Numerous bands have achieved wonders by following one simple truth: sometimes less is more.

In Dream Theater's case it seems to be the opposite: for them more has always been more. The bigger, the more pumped up, the more stuffed and the more complicated – the better. People who like catchy melodies could always look for them elsewhere. And when such a patologicaly self indulgent band releases a self-titled album, you can guess it is this distinct quality of the music that would be turned up to 11 in it.

Well, the disc at hand opens with an instrumental intro, with a length that would be enough for most bands to fit a whole song into. It's clear – Dream Theater are Dream Theater.

For the next hour they don't try to conquer any new musical ground – instead they proudly plant a flag with the band's logo right in the middle of the niche that has always been theirs.
 
In 'Dream Theater' there are traces from the guitar bite of 'Train of Thought' (2003), as well as from the all embracing approach of  'Black Clouds & Silver Linings' (2009) and the song-oriented composing style of 'Images and Words' (1992).

What we have here are a sound and a style, that have long ago been joined into one entity, synonymous with the band's name – and it doesn't really matter that the drummer's surname is Mangini instead of Portnoy now.

That's why the key thing here are the songs. And this is also where Dream Theater seem to underperform.

The whole instrumental virtuosity contest that seems to be going on, prevents the melodies in songs like 'The Looking Glass' and 'Enigma Machine' to fully flourish.

Meanwhile James LaBrie delivers a shockingly flat and unemotional vocal performance that seems to pull the break any time a song seems to head somewhere – just hear him join in on 'The Enemy Inside.'

And while the songs on the album leave us wanting more, the best track in it is the one that doesn't even try to be a song – the 22 minute closer 'Illumination Theory.'

In it the musicians seem to have used their best ideas, and have done them justice by developing them using the free space this length provides. And then Jordan Rudess' keyboard landscapes that divide the composition in parts, bring the music into a new, divine dimension.

This is a welcome reminder how great Dream Theater can really be that comes at the very end of this, honestly, not so bad album.