Octavarium is the eighth studio album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater. Released on June 7, 2005, it was the band's final release with Atlantic Records. Recorded between September 2004 and February 2005, it was the last album recorded at The Hit Factory in New York City. With it, the band decided to create "a classic Dream Theater album", Italian, and Swedish charts, and in the top ten in the Dutch, Japanese, Critical reception of the album was generally positive; the diversity of the music was praised, although critics found some of the songwriting to be inconsistent. Dream Theater promoted the album on a year-long world tour, with the majority of concerts lasting almost three hours and featuring a different set list each night. The tour finished at Radio City Music Hall accompanied by an orchestra; this performance was recorded and released as a live album and concert video entitled Score. They co-headlined the 2005 North American Gigantour with Megadeth.
Background
After completing a North American tour supporting one of their main influences, Yes, in summer 2004, Dream Theater took a two-month break. The band reconvened at The Hit Factory in New York City in November 2004 to begin work on their eighth studio album.
After writing the concept album Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory, the double album Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence and the metal-focused Train of Thought, the band decided to create "a classic Dream Theater album". Keyboardist Jordan Rudess described it as "really going back to creating a real band effort, as well as drawing upon all our various stylistic influences." Portnoy noted that, after writing Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence and Train of Thought, they had not written an album of shorter songs for some time. He said that the band had found writing longer songs easier than writing shorter ones, and that the band was not trying to write a radio hit as "the label wouldn't have done crap with it anyway."
Concept
When starting to work on what would become Octavarium, Portnoy noted that it would be their eighth studio album and that they had recently released their fifth live album, Live at Budokan. This sequence mirrored the octave on a musical keyboard: each octave contains eight naturals and five accidentals. Portnoy suggested that they use that concept for the entire album. When writing, the band delegated each song a different key. Sound effects were placed between 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 connected by a sound effect in the key of F♯ minor. The album's lyrics and song titles featured references to this concept. Portnoy cited the titles "The Root of all Evil" (referring to the musical term "root") and "Octavarium" ("the octave of the octave") as two examples of this. Rudess noted that the band enjoyed writing about more serious topics instead of love songs. When working on the lyrics, LaBrie said that there was "a lot of discussion"
The title track, "Octavarium", is the longest track on the album, at 24:00, and is divided into five parts. Petrucci stated that the band wanted to write an epic song that thematically developed and used an orchestra. The band was heavily influenced by the progressive rock sound of Genesis, Yes and Pink Floyd. The instrumental introduction, heavily influenced by Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", was performed by Rudess using a lap steel guitar and Continuum. Additionally, the lyrics include many references to other progressive rock songs. The song ends with the introductory theme of "The Root of All Evil" before fading out. (Some releases contain an alternative version, with the reprise flute from the first part of "Octavarium" playing in the background.) The ending establishes a cyclical theme to the album, and breaks the continuity of the meta-album established since Scenes from a Memory, allowing the band the opportunity for a fresh start on the next album.
Artwork
Hugh Syme provided the artwork for Octavarium. The idea of depicting a giant Newton's cradle was born out of discussions between Syme and Portnoy about how "for everything you do in music you create either a cluster or triad", according to Syme. "And then it became evident that for every action there is an opposite reaction. So I thought we could do something based on the Newton's cradle." The artwork contains numerous references to the numbers five and eight, alluding to the album's concept. For example, the Newton's cradle has eight suspended balls, and there are five birds on the cover. The album booklet features an octagonal maze, spider and octopus, among other references. The landscape on the cover is made up of a sky and grass from Indiana, and a background from the Lake District. Portnoy stated that "[he] chose to do this mainly [emphasis removed] to build anticipation for the big 'official' unveiling next week", although noted that "the repeated requests to refrain from spoilers and links for the new album against the band's wishes were frustrating".
Octavarium was released on June 7, 2005. It was their final album with Atlantic Records, ending a contract which had lasted fourteen years. Although in recent years the band had been allowed creative freedom, they were dissatisfied by the lack of promotion the label offered them. Portnoy released a DVD entitled Drumavarium in 2005, containing footage of his drum performance from the Octavarium recording sessions. Rudess released a solo piano version of "The Answer Lies Within" on his 2009 album Notes on a Dream. "Panic Attack" is featured as a playable song in Rock Band 2, where it is listed as the hardest song for both bass and drums.
Reception
Octavarium reached the top five in the Finnish, The main Octavarium world tour began in September in Finland, and continued the band's "An Evening With Dream Theater" concert format. This meant the band would play for almost three hours, with a different set list each evening. Many of the shows centered on a tour of the band's history to that point, featuring a song (or part of a longer song) for each album before wrapping up the regular set with several from Octavarium. Combined with interviews, rehearsals during soundcheck and meet-and-greet sessions with fans, the band became physically and mentally drained.
Dream Theater performed two shows on consecutive nights in both Amsterdam and London. On the second night in both cities, the band covered the entirety of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon album. The London performance was released as a live album and concert video in 2006 by Portnoy's YtseJam Records. The band covered all of Deep Purple's Made in Japan at concerts in Tokyo and Osaka, a recording of which was released as a live album by YtseJam Records in 2007.
To celebrate the band's twentieth anniversary, the final concert on the tour was performed at Radio City Music Hall in New York on April 1, 2006. For the second half of the concert, the band was accompanied by a thirty-piece orchestra conducted by Jamshied Sharifi. The concert was filmed and released as a live album and concert video named Score on August 29, 2006, by Rhino Records.
Track listing
Personnel
;Dream Theater
- James LaBrie – lead vocals
- John Petrucci – guitars, vocals, producer
- Jordan Rudess – keyboards, Continuum, lap steel guitar
- John Myung – bass
- Mike Portnoy – drums, vocals, percussion, producer, art concept
;Additional personnel
- Orchestra on "Sacrificed Sons" and "Octavarium"
- Elena Barere – concertmaster
- Katherine Fong, Ann Lehmann, Katherine Livolsi-Stern, Laura McGinniss, Catherine Ro, Ricky Sortomme, Yuri Vodovoz – violins
- Vincent Lionti, Karen Dreyfus – violas
- Richard Locker, Jeanne LeBlanc – celli
- Pamela Sklar – flute
- Joe Anderer, Stewart Rose – French horns
- String quartet on "The Answer Lies Within"
- Elena Barere – first violin
- Carol Webb – second violin
- Vincent Lionti – viola
- Richard Locker – cello
- Jamshied Sharifi – strings arrangement, conductor
- Jill Dell'Abate – orchestral contractor
;Technical personnel
- Doug Oberkircher – engineer
- Colleen Culhane, Kaori Kinoshita, Ryan Simms – assistant engineers
- Bert Baldwin – additional studio assistance
- Michael H. Brauer – mixing
- Keith Gary – assistant and Pro Tools engineer
- Will Hensley – second assistant
- George Marino – mastering
- Hugh Syme – art direction, design, illustration, art concept
- Colin Lane – photography
Chart positions
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
!scope="col"|Chart (2005)
!scope="col"|Peak<br />position
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Canadian Albums (Billboard)
|align="center"|10
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Polish Albums (ZPAV)
|align="center"|8
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|UK Albums (OCC)
|align="center"|72
|-
!scope="row"|US Billboard 200
|align="center"|36
|}