Progressive Savage

Dream Theater’s Rite of Passage

In yesterday Dream Theater’s newsletter Mark gave a very late notice that RoadRunner made available “A Rite of Passage” for download on May 6th only. “A Rite of Passage” is track #2 on Dream Theater’s upcoming Black Clouds & Silver Linings album (due Jun 23rd). I think I was one of the last persons that managed to grab the mp3 download before it disappeared, though the song should be available as a stream on RoadRunner site (and here it is on YouTube).

All I can say is if the whole Black Clouds & Silver Linings will be as much disappointing as “A Rite of Passage” is I’m not going to like this album. I’m wondering what’s more disappointing here, James LaBrie’s vocals, or maybe John Petrucci’s loosely Spastic Ink inspired solo, or maybe Jordan Rudes‘ lousy broken-synth effect?

I was going to buy a Deluxe Collector’s Edition Box Set but after listening to this I think I’ll go for a Standard Edition. I’m afraid it’s going to be another Octavarium, where out of all eight tracks I can only bear two.