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Movements:
Octavarium has a very rare quality in which it is not an epic story as a whole, but 5 individual epics, each united with the same theme i...
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Movements:
Octavarium has a very rare quality in which it is not an epic story as a whole, but 5 individual epics, each united with the same theme in which all of them end exactly where they begin.
I. Someone Like Him
0:00 - 8:47
Lyrics by John Petrucci
Beginning with a lengthy Continuum / lap steel guitar solo by Rudess, this section is told from a first-person perspective. It portrays the thoughts of a person as he decides on what to do in the course of his lifetime, as well as his wish to never become an ordinary person.
He succeeds in living an extraordinary life, but reflects upon it, and ends up wishing he had become an ordinary person, 'Someone like Him'. This is also in line with the 'Full Circle' theme of Octavarium: "this story ends where it began".
In this movement, Petrucci uses his signature twelve-string double-neck guitar. He has only used it once before on Six Degrees of Inner Turbulance's "Solitary Shell."
II. Medicate (Awakening)
8:48 - 13:49
Lyrics by James LaBrie
A person wakes up to discover a doctor sitting at his bedside. The doctor informs him that he has been in catatonic sleep for 30 years. The doctor, however, believes he was able to cure him. Suddenly, the patient is in dire need of help as he feels his conscience fading. The doctor prescribes a higher dosage of medicine, but it doesn't seem to help. Despite the doctor's failure in assisting him, the patient tells the doctor that he's not at fault, and that he shouldn't feel ashamed. Eventually, the patient slips back into unconsciousness. This is in line with the events of the movie Awakenings.
Again, this also reflects the theme of 'Everything ends where it began.'
III. Full Circle
13:50 - 18:27
Lyrics by Mike Portnoy
Full Circle is Mike Portnoy's ode to progressive rock, shown in the lyrics by several underlying references to his favorite songs, bands and more. Once again a reference is made to the unifying theme of the song ('Everything ends where it begins'). The enumeration using the last syllable/word as the beginning of the next reference enhances the message that everything is linked, a common theme throughout Dream Theater's albums. (i.e. Day for Night, mare Cinema, Show). There is also another subtle nod to the theme in the references themselves; the section begins and ends with a Pink Floyd reference.
IV. Intervals
18:28 - 19:51
Lyrics by Mike Portnoy
Before each stanza in the lyrics, Mike Portnoy says a scale degree. In each stanza, a song from Octavarium is referenced, and an audio clip from that song is played in the background.
To finish the Octave, LaBrie repeats the line "Trapped inside this Octavarium", meaning that the speaker is trapped in the Octavarium's full circle, which begins and ends the same. To enunciate the intensity of this statement, LaBrie screams the line, straining his voice more than he had done for over a decade. By the time the song reaches the fourth repeat of the line, his voice has reached as high as G5, the highest note heard on a Dream Theater studio song, beating the famous F# in "Learning to Live". During live performances, LaBrie usually sings the first three lines the with the same notes, then jumps to the note on the last two syllables of the word "Octavarium", sometimes going as high as G5, holding the note and doing trills downwards on the last.
V. Razor's Edge
19:52 - 23:58
Lyrics by John Petrucci
This movement simply emphasizes the cyclical nature of all things, as well as the album, as it begins where it ends, using the same melody as the end to the first track, it also ends with the same note that The Root of All Evil begins with. However, the final chord also represents the chord at 00:03 in Metropolis Part 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper. This song is the prequel to Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From a Memory, which is the beginning of a series of album transitions that, ending with Octavarium, things move in a cycle, and the story ends where it began. There is also an alternative ending where the main flute theme is reprised and faded at the end of the song.
This movement also serves as the capstone for the song and the album which shares its name, being the fifth movement in the eighth song on the album. In this way, it continues the 5:8 theme. When performed live as part of "Schmedley Wilcox" on Chaos in Motion, Mike Portnoy adds in additional vocal emphasis to portions of this movement.
This movements lyrics also references Rush's Progressive epic Hemispheres, by mirroring the "Perfect Sphere Theme".
Hemispheres - "...With the heart and mind united in a single perfect sphere."
Octavarium - "A Perfect Sphere, colliding with our fate..."
Personnel:
James LaBrie - lead vocals
John Petrucci - guitar
John Myung - bass
Jordan Rudess - keyboards, continuum, lap steel
Mike Portnoy - drums, backing vocals
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