Length - 9:01
Tempo - quick
Intro - guitar riff
Texture - polyrhythmia, some harmonizing (so homorhythmia as a piece of the layering)
Features - grindy harmonizing, smooth yet grindy soloing, clean and firm vocals
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Dream Theater formed at Berklee in 1985. The original three members were John Petrucci (guitar) and John Myung (bass), friends from Long Island, and Mike Portnoy (percussion) whom the Johns heard in a practice room and said, "we gotta get that guy". (Something along those lines).
"Systematic Chaos" lineup:
Petrucci - guitars, backing vocals
Myung - bass
Portnoy - drums, percussion, backing vocals
Jordan Rudess - keyboard, continuum
James LaBrie - lead vocals
Lyrics of "In the Presence of Enemies, Pt. 1":
[I Prelude]
[Instrumental]
[II Resurrection]
I saw a white light
Shining there before me
And walking to it
I waited for the end
A final vision
Promising salvation
A resurrection
For a fallen man
Do you still wait for your God
And the symbol of your faith?
I can free you from this Hell and misery
You should never be ashamed my son
I can give you power beyond anything
Trust me you will be the chosen one
I was forgotten
A body scorned and broken
My soul rejected
Tainted by his blood
Beyond redemption
A sinner not worth saving
Forever taken
From the one I loved
Do I still wait for my God
And a symbol of my faith?
I can lead you down the path and back to life
All I ask is that you worship me
I can help you seek revenge and save yourself
Give you life for all eternity
Servants of the fallen
Fight to pave the way
For their saviour's calling
Of this wicked day
Through a veil of madness
With a vicious blade
One man rises up
Standing in their way
Redemption
Redemption for humanity
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SPOILERS AND SUBJECTIVITY BELOW: YOU MIGHT WANT TO READ THIS AFTER LISTENING
Words to describe this song:uh, metal. cool, groovy metal
Stream-of-consciousness thoughts as I listen to "In the Presence of Enemies, Pt. 1":
Ok, folks, allow me to talk about heavy metal, if you will. Consider the following analogy: bluegrass is to radio country as heavy metal is to mainstream rock. Who discerned that analogy? Me.
Here's the deal. Everyone is passionate about music (ok, I knew one guy once who didn't care much about music, and that was weird. He was all, "I guess I listen to the music on my video games" and I was baffled... Like, he didn't listen to anything.), and some folks aren't that expressive of their passion. You learn how passionate they are about things by watching what they choose to do. But when you meet a fan of a genre of music with "extensive layering and emphasis on every instrument having a strong presence in the music" (bonding characteristics of heavy metal, bluegrass, symphonic music, barbershop harmony, much Irish folk music, etc.), it seems to bring out that "I will fight you if you say this music isn't amazing" feeling in its fans. I, for one, feel called to put up the horns for all of the types of music in parentheses above when they are executed well. Sometimes, a listener might not like a particular sound that a band uses in a heavy metal song, but beauty, 'tis said, is in the eye of the beholder.
If you listen carefully to what heavy metal musicians are doing, perhaps you'll learn to feel the beauty the way diehard fans do.
"In the Presence of Enemies, Pt. 1" (and indeed most of the album that it's from) is a heavy metal song. Dream Theater doesn't normally play music that I would deem "sexy", but this one kinda comes close. It's got a rawness to it, a "there's dark stuff out there, folks, and buckle up, cuz we're gonna tell you about it" attitude. From the first riff, it's almost like John Petrucci says, "attack!" and then the other guys go, "good plan, bro. Look out, world."
Much DT music seems to me fast, chill music that says, "we're playing music with all the love and care in us, take it or leave it". This song ain't that, y'all.
Thank you for reading, and enjoy!
~Michael
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What is the "Dream Theater Share-a-thon"?
I will be posting a link to a song/piece by my favorite band, Dream Theater, hopefully every day until we have successfully enjoyed every original song that they have recorded in-studio. There are many good reasons to do this, but you can probably guess most of the ones that I'm thinking.
No adieu.
We're just gonna do it.
I'm going to try to help you know what to expect a little bit without influencing the way that you experience the song. I want you to have the chance to enjoy the music on your own without any spoilers, just as I did.
I will also tell you that some of the things that Dream Theater does may be quite different than much of the music that you have listened to before. Sometimes it may be so new that it makes you a bit uneasy or just doesn't connect to you at all. If that happens, I encourage you to listen to it a few times, perhaps in different ways... once in the background while you do dishes, once with your eyes closed and your full attention, once hanging upside down like a bat. You get the idea.
You may even want to come back to it later for another listen.
I believe that, if you go on this journey with me, you will find more than a few songs that you enjoy. My mom saw Dream Theater live in K.C. and really enjoyed them, and she usually listens to NPR which I don't think gets to rock and roll that much. Dream Theater truly has something for everyone. Not everything they do may be your thing, but some of it may change your life for the better the way that it did mine.
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~In loving memory of Tim~
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