is the near personification of the trembling malady given electric shock treatment, the cunning ferocity of a band ready to engage in a battle for the soul and drive of the genre, and with all due respects to anything that has sublimely gone before, this latest release is arguably, intentionally, dramatically the finest for the group since the 1999 release of Metropolis Pt.2 Scenes From A Memory.
This might be seen as a dismissal of all that has happened since those late days of the 20th Century when the technologically astute were more concerned with fixing a computer issue that was dogging humanity, but far from it, it is a testament to just how focused and outstanding the music has been, how hard it is to topple the classics, and yet in Parasomnia the unthinkable has been achieved, the magnitude of the songwriting, the pressure and volatile nature, this is the new weight and exposure to which the band will now have to live up to.
From the opening of In The Arms of Morpheus, through to the exploitive sound of A Broken Man, the visualising Dead Asleep, Bend The Clock, and the finale of The Shadow Man Incident, James LaBrie, John Petrucci, John Myung, Jordan Rudess, and Mike Portnoy are not only cohesive, they bring a new meaning to the idea of fluidly interconnected.
Earthquakes may be a regular feature of life on Earth, but Parasomnia is seismic, it inhabits a realm that was created by Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, on Queensrÿche’s Operation: Mindcrime, even Iron Maiden’s Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son; its narrative is compelling, its music sublime, and the anger within astonishingly utilised.
It is a vision of re-energised ambition which gives Parasomnia its gravitas, and one to which is readily appreciated and engaged with. Truly outstanding.
Ian D. Hall