Back with his first single in almost a decade, James LaBrie of Dream Theater fame has come back with a hard rock gem, ‘Devil In Drag’, giving us the first tease of his upcoming studio album.

James LaBrie has been incredibly busy as of late, with two new Dream Theater albums in the last few years, many tours and other projects such as helping out Falset and Ayreon, it’s surprising to see he’s had time to squeeze in an entire album. When I first heard he was coming out with solo music, I truly didn’t know what to expect. In Dream Theater, James LaBrie has brought both some of the more calm, soothing tunes, as well as some pretty heavy bangers. More so, in his own previous solo work, he’s done more laid-back prog while also doing melodic death metal. He’s incredibly unpredictable, which made this release all the more exciting. While ‘Devil In Drag’ lacks the crazy time signature changes or the unison solos that made Dream Theater such a staple in the prog community, it instead focuses on the gorgeous melodies sung throughout the song. Even where the energy is very high in the chorus, James still manages to bring that gentle melodramatic feel to his harmonies and melodies into the stirring pot. From start to finish, Devil In Drag grooves hard, which James accentuates on that edge with his own voice, while complementing it with those aforementioned elegant harmonies. The production itself is crystal clear, too, sounding very spaced out despite the busy instrumentation. The highlight here is really the synth work, and the organ. The way it growls into the choruses and introductions feels perfectly right. Another really unique element from ‘Devil In Drag’ is how hard-rock the song feels while lacking an electric guitar for most of the track, instead using synths and organs to bring in that distortion. It’s expertly done, and makes this song exceptionally wonderful.

‘Devil In Drag’ is a wonderful first single for James’ upcoming album, and promises that the singer is able to put away his Dream Theater coat when he needs to, and continues to excel just as much as he does in his main band.

Author: Nicholas Gaudet

Music producer and writer from Dieppe, Canada.