Track Listing

1. In The Presence Of Enemies
2. Forsaken
3. Constant Motion
4. Dark Eternal Night
5. Repentance
6. Prophets Of War
7. Ministry Of Lost Souls
8. In The Presence Of Enemies

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8512 in Music
• Released on: 2007-06-04
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

CD Description
While 2005's OCTAVARIUM notched back pure chops for a somewhat more song-oriented treatment, Dream Theater return to their hyper-progressive roots with SYSTEMATIC CHAOS. Opening track "In the Presence Of Enemies Pt. 1" launches the group'sninth studio album with fevered riffing and scorching guitar/keyboard runs. The fearsome fivesome do, however, make efforts to pace themselves a bit more during the vocal sections(as with "Forsaken").
Old school thrash metal stylings are channeled in the verses of "Constant Motion", while "The Dark Eternal Night" follows the heavier course dominant on TRAIN OF THOUGHT. The Pink Floyd-inspired "Repentance" carries forward drummer Mike Portnoy's focus on purging personal demons, while "Prophets Of War" delves into some new political territory for the band. From beginning to end on SYSTEMATIC CHAOS, Dream Theater continues to set the bar for all other prog metal bands.

Customer Reviews

Seconds Out
Alright gloves off for this review.....we could go for the blow by blow account for each song...(1) slow build epic (2) nice bouncy one big chorus(3)Hetfield on steroids (4)21st Century Schizoid Dream- crimsonesque glory (5)Sigmund Freud meets nagging bass-line (6)Stately paced grower (7)Epic part deux. There that's that finished. Now the eternal question - where does this stand in the pantheon of DT albums? The answer simply is that this is a great album on its own terms. The naysayers will have you endlessly comparing albums with those that have gone before (nay nay and thrice nay they shout). But such navel gazing serves no-one and only cause cynicism to creep in. Time often plays tricks and many albums only reveal their secrets slowly after years of play. DT "fans" like other obsessives will trash new and lionise old continually. Dream Theater play within a genre of music which straddles at least two defined camps Prog and metal - never completely comfortable in either but testing the boundaries both lyrically and musically. Personally I like the themes developed over several albums ...of ...mental health..... addiction.....ego.... redemption. But for some metalheads anything that strays away from Dungeon & Dragons is dangerous territory. Certainly DT deserve wider attention and seem to be gaining ground again with Roadrunner. As for the mixed reviews ...well I think that some folk should get out more ...wake up and smell the coffee. This album is Great with a capital G. Quality with a capital KW. So buy with confidence ...Good price too. Should be 7 out of 5.

I commend this CD to the house.

The Dark Side of DT...
I've followed the Theater for years now, my introduction to Progressive Metal. After the 2003 Train of Thought, the band took a slightly softer approach with releasing Octavarium, a memorable album with an epic title track reaching the 24 minute mark. There was alot of suspense as to which direction Dream Theater would be taking next- as while the album was appreciated by many, it was also critisized for being 'not too prog'.
With their ninth studio album, Systematic Chaos, the band seemed to have returned to their heavy roots. As for 'not too prog', I think they've done enough on this album to reassure the world that they are still the pioneers in that genre!

The album kicks of with the first part of the epic track In The Presence Of Enemies. A heavily instrumental track, with very smooth transitions and typical DT craziness, Jordan and Petrucci showing some great work. LaBrie enters the song half way through, with a rather mellow verse... (4/5)

Forsaken is probably the most catchy of the tunes on this album, the shortest song too- LaBrie showcases sings with a great emotion, through the lovely placed progressions and harmony. A sweet solo courtesy Petrucci. (5/5)

Constant Motion, the first single off the album, is a hard-hitting song, with an immediately recognizable Metallica influence. Reminiscent of As I Am with heavy riffing and angy vocals. The instrumental section and solo's by the end of this track are to die for!! Truly one of their best! (4.5/5)

Dark Eternal Night, track4, is probably the heaviest song in the history of Dream Theater. :O ...as it starts your thinking "oh, my, goodness, this is gonna be scary..." - and sure enough, it is. very scary!!!The riffs are simple but downright rocking, the vocals on this song though are quite an acquired taste. But altogether a nice song with a whacky instrumental section and a shred-fest guitar solo! (3.5/5)

Repentance is the fourth installment of Mike Portnoy's AA series. This one is a rather moody ballad, streching for bout 10 minutes, which is crazy for a ballad, but who cares? Half the song is actually spoken confessions and verses, from a huge list of guest appearances. (4/5)

Prophets of War starts off with some electronica and LaBrie singing the verse and chorus to a piano, and then kicks into a killer riff, which is repeated at points in the song along with a crowd chanting, gives a great feel to the song. This is probably one of my favourites. (5/5)

