I’ll start by saying this is an album with secret little things put in everywhere, it’s about keeping a keen ear and most of all, being a Dream Theater fan. “Octavarium” is brimming with musical terminology masquerading as an album, for example: The first song “The Root of All Evil” starts off in the key of F, also it has the word ‘Root’ in it, which is terminology for ‘The start of a scale’. The album has 8 tracks (Octave) and each track goes up the scale from F to F (Octave); also the final song on the album “Octavarium” (loosely) has the word  Octave, meaning ‘The end of a scale’.

Each track’s key is going up the keys on a piano from F to F, I have labelled the tracks accordingly to white and black keys:

• (1) The Root of All Evil – F (Track 1) (White Key)
• (1) Nature Sounds– F# (Track 1 to track 2 link) (Black Key)
• (2) The Answer Lies Within – G (Track 2) (White Key)
• (2) Pitch Bend – G# (Track 2 to Track 3 link) (Black Key)
• (3) These Walls – A (Track 3) (White Key)
• (3) Wind/Heartbeat/Chimes – A# (Track 3 to track 4 link) (Black key)
• (4) I walk beside you – B (Track 4) (White Key)
• (5) Panic Attack – C (Track 5) (White Key)
• (5) Synth Solo – C# (Track 5 to track 6 link) (Black Key)
• (6) Never Enough – D (Track 6) (White Key)
• (6) Voices Begin – D# (Track 6 to track 7 link) (Black Key)
• (7) Sacrificed Sons – E (Track 7) (White Key)
• (8) Octavarium – F (Track 8) (White Key)

The tracks in Italic are bridges between each song labelled with ‘White key’, each of these segments or, ‘bridges’, only last a small amount of time as they represent each sharp note in the scale and then it moves on to the whole notes which are whole songs.

 

The Root of All Evil 

The opener of this album and it starts off slow and eerie with the keys, then the drums and the guitar come in, but they have effects on them which in turn give this section a build up kind of feel; the drums have a distortion effect on them which slowly gets clearer and the guitar is strummed clean and with a delay effect. Then at 0:46 the drums are completely clear and the guitar is now has distortion, which leads up to the big riff at 1:00. In terms of rhythm, this song is entirely 4/4 (Which is weird for Dream Theater), however, this doesn’t mean that they didn’t go about it creatively. The riff for the verses is a straight 4/4 beat, but the kick is accenting the guitar pattern. Also, at 4:40, the beat is changed up slightly. He is playing on the offbeat and is accenting the high hat: this is much akin to a reggae drumbeat. In terms of vocals, James songs mostly low notes to match the sort of sinister instrumentation and lyrics he is singing. Then at 2:47, his range picks up tremendously. This could be because it’s right before the chorus which has the same kind of range within it. In the chorus the piano follows his vocal melody at 3:22 and the guitar does the same with tremolo picking at 3:28. This adds to the brightness of the chorus and makes for good texture. The progressive elements start to kick in at 5:19. A heavily distorted keyboard solo starts on its own with the drums playing 16th notes on the snare with all the bass taken out of it and just leaving treble; making it sound like an AM radio or a really old fashion microphone. Then the guitar solo kicks in at 6:00. Lots of legato licks and staccato stops to keep within their genre. Back to the chorus for the last time which moves nicely into a rhythmically half timed version of the main riff in the beginning. The outro the chorus played on the classical piano and ends on an imperfect cadence.

The Answer Lies Within 

This is the second song and a complete step in the opposite direction in terms of sound and feel; this song is more of a ballad than a metal track. This kind of track really explores the talent and range of James Labrie as well as his vocals are quite low and sombre in the beginning. At 2:55, there are some violins playing a melody from the song Octavarium. This is a very simple Monophonic kind of song, not much progressive nature because there isn’t really a lot of call for it. At 3:39 there are some violins mimicking the vocal line from the verses which is adds a nice texture to the song.

