Office of Strategic Influence is the first studio album by American progressive rock band OSI, released by Inside Out Music on February 18, 2003. The album was recorded in June 2002 and mixed in August 2002 at the Carriage House Studios in Stamford, Connecticut.
The album is named after the Office of Strategic Influence, an organization set up after the September 11 attacks to spread misinformation and plant false news items in the media, among other functions. The Office was shut after The New York Times published a story on it; many of its operations were transferred to the Information Operations Task Force. The album's lyrics were written by Moore in reaction to the September 11 attacks.
Critical reception of the album was generally positive, praising the band's musicianship. Critics compared the band's sound to Porcupine Tree. Portnoy was ultimately dissatisfied with the experience of making the album. He performed on the second OSI album, Free, but was replaced by Gavin Harrison for Blood and Fire Make Thunder, the band's third and fourth albums respectively.
Background
Fates Warning guitarist Jim Matheos originally started work on Office of Strategic Influence as a side project while his bandmates took a break before starting work on their next album. Matheos decided to work with Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy because the two had wanted to work on a project together for some time.[1] They originally planned to form a supergroup,[2] envisaging the album as "straight prog metal".[3]
Matheos spent seven months writing material for the album.[1] He then sent Kevin Moore (who was living in Costa Rica) some MP3 files of the music he had written and asked him to write some keyboard parts.[4] Moore (known as a founding member of Dream Theater and for his solo career as Chroma Key) had previously performed on three Fates Warning albums,[3] and Matheos was expecting him to write keyboard parts as he had for the Fates Warning album. Instead, Moore "messed with [Matheos'] tracks and switched things around and put vocals to it and stuff like that."[4] He said that he no longer considered the keyboard, bass and guitar parts separate from each other: "I don't write like that any more as much as I'm composing a whole song."[4] The resulting track would become "Hello, Helicopter!"[4]
Moore emailed his work back to Matheos, who was "pleasantly surprised"[5] to be sent something completely different from what he expected.[5] Matheos wanted to create a heavy album; before deciding to takes Moore's ideas further, Matheos and Moore wrote what would become "OSI". Moore said that after that, "[Matheos] was pretty much comfortable with whatever I wanted to do."[4] This new song format was very different from what Portnoy and Matheos originally planned: the already-written long tracks were split into multiple short songs, closer to Moore's project Chroma Key than traditional progressive metal.[1][3] "The Thing That Never Was", a track on the bonus disc, shows the direction Matheos and Portnoy originally planned to take the album in.[2]
Matheos and Portnoy initially considered having a different vocalist perform on each track; this idea was scrapped as they decided the constant change in vocalist would disrupt the flow of the album. Vocalists considered included Steve Walsh, Steve Hogarth, Steven Wilson and John Arch. Portnoy particularly pushed for Daniel Gildenlöw to sing on the album.[1] Early on in the album's production, Gildenlöw wrote some vocal melodies and lyrics for two songs and completely wrote another song. Matheos liked Gildenlöw's ideas, but did not want to take the music in the same direction Gildenlöw did.[1][6] Moore ended up performing most of the vocals on the album. In order to keep the album from becoming too similar to Chroma Key, Matheos and Portnoy decided to feature a guest vocalist on one track.[3]Steven Wilson (of Porcupine Tree) wrote lyrics and performed vocals on the track "ShutDOWN". He was chosen because his music in Porcupine Tree was similar in style to the music on the album. Portnoy also credited Wilson as "a pioneer of his genre".[1]
Bassist Sean Malone (of Cynic and Gordian Knot) was only credited as a guest musician. Portnoy explained that this was because Malone's schedule did not allow him to join Matheos, Moore and Portnoy in the basic tracking sessions.[1]
Recording
Office of Strategic Influence was recorded at Carriage House Studios in Stamford, Connecticut from June 2 to 9, 2002.[7] Matheos and Moore mixed the album with Phil Magnotti (who had previously mixed for Fates Warning) in August.[8] Portnoy pushed to get as much of the band together as possible for the main tracking sessions because of his dislike of "side projects done through mail."[1]
Matheos and Moore created the basic song ideas in Pro Tools. Songs in the progressive metal vein were almost entirely written by Matheos, while Moore had more influence on the more vocal-driven tracks. Portnoy noted that they were ultimately "Jim's songs",[1] but that Moore was very involved with arrangements, post-production, melodies and lyrics. Portnoy considered himself as "just a drummer":[1] he made minor arrangement suggestions but did not have a part in the actual writing. Malone and Wilson contributed their parts after the songs had been arranged. Matheos saved any unused ideas for the next Fates Warning album.[1]
Sean Malone said that he enjoyed playing on the album, but that "it would have been nice to work out parts with Mike as they were being recorded rather than after the fact".[9] He took a "session approach"[9] to the album, "trying as much as possible to create parts that fit what Jim et al had created, versus trying to impose anything upon it".[9] He was sent MIDI bass parts for each song which served as a guideline. For the particularly sparse and texture-heavy tracks, Malone did much doubletracking to create "a natural kind of chorusing"[9] he prefers to any digital effects.[9]
Before the recording of Office of Strategic Influence, the last time Moore and Portnoy worked together was on Dream Theater's Awake in 1994. Matheos was initially concerned about how Moore and Portnoy would feel about working together for the first time in eight years. Moore noted that he and Portnoy were not on bad terms, but "just weren't in touch."[4] The two both described the experience as initially "awkward".[1][5] When recording the album Portnoy had to take directions from others; he found this difficult as he was used to taking the creative lead.[5] Moore noted that there was tension when recording the same drum part for a song more than once (in order to give Moore choice later on): "He's used to just playing the stroke once, the way he wants to,"[4] he said.
