The Ministry of Lost Souls

The Ministry of Lost Souls

Song infobox
Name = The Ministry of Lost Souls


Format = CD
Artist = Dream Theater
Album = Systematic Chaos
Released = 2007
track_no = 7
Recorded = 2007
Genre = Progressive metal Symphonic metal
Length = 14:57
Label = Roadrunner Records
Writer = John Petrucci
Composer = Dream Theater
Producer = John Petrucci Mike Portnoy
prev = "Prophets of War"
prev_no = 6
next = "In the Presence of Enemies - Part II"
next_no = 8"The Ministry Of Lost Souls" is the seventh track on Dream Theater's album, "Systematic Chaos".

A small sample of it was featured in the Electronic Press Kit that the band released on April 27, 2007. It is the second longest song on "Systematic Chaos".

According to writer John Petrucci, the song tells a story of a man who saves a woman from drowning, but he himself dies in the process; the lyrics revolve around the woman being unable to live her life with the memory. The woman wants to "go to the other side" to meet the man who saved her. The man eventually pulls her through to the "other side."

The first line, "The water's edge is where she waits, lost soul still wandering, meant to die, but she's stuck not crossing over" is apparently a reference to the mythological river Styx. According to the story, the ferryman Charon transported the souls of the newly dead across this river into the underworld. If they didn't have the money to pay, the deceased had to wander the banks of the Styx for one hundred years.

The song is predominately in the key of A minor, save for a lengthy instrumental section midway through the song (which modulates chromatically upwards) and the very ending (which modulates up a minor third twice, thus ending the song a tritone away from the home key).

According to Chaos in Progress: The Making of Systematic Chaos, the song's working title was "Song #4" or "Schindler's Lisp".

This song also bears a striking resemblance to the manga series "Descendants Of Darkness", some being the main character works in an institution called The Ministry of Hades, in which he collects the lost souls wandering the mortal world. The first story in this series is about a man attempting to save a young woman from drowning in a river, killing himself in the process. The girl cannot move on from the man's death and attempts to take her own life. Later it is found out that a man sent to collect her soul was actually the one who drowned, and he reveals he has been watching her and keeping her safe from the afterlife.

Personnel

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


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