Dream Theater had just completed their own studio complex when the pandemic struck; vocalist James LaBrie was forced to brave quarantine in New York to complete his vocals.
A View… hardly sounds shoddy, mind. Despite the datedness of its content, it’s produced to a high 21st-century shine.
The band and their many gold discs might beg to differ but songs like The Alien and Sleeping Giant would benefit from a less ornate approach and more rigid adherence to their admirable riffery.
The visions conjured by the likes of Answering The Call are dully figurative – a more minimalist, abstract approach would be more cerebral. The epic title track sounds like excerpts from a straight-tovideo sci-fi movie. They’ve lots of options in their musical armoury: maybe they should consider using fewer of them.
