Octavarium

Prog album of the decade.
A model to follow and a guide for other musicians.
An honorary member of the Progressive Metal Hall of Fame.

Octavarium is the eighth studio album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater, recorded and released in 2005 at the famous The Hit Factory studio.

Octavarium took the band's sound in yet another new direction. Its eight songs include a continuation of Mike Portnoy's twelve-part saga («The Root of All Evil», parts 6–7 of the 12-part suite), as well as the title track, the musically diverse 24-minute epic «Octavarium», contrasting with their other 24-minute work, «A Change of Seasons», from the album A Change of Seasons (1995).

Octavarium received mixed reactions from fans and became the subject of vigorous debate. Octavarium was the last of seven albums covered by the band's contract with Elektra Records, which inherited the contract following its acquisition of EastWest Records.

Octavarium reached the top five of the Finnish, Italian, and Swedish charts, as well as the top ten of the Dutch, Japanese, and Norwegian charts.

With Octavarium, the band decided to create a «classic Dream Theater album», drawing on the various stylistic influences found throughout their previous albums while attempting to make the music less complex.

The tracks «The Answer Lies Within», «Sacrificed Sons», and «Octavarium» marked the first time Dream Theater used a symphony orchestra in their music, conducted by Jamshied Sharifi, who attended Berklee College of Music alongside Portnoy, Petrucci, and bassist John Myung. The orchestra was chosen for the musicians' sight-reading ability, which allowed all the parts to be recorded in no more than two takes, even if the musicians had never heard or played the music before.

The album's creative concept was inspired by the idea of the musical octave on a keyboard: each octave contains eight natural notes and five accidentals. Dream Theater wrote each song in a new musical key. Sound effects were placed between the songs to connect them: for example, «The Root of All Evil», written in F minor, and the following track, «The Answer Lies Within», written in G minor, were linked by a sonic transition performed in F-sharp minor.

Length	Title	Key
00:00–08:07	The Root of All Evil	F
08:08–08:25	Nature Sounds	F♯
00:00–05:26	The Answer Lies Within	G
05:27–05:33	Pitch Bend	G♯
00:00–06:59	These Walls	A
07:00–07:36	Wind/Heartbeat/Chimes	A♯
00:00–04:29	I Walk Beside You	B
00:00–07:16	Panic Attack	C
07:17–08:13	Synth Solo	C♯
00:00–06:33	Never Enough	D
06:34–06:46	Voices Begin	D♯
00:00–10:42	Sacrificed Sons	E
00:00–24:00	Octavarium	F (octave)

Octavarium begins with «The Root of All Evil», starting with the final note of «In the Name of God» from the previous album, Train of Thought. Train of Thought began with «As I Am», starting with the final note of Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, which, in turn, began with the noise that ended Scenes from a Memory.

The idea of creating this sequence was inspired by Van Halen's album Women and Children First: the album's final song ended with a new riff that gradually faded out. Portnoy said in an interview that he had expected the next Van Halen album to begin with that final riff, but was disappointed when it did not. Mike then applied the concept to Dream Theater.

He later realized that he had «dug a hole where we have to keep doing this again and again, album after album». He solved the problem on Octavarium, where the final track ends with the beginning of the first. This brought the album full circle, allowing the band to start «with a clean slate» on the next album.

«The Root of All Evil» is the third installment of Portnoy's twelve-part suite («Twelve-step Suite»). The suite is a collection of songs from different Dream Theater albums describing his [Mike's] out-of-control struggle with alcohol addiction and his fifteen-year journey through Alcoholics Anonymous. The song contains the sixth and seventh parts of the suite: «Ready» and «Remove».

«The Answer Lies Within» and «I Walk Beside You» are the two shortest tracks on the album. Rudess considers them «radio-oriented songs that are still done in the Dream Theater style».

The lyrics to «Never Enough» were written by Portnoy and addressed to fans of the band whom Portnoy perceived as «complaining about everything Dream Theater does».

Portnoy stated that, although he appreciates the devotion of Dream Theater's fans, he was frustrated because he «constantly takes himself away from his family» in order to give the fans more. He finds it discouraging that, although he spends «countless nights» creating special set lists and the band rehearses for days on end, some fans still complain that they went to a show and did not hear «Pull Me Under». «It's discouraging and sometimes drives me crazy», he said.

«Sacrificed Sons» runs for almost eleven minutes, making it the second-longest song on the album. The lyrics, written by vocalist James LaBrie, concern the September 11 attacks. Rudess noted that the band enjoyed writing about more serious subjects instead of love songs. While working on the lyrics, LaBrie said there was a great deal of discussion about the song's wording and how direct it should be.

The title track, «Octavarium», is the longest track on the album. Petrucci stated that the band wanted to write an epic song that would use an orchestra and develop thematically from beginning to end.

The band was heavily influenced by the progressive rock of Genesis, Yes, and Pink Floyd. The instrumental introduction, largely inspired by Pink Floyd's «Shine On You Crazy Diamond», was performed by Rudess on steel guitar and Continuum [musical instrument]. In addition, the lyrics contain numerous references to other progressive rock songs.

The album artwork depicts a Newton's cradle against the hills of Indiana. The image includes a photograph of a lake in Lake County, Indiana (the dark strip at the bottom of the image).

Band members:

• James LaBrie — lead vocals
• John Petrucci — guitar, backing vocals
• John Myung — bass guitar
• Mike Portnoy — drums, backing vocals
• Jordan Rudess — keyboards