Leitmotifs of Dream Theater's Twelve-step Suite

The five tracks that make up Dream Theater's Twelve-step Suite share a lot of leitmotifs, or recurring musical themes, riffs and elements. This video lays them all out as they occur across the suite, so you can appreciate how cool the musical links between these tracks are. Some are very obvious after one or a few listens, but some are much more subtle.
This video is only focused on recurring musical elements, not lyrical ones (though obviously there is often a crossover), hence why I haven't included the repetition of "Hello mirror" etc.
Dream Theater - Twelve-step Suite
1. 'The Glass Prison' - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002)
2. 'This Dying Soul' - Train of Thought (2003)
3. 'The Root of All Evil' - Octavarium (2005)
4. 'Repentance' - Systematic Chaos (2007)
5. 'The Shattered Fortress' - Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009)
Oh, and I guess kind of also (but not really):
0. 'The Mirror' - Awake (1994)
Hope you other Dream Theater nerds have as much fun listening as I did researching and making this video!

[@yoavfunk4919]

HAH!

[@SafirLamkhantar]

How some people could hate on The Shattered Fortress because it "rehashes ideas" is beyond me... I think the entire suite is a cohesive masterpiece and the ending wraps it all together beautifully

[@IveGotAMatch]

Agreed! I think if they did that with a song on every single album it would get a bit old, but considering it’s just the one track at the end of a suite, I think it’s a great, unique approach to songwriting.

[@SafirLamkhantar]

@@dissonantharmonic It's not "just a compilation". It simply has more of the leitmotifs than previous songs because it has to tie everything together (being against that idea on principle would be dogmatic, which is the opposite of what "progressive" metal stands for). Anyway, putting back all these past ideas WAS the challenge. Think back of the tritone modulation between the acoustic Dying Soul part and Root Of All Evil chorus; that in itself is new and someone with the username "dissonantharmonic" such as you should respect daring moves like that. Moreover, the reappearing ideas always feel "new" because of the variations in rhythm or lead melody. The song still features brand new riffs such as the post guitar-solo section. About lyrics I don't know, I don't pay attention to them.

[@progfox]

​@@dissonantharmonic thats not the point of the song. if they wanted to make an original song they wouldnt have made another 12 step suite song

[@progfox]

@@dissonantharmonic yes and the shattered fortress is the end of the suite where they tie up all the loose ends musically. thats the point. its like saying the last chorus of a song is unoriginal because its just a rehash of the first 2 choruses.

[@unluckykeys]

Shattered Fortress is the culmination of the suite of fucking course it has a lot of leitmotifs. it even recontextualizes them. now tell me Octavarium or 6 Degrees suck because parts repeat

[@stevehu6813]

4:48 bro pulled the smoothest transition and thought we wont notice

[@bvq330]

Is it just me or is the "I wanna feel your body breaking"/"I can feel my body breaking" part of both this dying soul and the root of all evil so cool?!

[@jacksonkauflin8024]

There are WAY more leitmotifs than I ever noticed listening to the suite. Only picked up on a few when I listened myself. I love leitmotifs in stuff like with Dream Theater's Metropolis Pt. 1 and 2 and Undertale's entire OST basically.

[@Byster_0]

Never thought i'd find someone who likes Both Dream theater AND undertale, I love you

[@Antimonuu]

So it's the three of us

[@fiurte]

You mean 4

[@Молтер]

5

[@e.T4-ut3oe]

@@Молтер 6

[@jpak8]

5:13 is SO SATISFYING

[@IveGotAMatch]

Haha, my favourite bit is at 5:00 when the word 'inside' carries on perfectly between two songs.

[@DaUsualSuspact]

5:00 is such a seamless edit. Really nice work!

[@IveGotAMatch]

Thanks! I'm also a big fan of "it's time" at 3:51 haha

[@TheSingleSurvivor]

Man, I really love Dream Theater. Even listening to the same riffs (even lyrics) that are used multiple times in different songs really satisfies and brings me some sort of peace

[@moisesaristigueta4751]

And they do it blatantly on purpose, whether by analogy or whatever 😄

[@chrissmith3668]

I remember in 2003 I was listening to This Dying Soul and I started to notice some familiar language. Then I went back and read the dedication to The Glass Prison. I was 3 months sober at the time and had no idea Mike was too. June 29th 2003. ODAAT

[@hanithehimbo3382]

this deserves wayy more views

[@IveGotAMatch]

Thanks man! It was a lot of fun to make, so I don't really mind how many views it gets - but obviously I think it's something most DT fans would appreciate, so the more the better!

[@neofazodona]

that's why they call the shattered fortress a 'frankenstein'

[@harveyb1963]

Fantastic video dude. I knew that the Shattered Fortress was essentially just a bit fat medley of all the previous songs in the suite but this just shows how connected each song is to another, independent of lyrics :)

[@Agropio]

This is lovely work. It really puts in perspective how brilliant this suite is. Thank you for making this!

[@IveGotAMatch]

Thanks for the kind words 😊 It was a lot of fun to make!

[@beanman2206]

ill be making a spotify playlist of the suite for sure!!

[@tieukhavu8832]

@@IveGotAMatch re-recorded flashbacks

[@DANCEDWAT]

Happy to call them one of my fave bands. I love the Easter eggs, foreshadowing, just cool musical ideas throughout their career.

