After the shocking departure of drummer Mike Portnoy, who had been with the band since their formation 25 years earlier, Dream Theater rally back with their first new member in eleven years and show that they can still deliver the goods.

Once the dust had settled and Portnoy's departure had been accepted, Dream Theater fans eagerly anticipated the unveiling of the man who would have the impossible task of replacing one of the greatest drummers in the world. And who better to fill those shoes than Mike Mangini?

With the excitement of hearing what a rejuvenated band with a new member could compose together, I was saddened to hear that this album had already been written before Mangini gained his position. Even more by the fact that the drum parts had been 'written' by John Petrucci. The album is still incredible, but I was pumped to see what Dream Theater could produce with a new drummer and songwriter making contributions to the music.

Musically, this is Dream Theater, so people already know what to expect. Virtuoso musical displays, big, epic songs, heavy, crushing riffs, beautiful melodies and haunting ambience. Petrucci, Rudess and Myung are on top form as ever, and James LaBrie's voice sounds as good as always (though if it holds up in a live setting is an entirely different story). With the inclusion of Mike Mangini on drums, this is a band who clearly haven't missed a beat, and have not let the drama of the previous years events distract them from doing what they do better than anyone else.

Highlights from this record include the single 'On the Backs of Angels', and the epics 'Bridges in the Sky' and 'Outcry'. The more metal tracks such as 'Lost Not Forgotten' and 'Build Me Up, Break Me Down' show that Petrucci can always be relied upon to write riffs that put most metal bands to shame, and ballads like 'This is the Life' and 'Far from Heaven' soften the mood to give listeners a chance to catch their breath.

With their eleventh studio album comes something fans never thought they'd see; a Dream Theater record without Mike Portnoy. As intense and incredible as any of their previous efforts, 'A Dramatic Turn of Events' is proof that the members of Dream Theater are still the best at what they do.

'Creeping Death' the EP, which included the 'Jump in the Fire' EP on the same disc, is a nice little collectable for die-hard Metallica fans, although being difficult to find nowadays, it's not really worth the effort since all the songs are availble elsewhere.

The title track is arguably one of the best tracks from the album 'Ride the Lightning', and the two covers accompanying it are good, but can be obtained a lot easier on the 'Garage Inc.' album. These are 'Blitzkrieg' by Blitzkrieg, and 'Am I Evil' by Diamond Head, a song Metallica have covered so well and so often, that it has more-or-less become their own.

Unfortunately it's the 'second half' of this EP that ruins it for me, the 'Jump in the Fire' EP.

Whilst I like the album 'Kill 'Em All', 'Jump in the Fire' isn't one of the more memorable songs for me, and the two 'live tracks' (rumoured to be normal tracks with crowd noises dubbed in) sound awful by the standards of todays live albums.

Overall this is a cool addition to the collection if you love Metallica, but since this can be pretty tricky to find anyway, it's really not worth the effort.

Here is a band who has a ton of potential but somehow just can't quite manage to channel it properly to create anything truly memorable. Whilst there are some good tunes coming from the German group Ivory Tower, most of the time this, their self-titled debut album, seems to just fall flat on it's face.

I'm trying not to be too critical as there are some good tracks here, but sadly most of the time you just feel that you've already heard the same songs played a thousand times better by another band. On a positive note though, 'Alive' is a pretty awesome, upbeat song, and 'She' has a nice steady beat to inspire some serious headbanging, and to compliment the heavier tracks we have the beautiful piano ballad 'Spring'.

But apart from these three songs, the others all have hit-or-miss moments, and instead of finding something new with each listen, you just feel more frustration at having to listen through a whole heap of uninspired boredom to get to the good stuff.

Overall this isn't a terrible album, but it's not something I can see myself coming back to very often. The musicianship is fine and the vocals aren't bad, although sometimes the lyrics can be pretty lame, but ultimately the problem with this album is that it just tends to be boring most of the time. I feel bad giving it two stars, but three would seem a bit too generous to be honest.

As I've already said in my review for 'St. Anger'; I'm not a hater of this album. Whilst I recognise it's flaws and why is has been so badly received by music fans, that hasn't stopped me from digging some of the tunes and riffs. And whilst 'The Unnamed Feeling' is one of the stronger tracks from the album, this EP really doesn't do it any justice.

So we have here seven songs in total, the title track of the disc and six accompanying live tracks. 'The Unnamed Feeling' is a good song, and probably one of the more well-received tracks from 'St. Anger', if there were any at all. Unfortunately the live tracks are pretty dull. Bearing in mind that these were recorded in 2003, a time when the band were still finding themselves again and Hetfields vocals were pretty awful, you'd be better off listening to any of the many other live versions of these tracks, and there are plenty of them.

I won't dwell on this one too much. If you're a loyal Metallica fan then this belongs in your collection. However, if you didn't like 'St. Anger' (and that basically means everyone), this EP really isn't worth getting, and the live tracks certainly won't give you any incentive.

Being intrigued by the front cover, I figured €1 was a risk worth taking when I checked out this album on Ebay. It definitely was.

Coming from Italy and released under the Limb Music Products label, Icycore stand out from the huge roster of Progressive and Power Metal bands coming from Europe with a very futuristic and stripped down Prog Metal sound. Although it would be impossible for me to explain what exactly is 'futuristic' about this band, a listen to 'Wetwired' will give you a clear idea of what I mean. Using keyboards and synths effectively, Icycore has a sound to their music as if they came out of some future-post-apocalypse world. A term often used to label Icycore is 'cyber-punk', and whilst I have no idea what this is supposed to be, the word 'cyber' could definitly be used to describe the tone of this bands music.

Musically, this band is very solid. There isn't any really over-the-top virtuoso displays usually associated with this genre, but the band have some pretty intense moments and the combination of distorted guitars and keyboards plays off really well, especially with the very talented vocalist Titta Tani.

Highlights of this record include the epic 'A New Gestalt' and 'Eternal Unlife', the fast and hard-hitting 'The Net' and 'Wetwired' and the beautiful 'Inner Void'. Unfortunately this band doesn't seem to be the most active group around, which is a shame, because this seems to be a very unique and interesting album. I'm not sure if this is for everyone, but I think if you dig the whole European Metal scene, this is definitely an album worth checking out.