Search - Various Artists :: Tribute to Dream Theatre

Solid yet unexceptional tribute to the mighty Dream Theater

Justin Gaines | Northern Virginia | 05/23/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Dream Theater is certainly worthy of a tribute album. The problem is that few bands are capable of covering songs as complex as Dream Theater's. On the 2-CD set Voices, a few ambitious progressive metal bands (Evil Wings, Moon of Steel, Aztec Jade, Accomplice, Empty Tremor, Overlife, Fifth Season, CMKY, and Eleventh Hour) give it a try.



The various bands give faithful, but not exceptional renditions of some classic Dream Theater songs. It would have been nice to see the bands experiment a bit or take a few chances, but the covers are pretty much by-the-numbers. Of course the artists in question are all "tier 2" bands (as opposed to leading progressive metal bands like Vanden Plas, Pain of Salvation, Evergrey, Threshold, etc), so unique interpretations may be too much to expect.



There are a couple of highlights on Voices, including Moon of Steel's version of You Not Me and CMKY's Surrounded, both of which feature female lead vocals, as well as a 13-minute Dream Theater medley by Empty Tremor.



Disc 2 of the set features an original song by each band on the tribute album, which I thought was a particularly nice touch. It lets you get a feel for what each band sounds like on its own and whether or not you might want to seek out more of their work.



Voices is noteworthy for being the only Dream Theater tribute album available at this point (how is that possible?), but is worth looking into only if you're a die-hard Dream Theater fan.

"