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.