Roadrunner

Answer this multiple choice question:

Do you like Dream Theater?

 A) Yes, I like all or most of their material.
 B) Yes, but only their albums with Kevin Moore.
 C) Yes, until they started playing nu-metal.
 D) No, Dream Toilet sucks.

If you answered A, then read on.
If you answered B, then stop reading because you're a lost cause.
If you answered C, then you're a fucking tool.
If you answered D, then why are you reading this?

Dream Theater live albums are usually a special treat for the die hard fan (I say usually because Score was a fucking abomination). Their latest live offering, Chaos In Motion 2007 - 2008, is no different. Chronicling their Chaos In Motion world tour, this live set contains 3 hours of material culled from every corner of the band's back catalog.

Sumerian Records 2008

“A vile adversary approaches with haste; the immense conqueror hides the sun…”       

So begins the title track of Planetary Duality, the latest from Los Angeles based tech/prog/death metal collective The Faceless [Link], authors of the brilliant 2006 debut Akeldama, a disc I did my level best to wear out over the past 18 months. As I stated in my reviews of the last two Summer Slaughter tours,[2008 Link], [2007 Link], I have long been impressed with The Faceless, and their rare ability to make highly technical metal accessible to ALL metal fans, through singular songwriting that incorporates cutting edge technicality with a great sense of metal history, something which I find truly notable for such a young group. As such, I couldn’t wait to hear this latest release, although wait I would due to a local music chains preposterous inability to ever get the damn thing in stock. But that’s another story…