DREAM THEATER, source by kerrang.com SURVIVING TWENTY years as a band is no mean feat. Continuing to sell albums and tickets after that long is just plain impressive, but that’s just what Dream Theater are doing. Since forming as Majesty at Berklee College of Music in 1985, they have become one of the biggest-selling progressive bands around, selling over six million units worldwide. Building their sound from a solid base of incredible musical proficiency, they have morphed and adapted over the years, becoming heavier and more expansive all the time, whilst retaining their trademark, complex prog element. After releasing their ‘When Dream and Day Unite’ debut to reasonable acclaim, they really hit their stride when Canadian vocalist Kevin James LaBrie replaced original singer Charlie Dominici for 1992’s incredible ‘Images and Words’. The band never looked back. Constantly striving to push themselves to the next musical level, Dream Theater have frequently performed exhilarating shows where award-winning virtuoso drummer Mike Portnoy ensures that every setlist is unique. While there are so many flash-in-the-pan bands that will never stand the test of time, Dream Theater really are just as relevant (and just as cool) today as they were 22 years ago and seeing as their current release, their ninth studio album, sounds as good as anything else they’ve ever done, you wouldn’t dare bet against seeing them going strong in another couple of decades. Name: METROPOLIS PART 2:... Label: ELEKTRA Year: 1999 Buy from Amazon Find on iTunes Review: ESSENTIALLY JUST a remarkable, album-length follow-up to ‘Metropolis Part 1’ from their 1992 breakthrough, this is their most accessible record because, somehow, it doesn’t seem pretentious at all. James LaBrie sang the story that forms the concept of this album impeccably and solved the unfinished business that many fans had complained about since ‘Images And Words’ in one. Name: SIX DEGREES OF INNER... Label: ELEKTRA Year: 2002 Buy from Amazon Find on iTunes Review: MANY CAN’T decide if this double-disc is their finest moment or not. The fact that their label did not allow them to make a double-album the last time meant they went slightly overboard this time. With the title-track taking up a whole one of those discs covering a staggering, but glorious 42 minutes, they managed to make a marathon that everyone wanted to run. Name: SYSTEMATIC CHAOS Label: ROADRUNNER Year: 2007 Buy from Amazon Find on iTunes Review: AFTER TWO decades of developing their sound and building their fanbase, Dream Theater return with a stunningly epic album full of modern influences and dramatic interludes. LaBrie sounds older and wiser, handing the vocals an inimitable assuredness and authority. It’s a significant return to form after a couple of duds. Their duds, however, are still better than most other music. Name: IMAGES AND WORDS Label: ATCO Year: 1992 Buy from Amazon Find on iTunes Review: THE FIRST album with James LaBrie is held up by many to be the album where the band really nailed their prog-metal sound. It was their breakthrough album after gaining much airplay across the world with their brazen displays of musical aptitude. Despite the turbulent time signatures and sheer heaviness, they somehow still managed to become a mainstream act. Name: OCTAVARIUM Label: ATLANTIC Year: 2005 Buy from Amazon Find on iTunes Review: THE STUNNING title track aside, there’s not much here that’s very interesting at all. Fair enough, said track is 24 minutes long, but that’s to be expected because Dream Theater have clearly never done anything by halves. It’s not a bad album by any means but when they have so much more material to stun you with, this is hardly a crucial addition to your library. Key DREAM THEATER Tracks A CHANGE OF SEASONS TAKEN FROM an EP rather than an album, there are some stunning interchanges between the different segments which, again, tell a compelling story. Find on iTunes Find It: ‘A Change of Seasons’, 1995 AS I AM THE BAND has always paid homage to their favourite bands and this is very reminiscent of Metallica. It’s never going to be a bad direction to take. Find on iTunes Find It: ‘Train of Thought’, 2003 FATAL TRAGEDY THE CORNERSTONE of the album is a masterpiece with the lyrics focusing around the dramatic nucleus of the storyline. You’ll have to listen to find out. Find on iTunes Find It: ‘Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory’, 1999 FORSAKEN ONE OF the heaviest riffs they’ve ever written can be found here. It’s got a hard old school thrash theme running through it and is also one of their shortest, sharpest songs. Find on iTunes Find It: ‘Systematic Chaos’, 2007 IN THE PRESENCE OF ENEMIES PT 2 QUITE SIMILAR to the title track from ‘Octavarium’, this is a megalithic track with undulating grooves and sinister complexities running all the way through marking one of their strongest songs to date. Find on iTunes Find It: ‘Systematic Chaos’, 2007 METROPOLIS, PT. 1: THE MIRACLE AND ... THE PRELUDE to their 1999 breakthrough album, this song is one of the most popular, as it explores multiple, mind-boggling changes in time signatures. Find on iTunes Find It: ‘Images and Words’, 1992 NEW MILLENNIUM THE OPENING track of the album really sets the tone for the rest of the