[@sleven8013]

Brilliant work! Such clean and resounding editing. The thing I appreciate the most is that you can clearly hear the mastering/soundscape differences between the albums. Black Clouds has this amazing sound and I think The Shattered Fortress is the most complete part of the suite despite "reusing ideas". It is a Frankenstein of a monster song and many of the themes are used to their fullest in it. Especially Repentance (5:53 part in this video) is a clear showstopper. Also the bonus round was a great idea as well!

[@IveGotAMatch]

Thanks! I always go back and forth between whether Glass Prison or Shattered Fortress are my favourites from the suite. Doing this really made me appreciate just how much has gone into Shattered, especially when I noticed that riff at 1:38 showing up again in the solo. Glad you enjoyed the bonus round haha, I felt as though the use of shouty backing vocals was too integral a part of the suite to not somehow include it.

[@Byster_0]

One of my favourite videos on this platform

[@IveGotAMatch]

Thank you very much! Glad you enjoyed it; I can’t help but watch it back myself as a fan of the band and love it haha

[@arbi9506]

Coolest fucking thing I've ever seen

[@tweer64]

0:00 This section bookends the first step, the first song, and the whole suite.

[@moisesaristigueta4751]

And it's quite logical that it sounds that way. At first (and I think it has happened to many of us) I didn't identify the analogy with the previous works in the suite. In particular, I think what they did was supremely great, because it gives consistency to the work. At the end of the day, if we are going to tell a personal experience of self-improvement, that story must have our essence, it must represent us. That's the consistency I see in this 12-step suite. It's pure expression of creativity!

[@trendmassacre8423]

This whole thing was brilliant! It took me up until 2016 to figure this whole thing out, and I was floored when I did. I love how all these songs cross paths with each other. Shows you how much I pay attention! Don't forget that The Mirror was the prelude to this whole master piece.

[@BillyBoggle]

This probably took a bit, good on ya ❤ good thing to have around in case of need for explanation haha

[@winterunterseher8937]

3:33 love that transition always (that subtle tempo change too), great clean tone sound! Crazy how you can make essentially the same musical part sound different in terms of tone used.

[@joshmontederamos4813]

Great stuff! I imagine this took some work to put together

[@IveGotAMatch]

Thanks! It was about 90 minutes of research (listening to the suite, writing down all the riffs and colour coding the ones that appear in multiple tracks) and then about 8 hours of editing. Mostly all done in one sitting because honestly, I was having so much fun haha!

[@hylthekj5927]

I might be biased, but this is the best video on KZbin

[@beanman2206]

ill be making a spotify playlist of the suite for sure!!

[@IveGotAMatch]

I made one for while I was researching this haha!

[@samgoldsmith3759]

Another one is the guitar ans drum pattern at 07:17 in This Dying Soul is referencing the part at 02:12 in The Glass Prison (behind the fast guitar lick that is repeated in Shattered Fortress)

[@jpak8]

I was looking for something just like this, thank you 😂

[@Klug.]

The transitions are incredibly smooth. Neat editing!

[@macrosrider]

¿And Awake, The Mirror?

[@JoelWard1]

Mike Portnoy is a genius.

[@Wishlake]

What you will notice as well is a decrease of quality in mixing of the new albums' material :D

[@haeunglee8212]

This vid just deserves way more likes.

[@dcuch]

Doing God's work. Great job!

[@IveGotAMatch]

Cheers dude!

[@reibarata]

inventory analysis 🔥🔥🔥

[@aidadrums02]

In repentance there more references than I heard

[@triswaldiharyanda1637]

I really love the mixing on six degrees, tot, and octavarium album, I wonder why from black cloud to the latest record the mixing sound a lil bit harsh do you guys notice?

[@ejRecording]

Systematic chaos too was worse than black clouds

[@xucuru77]

I just noticed Illuminati in the cover of BCSL

[@IveGotAMatch]

Yeah, I presume that’s in reference to the lyrics of A Rite of Passage, being about freemasonry/secret societies etc.

[@xucuru77]

​@@IveGotAMatchoh, didn't know that song existed!

[@ejRecording]

yea they have been pushing the symbols themselves look at the first pic when they got signed, mike in the middle doing a one eye stance, the rest of the guys hiding one eye with hair, at the bottom reads- Simon says inc. If you study the conspiracy you understand I'm sure, But petrucci def fairly enlightened several albums all about this stuff Their self titled The astonishing etc

[@progfox]

​@@ejRecordingu are schizophrenic

[@somethingofascientistmyself]

The saga I love the most!

[@şiirokumayıveyazmayısever]

Fevkaladenin fevkinde...

[@akesson3726]

aynen öyle

[@jun1635XVI]

nice work !

[@zach_k_md6520]

The end though 😆🤌🏻

[@mario-bg]

So nice!

[@cacciatorezaccaria1629]

C’é chi dice che non dovrebbe essere tutto così. Copia/incolla. (Che poi secondo me non lo é) Guardate… secondo me hanno fatto una cosa geniale. Veramente. Proprio per questo li amo. Hanno proprio fatto dei capolavori.

[@dallimaharsepta1028]

It's called "Nugget"

[@chrissmith3668]

Also called Easter Eggs

[@progfox]

its actually just called motifs

[@haragull_1995]

7:02 bro managed to outprog Dream Theater

[@acidiceternitygaming7981]

hah!

[@aaronhernandez1894]

A

[@alexandernilssonmusic]

I much prefer the production of 6 Degrees - Octavarium. They each had each distinctive personality that fitted the music perfectly. SC and BC&SL sound good but at the same time just kinda "generic metal" and overproduced.

[@gub4941]

Systematic chaos still sounded pretty unique to me

[@ogulcanyolcu8714]

First line sounds just like In My Darkest Hour