Forsaken (song)

Infobox Single
Name = Forsaken


Artist = Dream Theater
from Album = Systematic Chaos
Released = 2007
Format = CD
Recorded = 2007
Genre = Progressive metal
Length = 5:39
Label = Roadrunner Records
Writer = John Petrucci
Producer = John Petrucci
Mike Portnoy
Last single = "Constant Motion"
(2007)
This single = "Forsaken"
(2008)
Next single =
Misc = Extra tracklisting
Album = Systematic Chaos
Type = studio
prev_track = "In the Presence of Enemies - Part I"
prev_no = 1
this_track = "Forsaken"
track_no = 2
next_track = "Constant Motion"
next_no = 3

Forsaken is the second track and second single of Dream Theater's album, "Systematic Chaos". The song is the shortest of the release, and a soundclip of it was released in a Systematic Chaos promo video.

John Petrucci stated in the documentary Chaos in Progress: The Making of Systematic Chaos that the song tells a story of a man being visited by a vampiress during the night.

According to Chaos in Progress: The Making of Systematic Chaos, the song's working title was "Song #6" or "Jetlag".

This song explores the realm of progressive metal, changing textures and going between a haunting piano melody and a heavy guitar riff. The time signature is 7/4 for much of the song.

Look for a Latin literary intertext to this song in Propertius' elegy 4.7.

Music video

An anime themed music video made by the GONZO studio [cite web|url=http://www.dreamtheater.net/news_dreamtheater.php#anngonzo|title=Anime News - Gonzo Animates Dream Theater's "Forsaken" Music Video] was released on January 26, 2008 on MTV2's Headbanger's Ball [cite web|url=http://www.dreamtheater.net/news_dreamtheater.php#forsakenmtv2|title=Forsaken Video to Premiere on MTV2] . Petrucci describes the story of the song as based on a short story by Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev, originally entitled "Phantoms," in a futuristic setting. He outlines the song as being about a man named Leocite web|url=http://www.dreamtheater.net/news_dreamtheater.php#forsaken|title=Forsaken Video Teaser at RR.com] , jailed by an inhumane society, seeing an apparition of a futuristic android, Alice, in the night. Alice guides him on nightly journeys through the sky, and through time, as she harvests his blood to bring life to inanimate mannequins, who then reenact the darkest events in history (of the future).

Personnel

*James LaBrie - lead vocals
*John Petrucci - guitar, backing vocals
*John Myung - bass guitar
*Jordan Rudess - keyboards
*Mike Portnoy - drums, backing vocals

References