 

Octavarium 

The grand finale of this album! A 24 minute long masterpiece! Octavarium! This track is split into 5 sections.

• I. Someone Like Him – 0:00 – 8.45 (4/4)
• II. Medicate (Awakening) – 8:46 – 13:48 (4/4 with changes at 13:30)
• III. Full Circle – 13:49 – 18:27 |
• IV. Intervals – 18:28 – 19:49    | – 165 total time signature changes in these 2 sections
• V. Razors Edge – 19:50 – 24:00  (Back to 4/4)

(I) The track begins with a slow and lengthy synth solo by Jordan Rudess using a keyboard for the root notes held and a Continuum Fingerboard as the solo instrument. The solo dies down and he switches to a lap steel guitar at 2:40. This is used up until 3:47 after which the full band, plus orchestra, comes in with this polyrhythmic and epic build up. At 4:21, the song changes again, a 12 string strums. Then it goes to a lot of legato picking from John Petrucci, with James singing low vocals. All of this is within the ‘Someone like him’ section, which slowly builds up to the next section which is a little bit more up beat and groovy. (II) The Medicate (Awakening) section starts with Bass and Drums, bass is playing octaves and runs at the end of the bar and the drums are accenting the octave notes with an open high hat and snare whilst also playing lots of ghost snare notes as well. James’ range picks up a bit from the last section, now singing less quietly and with a bit more diction. The piano is supporting the vocal melody during the chorus (Medicate me, Infiltrate me). During the end of the verse going into the second chorus, the piano plays a descending octave pattern at 11:37 making for a dramatic change in pace. As it nears to the third section, there is a lengthy synth solo to lead into it. At 13:30 the time signature changes up, from 5/8 for two measures, 6/8 for a measure and 5/8 for the last measure twice. Then two measure of 6/8, two measures of 4/8 and a last measure of 9/8. (III) Now we come to the third section Full Circle. There are a lot of time signature changes in this section and the next one (165 to be exact) and this is arguably the most complicated piece of the album. This section consists of James singing a line and starting the next line with the last word of the last line sung, for example: “Sailing on the seven Seize the Day tripper, Diem’s ready.” Each letter I have highlighted in bold is the start of a new line with the last line’s last word. Each line sung is a different reference to either a band or song or some type of pop culture reference. See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octavarium_(song). Instrumentally, there is a lot going on from start to finish. At 16:00 there is this really progressive staccato section. From 16:57 to 17:38 it is just a big solo with the keys and guitar following each other. Also this is another section where the bass is playing octaves, this is obviously symbolisation for the song title. Then at 18:18 there is a big legato run between all of the instruments into the next section. (IV) Second to last section (Almost there). This is the shortest section of the song and is comprised the guitar and bass playing octaves together and the keys playing sustained chords over them. When the vocals come in, he starts a spoken word poem/stanza kind of thing for the first 6 versus and uses low growls for the last two. Upon further inspection, he is referencing the 8 songs on the album, including Octavarium. At the start of each verse there are some backing vocals starting at “Root” and ending with “Octave”. Also during the verses, in the back of the song you can hear samples from each of the songs as well. This is symbolising the theme of the album wherein ‘Everything ends where it begins’. This is noticed ten fold with the last vocal part of the section when he screams “Trapped inside this Octavarium”. This is also made clear with the fact that this song is in the key of F. The Root of All Evil is in the key of F but Octavarium is the Octave above. (V) Now we arrive at the last section, Razors Edge. Going back into 4/4 and away from the madness, Razors Edge reprises the flute melody from the beginning of the song but this time with the entire band and an entire orchestra. John Petrucci also has a solo here that reprises James’ vocal melody from the Somebody Like Him section (Obviously adding in his own spin to make it a solo). It builds up with the solo, until he is playing ascending legato runs until he finally hits the last F note and sustains it throughout the orchestra’s ending. Then, the F note from the beginning of The Root Of All Evil is played, ending the album (Starting the Octavarium cycle again).