Ministry Of Lost Souls is actually alot like Sacrificed Sons (Octavarium), got the same emotion, the same theme, same length(naw, kidding) ...but still its a strong track, very defining of what this album is all about, cuz its got a wide variety of sounds, the slow majestic, the heavier stuff, the crazy instrumentalization. (5/5)

The album closes with the second part of In The Presence Of Enemies, a song that I didn't really get into on first listen, but it's a great song once your all into it! It's got a vocal section with delays that get me soooo high, LaBrie's voice sounds just so beautiful. It has a majestic feel to it by the end of the song, rather much like the way Octavarium ends... (4.5/5)

The album, in my opinion, is one of the best Dream Theater have ever put out. Reminds me a great deal of TOT in its attitude and heavy riffing and Petrucci driven songs, while Rudess seems to do quite little unfortunately. The rhythm sections are spot on, Myung and Portnoy working together to form some great grooves and rockin beats.
It's a must get for DT fans who've enjoyed their recent work, and even those who are just experimenting with Progressive Metal, and are prepared for some real heavy pounding sonic chaos!

Very good album - quickly becoming one of my favourites
First of all I'd like to apologise for the length of this review, but after having read a LOT of bad reviews without any real explanation of what's wrong with the album, I thought I'd give a song by song review. There are a few that are weak, BUT, however, due to a few VERY good songs, this album is quickly becoming one of my favourites.

1. (In the Presence of Enemies Part 1) The album opens very strongly - the first minute or so sounding VERY 'Rush'-esque. I don't mind this, although I'm aware some others may find this worrying. Very impressive song, with some quite interesting out-of-time sections and interesting time-sigs, with a very impressive unison-solo outro. 5/5

2. (Forsaken) First weak point. The song in itself isn't actually TOO bad, but it does sound remarkably like Evanescence, and not just for a short section (i.e. the first song sounding like Rush for about 1 minute). I actually find the lyrics and vocals a tad weak as well - the solo and outro aren't all that bad though, they give a bit of life back to the song. 3.5/5

3. (Constant Motion) Very good song. This song has a truely amazing (IMO anyway) solo section. It really blew me away. At first it took me a while to get into the song (due to Metallica similarities in the 1st verse), but it's actually in time become one of my favourites. 4.5/5

4. (The Dark Eternal Night) I find this song to be an oddness. I love the solo section, and I'm even starting to like the verse/chorus. But it's so heavy, it's hard to believe the verse/chorus is DT at all (especially the vocals, which are NOTHING like anything Labrie has ever sung before). I DO like this one, but other than the very cool instrumental section, I'm not entirely sure why. 4/5

5. (Repentance - another AA suite song) Hmmm. Some have said this is a complete borefest that goes nowhere. If I had written this review when I first got the album, I'd have agreed - but after time, I found it interesting to have a bit of a break from the heavier/faster stuff that proceeds it. Not an amazing song; a nice change of pace though. Definitely prefer it to 'Forsaken' anyway. 4/5

6. (Prophets of War) This is another weak point for me. I loved 'Never Enough' (from Octavarium) despite it being very 'Muse'-ish - mainly because of the blow-away unison solo towards the end. This, whilst also being very 'Muse'-ish, has no solo/interesting riffs, the chants become quite agrivating at points, and for some reason Portnoy decided to do some high screams during one of the verses. Confusing. The really odd thing is, after having said that - I'm listening to it now and singing along, and I'm not bored at all. Go figure *shrugs*. 3/5

7. (The Ministry of Lost Souls) Probably my favourite from the album. VERY cool acoustic guitar section after the dramatic intro - and again another amazing unison solo later on. The only down side for me were the lyrics, but after having found out what they mean from the DVD documentary, even THEY have grown on me. Some have said it's the typical ballad entry - but whilst it obviously IS a ballad - I dont think there's anything typical about it. 5/5

8. (In the Presence of Enemies Part 2) At first listen I found nothing interesting about this part of the 25 minute song. After a few listens though, it's managed to hook me at a few places, and I actually like it quite a lot now. Having said that, the lyrics are WIERD and I dont think I'll ever be able to completely come to terms with them. If they're gonna write a song about someone fighting against the good/bad sides of his conscience, then why make it sound like he's a Satan worshipper? Clueless. Still, lyrics having been explained - it's not anywhere near as bad as I thought originally, and as part of the whole song I do like it a lot now. Oh by the way, a VERY interesting end to the song (yet another amazing unison-solo included, very similar to the one in part 1 though) provides a very cool ending to the album. 4.5/5

All in all, this album has 3 of my all-time DT favourites on it, and a few others that are definitely worth listening to from time to time - no different to When Dream & Day Unite, Images and Words, Awake, Falling Into Infinity & Train of Thought to me.

I find a lot of people tend to say bad things about WHOLE DT albums (Train of Thought, Octavarium, Systematic Chaos in particular) but I've managed to find at least 2 songs on each and every album that I absolutely love (quite often finding 3 or 4 in fact). This album is no different. 4 stars well earned I say.