album. With galloping guitars and staccato rhythms this is classic prog rock with a modern Find on iTunes Find It: ‘Falling Into Infinity’, 1997 PULL ME UNDER THEIR BREAKTHROUGH hit is still their most popular song, and for good reason. The best thing about this song is the unexpectedly abrupt ending. It’ll stop you in your tracks. Find on iTunes Find It: ‘Images and Words’, 1992 SIX DEGREES OF INNER TURBULENCE BROKEN UP into eight movements, this is the heavy-going title track that takes up a whole CD, delving through six characters with various mental illnesses. Find on iTunes Find It: ‘Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence’, 2002 SPACE DYE VEST THEY’VE NEVER performed this touching ballad live as departed member Kevin Moore wrote it in its entirety and the band feel weird playing it without him. Find on iTunes Find It: ‘Awake’, 1994 STRANGE DÉJÀ VU THERE ARE some spine-tingling guitar solos during the frantic entry to this tune. It’s also the lyrical entry to a largely instrumental album. Find on iTunes Find It: ‘Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory’, 1999 STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS ANOTHER INSTRUMENTAL track, it’s a complex climax to the album that’s longer than a weekend away with your grandparents. Though much, much better. Find on iTunes Find It: ‘Train of Thought’, 2003 THE GLASS PRISON PROBABLY THEIR most aggressive song ever, this lengthy, solo-ridden number has often opened their shows. Find on iTunes Find It: ‘Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence’, 2002 THE GREAT DEBATE IT’S A more political song which deals with stem cell research but it’s the way the songs builds and builds throughout the song which makes it really poignant. Find on iTunes Find It: ‘Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence’, 2002 YTSE JAM WRITING WORDS backwards has never been cool but, found on their first record, this is the song that remembered the bands first name. Find on iTunes Find It: ‘When Dream and Day Unite’, 1989

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Metallica Arguably the biggest and most successful heavy metal band that will ever exist, Metallica was formed in 1981 by then budding tennis player Lars Ulrich. After advertising for likeminded musicians in a Los Angeles newspaper, Ulrich teamed up with guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield, bassist Ron McGovney and second guitarist Dave Mustaine (later of Megadeth fame) to form the band’s earliest incarnation. Releasing their debut album Kill ‘Em All two years later, the band eventually recruited Exodus guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Cliff Burton in place of Mustaine and McGovney respectively, producing two of their finest moments in Ride The Lightning and the classic Master Of Puppets. After just five short years, Metallica had begun to look unstoppable. Tragically, their success was to be momentarily halted following a bus crash in Sweden towards the end of 1986, resulting in Burton’s death. Following months of uncertainty, Metallica recruited fan Jason Newsted to fill the void, producing the album …And Justice For All in 1988. Newsted would remain in the band for the next 14 years, recording three more studio albums including the mega-selling ‘Black Album’. It was a period that would see various controversies rear their head; not least the distinctly ‘un-metal’ approach taken on the albums Load and Reload in the mid-nineties, while Ulrich suffered much abuse for his role in the band’s decision to tackle file-sharing giant Napster in 2000. Soon after the band recorded St. Anger, an album that many have dubbed the worst of their career, while Ulrich’s deteriorating relationship with Hetfield – documented in the 2004 film Some Kind Of Monster – once again threatened the band’s very existence. Having recruited former Suicidal Tendencies bassist Robert Trujillo shortly after the album’s completion, the band has since enjoyed a healthy relationship, with last month’s stunning Death Magnetic topping charts on both sides of the Atlantic, reinforcing their reputation as the finest heavy metal band on the planet. Name: Master of Puppets Label: VERTIGO Year: 1986 Buy from Amazon Find on iTunes Review: Following the break through success of Ride The Lightning two years prior, the quartet delivered what is commonly known as one of the finest metal albums ever made. Blending their raw thrash prowess with a song writing formula that was beginning to look unbeatable, Master Of Puppets changed the music world on its head, allowing Metallica to take their rightful place as the kings of heavy metal. Name: Metallica Label: VERTIGO Year: 1991 Buy from Amazon Find on iTunes Review: Though its release was met with cries of ‘sell-outs’ the world over, it’s easy to overlook the quality of Metallica’s biggest selling album. Though the immortal smash known as Enter Sandman would overshadow much of their 90’s career, Metallica – commonly known as the Black Album due to its cover – is a solid, no-frills metal album in its purest form, perfectly capturing a band that was about to hit its peak. Name: Ride the Lightning Label: VERTIGO Year: 1984 Buy from Amazon Find on iTunes Review: While Kill ‘Em All had made Metallica’s intentions