Note: This song stands on its own, but you might find your listening experience enhanced if you go back and listen to yesterday's song, "In the Presence of Enemies, Pt. 1"
Length - 16:39
Tempo - walk with heavy footsteps
Intro - keyboard ambiance
Texture - polyrhythmia, unison ensemble vocalizing, some doubling of guitar and voice
Features - soaring vocals; quick, almost spoken-word vocals; eerie keyboard work; bass notes take control
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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. 2":
Welcome tired pilgrim
Into the circle
We have been waiting
Everyone's gathered
for your arrival
All the believers
Angels fall
all for you
heretic
Demon heart
bleed for us
I've been waiting for you,
Weary preacher man
You have been expected
Now we can begin
Let this hollowed Day of Judgment reign
I have known you father
And your sacred quest
Blessed soldier fighting
You shall never rest
I have known you but do you know me?
Angels fall
all for you
heretic
Demon heart
bleed for us
(My soul is yours Dark Master, I will fight for you)
Dark Master within, I will fight for you
Dark Master of sin, now my soul is yours
Dark Master, my guide, I will die for you
Dark Master inside
I cannot see his face
But I could feel his spite
A presence from the dead
Abandoned by the light
This shadow will consume him
from within
This power that I sense
The rage behind those eyes
Is just a shrouded ghost
A spirit sealed inside
The body and the soul both threats
For they are one
Angels fall
all for you
heretic
Demon heart
bleed for us
(My soul is yours Dark Master, I will fight for you)
Dark Master within, I will fight for you
Dark Master of sin, now my soul is yours
Dark Master, my guide, I will die for you
Dark Master inside
Dark Master, amen, I belong to you
Dark Master within
Heil! Heil! Heil! Heil!
Heil! Heil! Heil! Heil!
[IV. The Slaughter of The Damned]
Don't
Bother trying to find them
They will be coming to you
Fight,
Fight and destroy until you can't take anymore
Slay
Spill the blood of the rebels
They are the children of hell
Flesh,
Of the undead
Stopping at nothing to kill
Sin,
Caught in a moment of weakness
Committed the greatest of all
Sold,
Half of my soul
And now it's too late for you
I judge us
my eyes see
I judge and I am just
For I speak of the beast
That lives in all of us
Unwelcome ones
your time has come
Lord,
You are my god and my shepherd
Nothing more shall I want
Walk,
Through the abyss
Into the shadow of death
Fear,
There is no evil to fear now
For I know you are with me
My,
Cup overflows
With my enemy's blood
I,
Decay in the house of the lord
Forever, amen
Death,
Will follow me
All the days of my life
I judge us
my eyes see
I judge and I am just
For I speak of the beast
That lives in all of us
Unwelcome ones
your time has come
Servants of the fallen
Fight to pave the way
For their savior's calling
On this wicked day
Through a veil of madness
With a vicious play
One man rises up
Standing in their way
It's time for your reckoning
[V. The Reckoning ]
[Instrumental]
[VI. Salvation]
My soul grows weaker
He knows and he waits
He watches over me
Standing at the infernal gates
In the hour of darkness
The moment I feared has passed
The moment I lost my faith
Promising salvation
My soul is my own now
I do not fight for you
Dark Master
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SPOILERS AND SUBJECTIVITY BELOW: YOU MIGHT WANT TO READ THIS AFTER LISTENING
Words to describe this song:epic, eerie, purposeful
Stream-of-consciousness thoughts as I listen to "In the Presence of Enemies, Pt. 2":
I wrote the following for part 1, and it still applies, so for those who missed it yesterday (what's wrong with you??):
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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