Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

Record and Release

The recording of the Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence album began on March 12, 2001 and was already finished by August. The album was created at BearTracks Studios in the USA . January 29, 2002 ^[1] was the second release on Elektra Records ^[2] after Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory as a double album. Mike Portnoy insisted that he be divided into two discs, so 95 minutes of material could not be placed on one CD ^[6] .

I didn’t want this question to appear before us after recording the album. For several nights I pondered the solution to the problem of 95 minutes of material. I decided that either “Blind Faith” or “Disappear” should not be on the album track list. But neither one nor the other will reduce the total duration to 80 minutes, so the only way out is to remove both songs if the title is not one of them. It would be a terrible mystery, but, fortunately, we did not need to raise this issue. Original text That's a question I didn't want to have to come up with an answer for when we finished the record. I did lay awake a few nights pondering that thought, and the problem was that we had 95 minutes of music. I think off the top of my head that Blind Faith or Disappear would have been the first to go. But either of them by themselves would still not be enough to bring the album down to 80 minutes, so we would have been stuck in the position of having to cut * two * songs if Six Degrees wasn't one of them. It would have been a horrible puzzle to try to figure out, and I'm glad that I didn't have to come up with a solution to that one. Mike Tailor [6]

Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence was for a long time the only double studio album in the group's work and the longest album in time (96:13) until the release of The Astonishing (2016) , although it contains only six tracks - the least number of tracks in the album’s tracklist, which was later repeated in the album Black Clouds & Silver Linings .

Concept

The general idea of ​​the album is an overview of the most common problems in human life. The first five compositions of the first disc deal with alcoholism, loss of faith, self-isolation, and death. The second disc contains a 42-minute composition, which tells about the mental disorders of people, the lives of the sufferers themselves with disabilities and the attitude of society towards the sick. The composition was subsequently divided into eight parts to facilitate perception, although Tailor was initially opposed to this ^[7] . Each of the eight parts tells about a specific person suffering from a mental disorder. Also, the compositions are reduced so that they move from one to another without pronounced pauses.

The Glass Prison

Music: John Petrucci , John Maeng , Jordan Rudes , Mike Tailor
Text: Mike Tailor
Duration: 13:52

“The Glass Prison” ( Rus. Glass Prison ) opens the album with the sound of a phonograph that ended the previous Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory and talks about Mike Portnoy's alcohol and drug addiction. It is the first of five compositions in the Twelve-Step Suite, which is opened by the first three of the twelve parts - “steps on the path to cure addiction” ^{[8] [9]} . The composition consists of three parts: “Reflection” ( Russian. Reflection ), “Restoration” ( Russian. Recovery ), “Revelation” ( Russian. Opening ), and ends with a riff from which the next composition of the suite “This Dying Soul” will begin.

Blind Faith

Music: Petrucci, Maeng, Rudes, Tailor
Text: James LaBree
Duration: 10:21

“Blind Faith” ( Rus. Blind Faith ) tells of a man who feels that he is gradually losing faith in God, watching the mess that is happening in the world. But despite this, he still has the hope that his faith is not in vain ^[10] .

Misunderstood

Music: Petrucci, Maeng, Rudes, Tailor
Text: John Petrucci
Duration: 9:32

"Misunderstood" ( Rus. Misunderstood ) tells about a man who gradually bends under the influence of the surrounding world ^[11] . ^[12] . It is also noteworthy that the guitar solo in the instrumental section is repeated in the reverse order.

The Great Debate

Music: Petrucci, Maeng, Rudes, Tailor
Text: Petrucci
Duration: 13:45

“The Great Debate” ( Rus. The Big Debate ) is a composition whose text refers to politics about the reasoning of a person who motivates people to “turn to the light” to avoid war, but he himself understands that people “went too far” ^{[13 ] [12]} . The original title of the song “Conflict at Ground Zero” ( Rus. Conflict in Ground Zero ), which was subsequently changed due to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, also refers to this ^[14] .

Disappear

Music: Petrucci, Maeng, Rudes, Tailor
Text: LaBri
Duration: 6:45

“Disappear” ( Russian: Disappearance ) is a song about a person who has become depressed, but who subsequently decides that he should continue to live on ^[15] . The original title of the song “Move On” also refers to this ( lit. Rus. Move on ). It was mentioned in the first studio previews for Electra Records. ^[14] . The song closes the first CD of the album.

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

Music: Petrucci, Maeng, Rudes, Tailor
Text: Petrucci, Tailor
Duration: 42:04

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence opens the second CD of the album and talks about the suffering of people with mental disorders such as bipolar affective disorder , post-traumatic stress disorder , schizophrenia , postpartum depression , autism and dissociation , their perceptions of the world and the relationship of society to patients ^[16] . The composition opens with an overture written by Jordan Rudes. It is also noteworthy that in the performances of the World Tourbulence tour in support of the album, the first part was played in the form of a phonogram only of the part of the orchestra, and in the DVD and concert album “ Score ” was performed by the real symphony orchestra “Octavarium Orchestra”. The composition ends with the part of the “Grand Finale” adjacent to “Losing Time”, which contains lines from all the previous ones, sums up the album and ends the album with a gong , leaving the fading keyboard sound of the orchestra. It is with this chord, only in the reverse order, that the first track “As I Am” of the next album “ Train of Thought ” begins.

All music is written by John Petrucci , John Maeng , Jordan Rudes , Mike Portnoy .

• James LaBri - vocals
• John Mayang - bass
• John Petrucci - guitar , backing vocals
• Mike Portnoy - drums , backing vocals
• Jordan Rudes - Keyboards