So Tam is doing this here 5 favourite songs thing. From what I can tell, you post a favourite song for 5 days and nominate people to do the same. Ill nominate Fiona for the first day and heres my song: Dream Theater - Illumination Theory https://youtube/watch?v=fFMDGSWhHbo This is currently my favourite song by my favourite band. Its the last song on their latest self-titled album and as far as I know its the first album that the new drummer had any creative input on (Drums for A Dramatic Turn of Events were written by the guitarist on a drum machine). As is customary with Dream Theaters album closers, its quite long, clocking in at 22 minutes, split into 5 parts. (Paradoxe de la Lumiere Noire, Live Die Kill, The Embracing Circle, The Pursuit of Truth, Surrender Trust and Passion With the first and third being instrumental sections. So why do I like this song? The release of this album came at roughly the same time I was starting Uni, in fact I remember listening to it on my first journey in. The album itself is a lot more aggressive and raw sounding than their last couple of albums so I was instantly hooked. The intro starts off sweeping, grand, majestic and then launches into Live, Die, Kill which asks what we are willing to live, die and kill for. What REALLY matters to us? After a short (by Dream Theater standards) guitar solo the song switches into an extended string section. Very unusual for DT. They have dabbled with orchestras in the past, but generally just for live shows (think Metallicas S&M.) My absolute favourite part of the song is the last section. The lyrics are simple, even to the point of being cheesy, but theyre sang with such conviction, and the instrumentalism in the background is so powerful that it always moves me, cheers me up. Passion glows within your heart, like a furnace burning bright. Until youve struggled through the dark, youll never know that youre alive. The lows are necessary to make the highs seem so much better. Anything worth having is worth fighting for, worth living for.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 17:57:58 +0000