Where once King Crimson reigned, Yes affirmed, and Rush hastened to explain, Dream Theater are now the kings of progressive rock, and they took command of the Orpheum last Friday night: four instrumental masters and a high-powered singer tearing out three hours of the tightest, hardest, loudest, most ineluctably complex rock. Dream Theater’s foundation is heavy metal. Their idea of a Phish-like surprise was to spring a cover of Metallica’s Master of Puppets in its entirety on a Chicago audience two weeks ago. In their lyrical passages, even in the beautiful long notes by guitar virtuoso John Petrucci in "Frippertronic," there is always an undercurrent of something dark and explosive.
The band’s new Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (Elektra) is a conceptual advance over their mock-gothic 1999 rock opera Scenes from a Memory (also Elektra). The title song, elaborated in concert from 40 minutes on CD, is an exploration of mental illness and emotional distress. "The Great Debate" is an unsettling piece about stem-cell research with reference to the Afghan war; it’s powered by the ionic plasma of heavy metal, Wagnerian opera, spiritual inquiry, and a cascade of clean 16th and 24th notes. The song doesn’t take a position (Petrucci’s lyrics give right-to-life its due): some of it is hummable anthem, some twisted shards of sound the work crews will be digging through for months to come.
What’s different live is the melodic spontaneity of drummer Mike Portnoy as he’s joined for a jam by Berklee instructor and drummer’s drummer Mike Mangini. In a band of remarkable physical stamina, Portnoy plays double-bass shuffle beats like Keith Moon on iced coffee. Bassist John Myung almost never solos, but he makes up for it with steady, rapid figures on all six strings, as though he had carpal tendons of steel. Also surpassing the band’s recordings are the rapid-fire exchanges between Petrucci and keyboardist Jordan Rudess. In one jam they began like jazzmen "trading fours," but these guys play so many notes, they were quickly trading bars, and they ended up by trading four-note "quarters." Singer James Labrie, who can seem like an awkward extra instrument in the studio, fits better live, clarifying characters in the songs with an opera singer’s acting talent. He’s also an effective rah-rah guy on the crowd, encouraging the favorites that ended the concert: "The Spirit Carries On," "Pull Me Under," "Take the Time," and, yes, "Master of Puppets."
