Dream Theater : Falling Into Infinity

Ah, the Dream Theater album that you either love or hate! Falling Into Infinity was a surprise to many people for the commercial, formulatic structure.Whether you will enjoy this or not depends on your personal tastes: this album grew on me with time.
James' vocals are still above-average, confident, and in many places containing a medium to lower tenor compared to his usual higher octane singing voice. Mike Portnoy's one of the better drummers in the field; his work on this album is not nearly as good (or wide open) as the next studio album to come, though. Sadly this would be keyboardist Derek Sherinian's last studio performance with Dream Theater.
The first track "New Millennium" starts off with an interesting keyboard intro, and Myung's bass work thumps right along. Around 5:14, Petrucci lays a few licks down, and the song really gets moving. "You Not Me"  is a pretty good lead single. Great vocal delivery at the 3:28 mark in "Peruvian Skies." "Hollow Years" is a Prog ballad containing some beautifully clean vocals. "Burning My Soul" has a crushing rhythm section, with hauntingly eerie semi-spoken/sung vocals that makes this the heaviest track on the album.. "Hell's Kitchen" is a great instrumental leading into the jam fest of "Lines in the Sand." The song is layered nicely with a powerful change in tone at 5:37. Other songs of note are "Just Let Me Breathe," the slower, more tranquil "Anna Lee" (great piano solos) and the closer "Trail of Tears," which is divided into three sections.
Although many hardcore Dream Theater fans may not like this for its mellowness in places, it's actually pretty solid work: 'just not as Prog Metal oriented as Images and Words or Scenes from a Memory. Give this album a shot. Who cares what you friends say, you may like it.

                                                           Tracks
1. New Millennium                                                      7. Lines in the Sand
2. You Not Me                                                             8. Takes Away My Pain
3. Peruvian Skies                                                        9. Just Let Me Breathe
4. Hollow Years                                                         10. Anna Lee
5. Burning my Soul                                                    11. Trial of Tears
6. Hell's Kitchen (instrumental)                            pt. 1  It's Raining
                                                                             pt. 2 Deep in Heaven     
                                                                             pt. 3 The Wasteland

Reviewed by Sam