ok, as some of you might know, Dream Theater's upcommin' album, Systematic Chaos has been leaked last week, So I've downloaded it and listened to it for several times, and here's a small review about the album.

1. Production: Great, after kinda Muddy mix of octavarium and Crushing Riffs of Train of Thought this one is more in the vains of Scenes From Memory and 6 Degrees. I will give a high point for the engineer. Great Production. Every instrument can be heard well (Thanks to 320 mp3 files!)

2. Overall feel of the album: Right now I'm on my 3rd listen and I do believe this one is so much better than Octavarium (Which I love as well) and Train of Thought (Their heaviest album todate). It's more in their Progressive side of music and you can hear lots of awake/Falling into Infinity vibes with a fresh breath of more modern and 21st century DT

Some short reviews on songs as well:

1. In The Presence of Enemies Part I: Opener of the album, Just starts with a BAM and you're into the dream Theater madness. this track is more in the vibe of Old 90s dt. Great melodies and around 5 minutes of pure progressive instrumental music in Dream Theater's familiar style. Great solos and Unison Runs. Great Vocals. everything about this track is great. Masterpiece. I give it a 10 out of 10

2. Forsaken: More modern Rock, Mainstream music. It's a straight-forward hit. starting with pianos and then into crushing Riff. I can describe it like this album's "Another Day". Cool song. Great Solo, Great Chorus. Catchy Catchy. but in a long run i'm sure it's not your favorite song of the album. but as what it is I will give it 9/10

3. Constant Motion: We have talked about it before. Nice and in your face metal. 8.5/10

4. The Dark Eternal Night: there are so much debates about this track over the net and DT boardes and forums and we have lots of different responses to this one. To me it's a nice song, But I wish It was an instrumental. Not a big fan of Distorted vocals. Loved the chorus and middle instrumental part. 7.5/10

5. Repentence: a brilliant mellow song, the 4th part of the Mike Portnoy's AA Saga. Lots of references to This Dying Soul and Root of all evil as you might guess. It's very atmospheric, Kinda more opeth, Pink floyd or Porcupine Tree vibe. I wish it was 2 minutes shorter though, the ending can become boring. but great song non the less. 9/10

6. Prophets of War: the most pop-y song in the album, more electronic oriented. I liked it more than "Never Enough" from Octavarium but all in all I can live without it. Some wise lyrics in there though, The part "Are We Profitting from war" that resembles the word "Prophet" is awesome, all in all : 6/10

7. The Ministry of Lost Souls: Epic,Epic and Epic. it begins clean and after 7 minutes you're in for a
progressive madness again for more 7 minutes. 9/10

8. In The Presence Of Enemies Part II: very nice begining with the wind blowing that ended the first part of the track. you can hear lots of melodies that were in the first part in this one as well. in the middle part it goes with some lame vocals like "Dark master within yadda yadda." the kinda lyrics that you can see more from bands like Symphony X or Rhapsody or Manowar! not a big fan of them, the musicianship is great as always. I will give it a 8/10 right now but I'm sure I will change my mind after more spins of the disc.

All in all, very Good dream Theater album, definitley better than "Train of Thought" or "Octavarium", but will it be a classic? we must wait and see.