Sometimes I wonder whether or not Dream Theater include the words ''fatigue'' and ''rest'' in their dictionary. Only 10 months after their latest studio release (Train Of Thought) and touring the globe supporting it, none of them show signs of work 'overdose' and seem maddeningly appetitive and energetic. Mike Portnoy is fiercely occupied with the band's official bootleg store, John Muyng and The Jelly Jam are releasing their 2nd album, James LaBrie has already contributed to 2 albums this year so far and John Petrucci is preparing his very own solo album. Of course, in this whole productivity delirium Jordan Rudess couldn't be absent. The youngest member of the team decided to exhaust (for the time being...) his inspiration backlogs by delivering a new studio solo album, and as expected the prog community is strained at the leash.
I have to confess that I almost fainted when I first saw the contributors' names on the external page of Rhythm Of Time. Momentous artists, with unequalled artistic weight that own dozens of golden pages in the mighty book of music and surely each of them has his own lion share in what we call Heavy music. Sadly, the moment of enthusiasm never lasts so long and after putting my feet back on the ground again I had some serious speculations before I even dropped the promo into the CD player.
You see, the title is crystal clear and says Jordan Rudess - Rhythm Of Time'. And so the booklet is: ''all music and lyrics by Jordan Rudess''. Surely, the special guests' ''shining'' is blinding, but if you consider that they didn't write down a single note, the situation differs a lot. This was speculation no1.
The next one, and more essential in my humble opinion, was about the album's directness and if this virtuoso star galaxy referred to a pandemonium of exhibitionism. Jordan Rudess is a kick ass key player and a very essential one too, but would he indeed make an album easy perceptible even for an average listener? If he doesn't care about that, then he automatically gains the ultimate rank. Besides, who am I to judge the man's technique? If so however, then his work would be rigorously set under judgement (despite my given admiration to him).
Rhythm Of Time is a good album. Is 'good' enough for Jordan? Hell no. It contains some explosive songs like the first two, What Four and the astonishing Ra and a very emotional one, Tear Before The Rain. The forenamed tracks validate the grandeur that responds to the name Jordan Rudess and comprise a worthy ''offspring'' for Liquid Tension Experiment's wondrous achievements, now that this holy quadruplet left us for good. Then though, except Jordan, there were also 3 equally ''untalented'' (oh God I can't even say that for fun) musicians like Tony Levin, Mike Portony and John Petrucci that took part in the procedure. And that's exactly the reason why Rhythm Of Time firstly, is compared to LTE and secondly, merely fails to touch equally the listener as LTE did.
The rest of the songs sound to me more like riffing stitches and a papier colle of compositional euphoria rather than compact and complemented ones. Where's the feeling? What I keep having in front of me is a constant jamming which, I'm very sad to say, that it brought out the last thing I'd expect from Jordan; a headache.
I do have to mention that I own this promo for more than a month but I decided just now to write a review after many hours of listening so to have my consciousness clear. After all, progressive/instrumental music could be a very hard case if you're not in the right mood for it and some times you fail to get to the point and mistakenly turn down the content.
Sorry Jordan, but that's the way I think it is. You see, we (the fans) don't need something better. We need something more simple. It's a pity that this album doesn't get the credit his creator deserves. I desperately kept listening to it for the chance of getting it all wrong. Believe me, it would be one of those really few times that I'd be glad to be mistaken, but unfortunately I wasn't. For some other musicians, Rhythm Of Time is unachievable, a work of a lifetime. But Jordan owes himself something better.