Metal as a Gradual Process: Additive Rhythmic Structures in the Music of Dream Theater

[1] One of the most commercially successful heavy metal subgenres became known as "progressive metal." Durrell S. Bowman (2002) notes that Rush's song "Bastille Day" (1975) was perhaps the earliest example of this "musicianly" style,(1) although it is generally accepted that Queensryche's concept album Operation: Mindcrime (1988) is the first full-length exemplar. Despite the earlier works by these bands, however, the most commercially visible torchbearer for the style is the Long Island-based group Dream Theater.(2)[2] Despite numerous changes in management, record label affiliation, and especially band personnel, Dream Theater has intentionally strived for, and managed to maintain, a consistent sound that has become synonymous with the progressive metal style. Former drummer and bandleader Mike Portnoy attests to the importance of stylistic consistency to the band members: "We try to have our sound and our style that we never stray from-we want to stay loyal and faithful to that" (Dream Theater 2004). Guitarist John Petrucci (quoted in Roadrunner Records 2009) describes this sound as a "mixture of '70s prog and '80s metal," and, indeed, the musical elements I perceive as being the most salient in the band's music can be directly linked to these styles and eras. Journalist Malcolm Dome's description of Dream Theater's sound in Wilson 2007 is apt: "If Metallica had grown up on Styx or Kansas, this is what they might have sounded like. It's a gathering of influences to create a genre" (70).[3] Dream Theater's history can be broken into five periods to date, based on band personnel. In Example 1, each of the band's studio recordings is listed by period, with an indication of the band's lineup within each period. Changes in personnel are indicated by bold text.Example 1. Dream Theater's discography by period[4] The most salient "progressive" aspect of Dream Theater's sound is its rhythmic and metric complexity, a trait that typifies progressive metal as a subgenre.(3) However, other prominent elements from the progressive rock style are routinely present, including: atypical rock instrumentation (such as the use of synthesizers and classical concert music instruments), extended forms (including concept albums), flashy displays of virtuosity for every instrumentalist in the ensemble, strikingly intricate album cover art, and fantastical lyrics that express epic conflicts. Similarly, the band makes use of many of the primary markers of the heavy metal genre: distorted timbres, power chords, extended "shred guitar" techniques, dark, powerful, or transgressive imagery and lyrics, aggressive double-bass drum patterns, and the traditional metal "uniform" of long hair, black t-shirts, and "denim and leather."(4)[5] While the interplay between the two parent styles of progressive rock and heavy metal characterizes the music of progressive metal bands in general,(5) Dream Theater's emphasis on "progressive" elements further differentiates the band from other groups within the subgenre. Dream Theater was even named the tenth best progressive rock band of all time and won the award for best progressive rock album (Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory) in two recent reader polls in Rolling Stone magazine, sharing these lists with its forbears King Crimson, Genesis, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Yes, and Rush (Greene 2011, 2012). Thus, I conceptualize Dream Theater's sound metaphorically as possessing a structural core of progressive rock whose periphery abounds with stylistic elements of heavy metal.[6] The analyses that follow focus on the core progressive metal trait of metrical complexity with representative excerpts taken from several of Dream Theater's studio recordings. I have chosen Dream Theater's music as the subject of analysis because it is viewed as an archetype of the progressive metal subgenre. Additionally, I believe that progressive metal music was incompletely introduced in Pieslak 2007, as this source focused on music that is in some ways not representative of the subgenre. …