Dream Theater - Honor Thy Father

Here is a journey to the heavier and darker side of progressive music. (Fair warning, swearing ahead)



It should be instantly apparent that this is a much more metal song than usual with the intense drum solo and the beginning that leads into the first heavy riff. The distorted guitar is a recurring theme of anger in the song that pops up in between the more mellow parts that accompany the opening lyrics.

The lyrics in this song are, predictably from the title, about the bond of family, but more importantly about familial lies that strain that relationship. The frustration working so hard to please his family is driving the main character of the story to become angrier and more hostile throughout, which is why the music accompanying the verses becomes heavier throughout the song.

About halfway through the song we come across a classic feature of prog music, the instrumental section with movie quotes played over it. There is a constant narration over all of it with other related quotes throw in, with all of it to establish family tension. Some of them are asking for things, others are denying things, and at the end most of them are wishing the others were dead. The main narrator of this section eventually breaks down with regret at what he's done to his family, but what exactly that was isn't clear. As if that wasn't enough, that is followed by a trademark Dream Theater instrumental section, followed by solos.

I particularly like this section because it is based mostly on rhythms instead of an aggressively technical style, which I find fits the heavy riffing style quite nicely. The drums are playing a simple pattern (which is uncharacteristic of Mike Portnoy), the guitar is playing simple rhythms with the bass, and the keyboards are playing a simple pattern over the whole thing. Since the entire song is a buildup of anger, that simplicity builds up into a more familiar drum pattern that better fits the rest of the song. Then of course, the rhythms get a little more complicated when the dueling guitar riffs enter, reflected in the right and left speakers. A quick keyboard solo, and we're back to the lyrics.

With each chorus, the words slightly change to stronger and stronger language until we get "Fucking blind" and "Blame this shit on me". What this does is 1) make the song more metal, and 2) demonstrate the nature of the song. It isn't about when a family broke down, it's about the process of a family breaking down, each section is exposing a little more about what the main character is feeling about his family. I find songs like this more interesting than most because the story is developing instead of having everything you need to know in the first verse.

Porcupine Tree : Fear of a Blank Planet

This song from the album of the same name is a good demonstration of the dynamic sounds and styles that Porcupine Tree has to offer with their music.



This song is less of a story and more of a commentary on the direction that modern life is taking with technology, especially with youth. It starts out really simple, with an acoustic guitar lick followed by a bare bones drum beat. The transition from the acoustic music to the synth and lyrics feels representative of the transition from a simpler life to the modern one, especially with the vocal distortion.

The structure of the lyrics as fast paced spoken word shows the unemotional and inexpressive nature of the modern era that is inherent in the content of lyrics. Everything in the content is rage against the MTV generation/Generation X trend that seems to cause adolescent violence. What the video and lyrics in combination convey to me is that an excess of the electronic age causes children to become desensitized to the violence and because of that inhabit the violence that they were exposed to.

Since this song is only four minutes long, I think I can forgive the simplification of the issue and as a modest songwriter myself I can understand that the narrative is about the extremes and not the issue as a whole. As a gamer the "XBOX is a god to me" line felt like the standard public backlash to a school shooting, blaming the tech for the child's behavior. The kids in the song are on pills, playing games, carrying guns around, and it isn't the parent's fault for letting them do all of that shit, buying them the pills and games. As a personal belief, that is often where I stand on a lot of the issues brought up in the song.

Aside from that little rant that the lyrics made me write, I think that the musical progression is solid, leading up to the simple guitar riff that drives most of the song. The chorus is a great difference from the verses, sounding more like a plea from the child instead of being a brain dead consumer. All in all, a good track.