The Power of The Dream

Writing on the Wall's only album was theatrical heavy blues-psychedelic-rock that, despite its power and menace, was too obviously derivative of better and more original artists to qualify as a notable work. The organ-guitar blends owe much to the Doors, Procol Harum, and Traffic, though the attitude is somehow more sour and ominous than any of those groups. The vocals are sometimes pretty blatant in their homages to Arthur Brown, particularly when Linnie Paterson climbs to a histrionic scream; Jim Morrison, Gary Brooker, and Stevie Winwood obviously left their imprints on him too. Throw in some of the portentous drama from the narrations to the Elektra astrological concept album The Zodiac: Cosmic Sounds (particularly on "Aries") as well…

Coming a year after Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, it's great to hear that Dream Theater hadn't lost their überheavy edge. John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy, Jordan Rudess, and bassist John Myung effectively peeled back the pretentious excesses of Six Degrees, turned them in on themselves, and came up with a leaner, meaner but no less ambitious outing…

Austrian coed-metal act Visions of Atlantis has been through a lot. With six studio albums since 2002, several lineup changes (including the sad death of vocalist Nicole Bogner to illness in 2012), to the point of the drummer being the sole original member… the band has been rigorously tested in a crucible in under two decades. Thankfully, with the arrival of new album Wanderers on 31 August, the lineup remains mostly intact since the previous album…

A View from the Top of the World is an incredibly solid album that brings out the best qualities in Dream Theater’s current incarnation. Predictable, sure, but incredibly solid…