of world domination clear, it wasn’t until Ride The Lightning surfaced some 18 months later that such plans started to become reality. From the startling fury of Fight Fire With Fire right through to the epic Call Of Ktulu, this was the album that announced their arrival into the big leagues. Name: Reload Label: VERTIGO Year: 1997 Buy from Amazon Find on iTunes Review: The second of Metallica’s ill-fated double salvo, Reload arguably had the edge on its predecessor. Favouring a largely straightforward, blues-driven rock and roll approach, it undoubtedly possesses a cluster of top notch songs. While it was Reload and its sister album that stripped the ‘metal’ from ‘Metallica’, one thing it never took was their ability to evolve regardless of the outside world. Name: St. Anger Label: VERTIGO Year: 2003 Buy from Amazon Find on iTunes Review: Although it perhaps seems an easy album to bash, it only takes a proper listen to the band’s highly controversial eighth album to see that such treatment is largely justified. Recorded during a period that saw Metallica’s very existence hanging by a thread, the result was an unimpressive and sloppy mess of an album, offering absolutely no redeeming features either musically or lyrically. Key Metallica Tracks ALL NIGHTMARE LONG With a defiant chorus of ‘we’ll hunt you down without mercy/hunt you down all nightmare long’, the world once again had reason to fear Metallica after a decade of indifference. Find on iTunes Find It: DEATH MAGNETIC, 2008 BATTERY At just over five minutes in length, Battery represented the shortest of Puppets’ eight tracks. With a pulse that rarely drops below the brink of collapse, it was also the most dangerous. Find on iTunes Find It: MASTER OF PUPPETS, 1986 BLEEDING ME Eight minutes of emotional, heartfelt music that sees James Hetfield confronting his inner demons once and for all. For sheer passion alone, they don’t come much better than this. Find on iTunes Find It: LOAD, 1996 CREEPING DEATH A grand and dramatic introduction makes way for one of the most intense opening riffs of a generation, cementing Metallica’s position at the top of the heavy metal pyramid. Find on iTunes Find It: RIDE THE LIGHTNING, 1984 ENTER SANDMAN Quite possibly the most famous hard rock song ever written, the chances of at least one middle-aged family not knowing this seemingly immortal anthem are slim at best. Find on iTunes Find It: METALLICA, 1991 FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS Kick-started by possibly the most distinctive heavy metal bass line ever written, it sees Metallica straying into slower, darker territories for the first time, with spectacular results. Find on iTunes Find It: RIDE THE LIGHTNING, 1984 FUEL A full-throttle rock and roll hurricane that puts its foot firmly to the floor and refuses to budge it. A rare highlight from an otherwise patchy period in Metallica’s history. Find on iTunes Find It: RELOAD, 1997 HARVESTER OF SORROW Never pushing beyond third gear, this hefty slab of metallic brilliance stomps along with a menacing purpose. Proof that being heavy doesn’t always mean being fast. Find on iTunes Find It: ...AND JUSTICE FOR ALL, 1988 HELPLESS THE FIRST track on the 'Garage Days Re-Revisited' EP that introduced bassist Jason Newsted to Metallica's loyal fan-base, this is a clattering cover of an old Diamond Head tune. And it kicks arse. Find on iTunes Find It: 'Garage Inc', 1998. HIT THE LIGHTS The first song that Metallica ever wrote, the track features punk influences that are pushed to the forefront by a series of hyperactive riffs and double-time drum bursts. In just four minutes, metal had changed forever. Find on iTunes Find It: KILL 'EM ALL, 1983 MASTER OF PUPPETS A combination of red-hot riffs, percussive precision, beautiful classical interludes, soaring solos and disturbing cackled outros; all of which clock in at just under nine unstoppable minutes. Find on iTunes Find It: MASTER OF PUPPETS, 1986. NO LEAF CLOVER Written especially for the band’s performance alongside the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, the song has recently begun to work its way into Metallica’s live set. Worth it for the dramatic climax alone. Find on iTunes Find It: S&M, 1999 ONE Arguably the most haunting song in the Metallica arsenal. Opening with a delicate spine-chilling guitar line, it soon evolves into a raging beast, spawning one of the band’s most infamous guitar solos Find on iTunes Find It: ...AND JUSTICE FOR ALL, 1988 SAD BUT TRUE Thick, crunchy and deceptively dark; like most good chocolate bars. That chart-bothering pleb Kid Rock would go on to sample its base riff years later shows the size its unmistakable impact. Find on iTunes Find It: METALLICA, 1991 THE JUDAS KISS Packed full of meaty guitars and with one of the finest solos of Kirk Hammett’s career shining brightly, this was yet another reminder that the beast was well and truly back. Find on iTunes Find It: DEATH MAGNETIC, 2008 WELCOME HOME (SANITARIUM) Dark and brooding right to its very core, Welcome Home was a reminder not only of Metallica’s superior song writing ability, but that they were pushing the boundaries of thrash like few others. Find on iTunes Find It: MASTER OF PUPPETS, 1986

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