Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence is the sixth studio album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater, released as a double-disc album on January 29, 2002, through Elektra Records. It is the first full-length Dream Theater album to feature a title track. It is also their second longest studio album to date, after The Astonishing (2016). All songs from it have been played live.

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Studio album by
ReleasedJanuary 29, 2002 (2002-01-29)
RecordedMarch–August 2001
StudioBearTracks Studios, Suffern, New York
Genre
Length96:17
LabelElektra
Producer
Dream Theater chronology
Live Scenes from New York
(2001)
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
(2002)
Train of Thought
(2003)
Dream Theater studio album chronology
Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory
(1999)
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
(2002)
Train of Thought
(2003)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Entertainment Weekly(B)[2]
Rolling Stone(favorable)[3]
411mania.com[4]

Songs

  • The first track of the album, "The Glass Prison", is the beginning of the Twelve-step Suite, dealing with Mike Portnoy's story of rehabilitation from alcoholism, continued in tracks on subsequent albums ("This Dying Soul" on Train of Thought, "The Root of All Evil" on Octavarium, "Repentance" on Systematic Chaos and "The Shattered Fortress" on Black Clouds & Silver Linings). "The Glass Prison" is composed of three parts, mirroring the first three of the twelve steps of the AA program by Bill W. for rehabilitation of alcoholics. Furthermore, it begins with the static phonograph noise that ended "Finally Free" on Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999).
  • "Blind Faith" features lyrics written by James LaBrie about questioning religious belief. It is the second longest song for which LaBrie has contributed lyrics to date, the longest being "Sacrificed Sons" from Octavarium. It was also the first time he had written lyrics for more than one song on an album. The next time would also be on Octavarium.
  • In the song "Misunderstood", John Petrucci wrote and played the guitar solo, and then reversed it. He then learned how to play this reversed version, and he tries to mimic the reversed version live with effects. This track is in its shorter radio edit form on the cassette edition.[5]
  • "The Great Debate" is intended to be a non-partisan song dealing with the topic of stem-cell research. It was originally titled "Conflict at Ground Zero" based on the lyrics in the chorus but was changed at the last minute as news reports started to refer to the site of the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York City as "Ground Zero".[6] The band was actually in a Manhattan studio conducting final mixes of the album on the day in question.[7]
  • Lyrics for the song "Disappear" were written by James LaBrie about the subject of death; it was originally titled "Move On".[6] This track is omitted entirely from the cassette edition.[5]
  • The sixth song, "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence", which makes up the entire second CD (albeit split into eight separate tracks), is the longest song Dream Theater have recorded to date. While recording, they wanted to keep the song at 20 minutes, but more and more ideas came which resulted in the length doubling. Realizing that they would have to cut "Disappear" and "Misunderstood" to keep the album at one CD, their record label was now open for the idea of a double album, something the band had previously been denied when recording Falling into Infinity for former label EastWest. Despite this, the cassette edition reduced "Misunderstood" to its radio edit version and omitted "Disappear" entirely.[5]
  • The last chord of "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" is used to open "As I Am" on the next album Train of Thought, continuing a chain which ended with Octavarium.

Influences

Influences for the album's writing and recording, according to the authors, include Metallica's Master of Puppets, Radiohead's OK Computer (and also a Radiohead bootleg Portnoy brought in), Pantera's Far Beyond Driven and the song "Mouth for War",[8] Megadeth's Rust in Peace,[8] U2's Achtung Baby, Tool's Ænima, Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral, Soundgarden's Superunknown, Alice in Chains' Dirt, Kevin Gilbert's Thud, King's X's Faith Hope Love and Galactic Cowboys' Space in Your Face, Béla Bartók, Rage Against the Machine's The Battle of Los Angeles, and Maria Tipo's Chopin Nocturnes.[8]

Track listing

Disc one

All music is composed by John Myung, John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy and Jordan Rudess, per the album liner notes

No.TitleLyricsLength
1."The Glass Prison"
  • "I. Reflection"
  • "II. Restoration"
  • "III. Revelation"
Portnoy13:52
2."Blind Faith"James LaBrie10:21
3."Misunderstood"Petrucci9:32
4."The Great Debate"Petrucci13:46
5."Disappear"LaBrie6:46
Total length:54:18
Japanese edition bonus track
No.TitleLength
6."Solitary Shell" (radio edit)4:11

Disc two

"Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence"
No.TitleLyricsLength
1."I. Overture"(instrumental)6:50
2."II. About to Crash"Petrucci5:50
3."III. War Inside My Head"Portnoy2:08
4."IV. The Test That Stumped Them All"Portnoy5:03
5."V. Goodnight Kiss"Portnoy6:17
6."VI. Solitary Shell"Petrucci5:47
7."VII. About to Crash (Reprise)"Petrucci4:04
8."VIII. Losing Time/Grand Finale"Petrucci5:59
Total length:42:02

Personnel

Dream Theater

Additional personnel

  • Howard Portnoy – gong drum on "The Great Debate" outro

Production

  • John Petrucci – producer
  • Mike Portnoy – producer
  • Doug Oberkircher − engineering
  • J.P. Sheganowski – engineering assistance
  • Kevin Shirleymixing
  • Claudius Mittendorfer – mixing assistance
  • George Marinomastering
  • Eugene "UE" Natasi – mastering assistance
  • Dung Hoang – cover art illustration
  • Ken Schles – photography
  • May Redding – stylist (photography)
  • JMatic – art direction

Charts

Chart (2002) Peak
position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[9] 73
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[10] 35
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[11] 33
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[12] 14
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[13] 2
French Albums (SNEP)[14] 17
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[9] 12
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[15] 7
Italian Albums (FIMI)[16] 5
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[17] 16
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[18] 12
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[19] 52
US Billboard 200[20] 46
Billboard Top Internet Albums[21] 1

References

  1. Taylor, Robert (2011). "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - Dream Theater | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved August 3, 2011.
  2. Browne, David (2011). "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence Review | Music Reviews and News | EW.com". ew.com. Retrieved August 3, 2011.
  3. Worley, Gail (2011). "Dream Theater: Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on March 3, 2009. Retrieved August 3, 2011.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. Walker, Rhett (2011). "411mania.com: Music - Dream Theater – Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence Review". 411mania.com. Archived from the original on October 8, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2011.
  5. "Dream Theater - Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence". Discogs.
  6. "FAQ". mikeportnoy.com. Retrieved May 24, 2012.
  7. Epting, Chris (September 6, 2011). "Mike Portnoy Recounts Bizarre 9/11 Coincidence". Noisecreep. Townsquare Media. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  8. "Mike Portnoy.com The Official Website". www.mikeportnoy.com.
  9. "Austriancharts.at – Dream Theater – Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  10. "Ultratop.be – Dream Theater – Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  11. "Danishcharts.dk – Dream Theater – Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  12. "Dutchcharts.nl – Dream Theater – Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  13. "Dream Theater: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  14. "Lescharts.com – Dream Theater – Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  15. "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2002. 6. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
  16. "Italiancharts.com – Dream Theater – Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  17. "Norwegiancharts.com – Dream Theater – Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  18. "Swedishcharts.com – Dream Theater – Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  19. "Swisscharts.com – Dream Theater – Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
  20. "Dream Theater Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  21. "Dream Theater Make Impressive Chart Debut". blabbermouth.net. 2002. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
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