Coming out strong with a slightly-more-accessible second single, Invisible Monster, from their upcoming fourteenth album A View from Atop of the World, Dream Theater prove that thirty years of legacy have done nothing but refine their chops and their songwriting skills.

Even though I mentioned before that this single is a bit more accessible, it’s still proggy as a six-minute song can get. It’s filled with odd-time signatures, solos that’ll melt your brains off from both keyboardist Jordan Rudess and guitarist John Petrucci. I think the complexity especially lies in the chord progression and its harmony, which strengthens my theory that the main concept of their newest album will be the exploration of those strange progressions. This song even more than their previous single, The Alien, ventures through multiple key changes, even some as brief as a single chord passing by.

The overall composition feels far lighter than its predecessor, a nine-minute dark epic, with catchy hooks, major melodies and upbeat rhythms. Overall too, this song feels so incredibly packed for a six-minute song. You could’ve easily stretched those ideas well over the ten-minute mark, but Dream Theater absolutely killed it with the economy of each idea presented throughout the tune. There are some light elements of leitmotifs, which they really mastered with their 2016 release The Astonishing, mixed in with the same air that Distance Over Time started and The Alien continued. They’ve once again shown that they are the masters at making every project stand out and unique – this sounds like Dream Theater without being able to point to any other album or song as clear inspiration.

Invisible Monster is a titan of a track, and already established itself as one of my favorite song from the progressive rock titans. This feels like Dream Theater at their most mature, most refined. They know exactly what they’re doing, and it shows. This is a masterpiece through and through, with not a second, nor a note, wasted.

Author: Nicholas Gaudet

Music producer and writer from Dieppe, Canada.