In a 2009 interview, Portnoy blamed his frustration with the project on Moore:[2]
I honestly went in there with an open mind and I was truly excited to work with Kevin again... But it ended up being more of the same old shit that it was when he left Dream Theater... making those records [Office of Strategic Influence and Free] with Kevin wasn't fun. He's not a fun person to work with. He's a very depressing and stubborn personality and there's no reason in my life or my career that I need to subject myself to that sort of personality.
Portnoy performed as a session musician on the second OSI album, Free, but was replaced by Porcupine Tree drummer Gavin Harrison for the third album, Blood.[2]
Moore described the music on Office of Strategic Influence as "a new approach to progressive rock",[10] stating that he could use his musical roots in progressive music but "was far enough away from it to play with it."[5] He said that "progressive rock has been around for so long and we have to stop taking it so seriously and really have fun with it."[5] Portnoy described the album as "more soundscapish"[1] than his work in Dream Theater, focusing more on composition and sounds than musicianship. He noted the style "would never work in Dream Theater."[1]
Moore wrote lyrics for the album by "mumbling along to the song and then deciphering what I'm saying."[5] The lyrics feature political themes ("Hello, Helicopter!" is about the US supplying military arsenals to other countries to protect its own national interests),[10] although Matheos stated that the album was not political in nature. Moore said that he writes lyrics based on personal experiences, and that much of the album's lyrical content stems from how the September 11 attacks affected him. Moore's brother was a firefighter who worked at the World Trade Center after the attacks, "and I was totally apolitical before this, politically naïve and I still am," Moore stated. "I was like, 'Whoa, what the fuck is going on in the world?'"[5]
Office of Strategic Influence features Moore's signature use of spoken word samples. He collected samples first and then tried to match them with the song's tempo.[5] Moore said that the samples relate directly to the song's lyrics.[10]
Moore chose the album's name from a list of band, album and song names he kept.[4][10] The Office of Strategic Influence was a highly secret organization set up three weeks after the September 11 attacks. Part of its mission was to spread misinformation and plant false news items in the media in order to "influence the hearts and minds of the opposition."[11][12] After The New York Times ran a story on the Office in February 2002, it was forced to shut, although many of its operations were later transferred to the Information Operations Task Force.[11] "The funny thing about it was the government and administration was saying it's so embarrassing that they had to name it the 'Office of Strategic Influence,' we couldn't just put it in a room in the Pentagon and name it whatever the room number is," Moore said. "Someone decided to be really creative about it and name it what it really is."[4]
The limited edition bonus CD features three bonus tracks on it. There are two cover songs: a cover of the Pink Floyd song "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" performed by Moore and Portnoy,[13] chosen because they both "love Pink Floyd",[1] according to Portnoy, and a cover of the Neil Young song "New Mama" performed by Moore. The third track, entitled "The Thing That Never Was", is a seventeen-minute instrumental performed by Matheos and Portnoy, showing the original direction they intended to take the album in.[2] The CD contains a 19-minute multimedia section, including two documentary-style videos shot during the album's recording, and a music video for the track "Horseshoes and B-52s" directed by Moore.[13]
Matheos suggested using an altered version of the United States passport for the album's cover art. The differences are that the arrows are double-headed, the olive branch is wilted, and the eagle's wings have been clipped.[10] Matheos, Moore and Portnoy decided against sending out promotional copies of the album before its release date in order to prevent an early Internet leak of it.[1] The album was released in Europe on February 17, 2003.[14]
Office of Strategic Influence was critically well received.[15][16][17] Keith Gordon of AllMusic praised the album as "offering both power and pomp."[15] Tommy Hash of Prog4you.com described the music as "catchy, complete with great melodies and musicianship that does not overdo it."[16] He described the album as "almost in complete contrast to the parent bands' other related side projects," such as Liquid Tension Experiment and Transatlantic.[16] John Bollenberg of ProgressiveWorld.net praised Matheos, Moore and Portnoy for "[starting] from scratch without copying their past in order to deliver something fresh, new and exciting."[17]
Hash described the album as having "the atmosphere of some of the mid-90s to the latter era Fates Warning fused with industrial sounding elements and sound effects that create an ambient effect."[16] Gordon described the music as similar to Pink Floyd, King Crimson and Max Vague.[15] Bollenberg noted "the material on Office Of Strategic Influence gets closer to Moore's very own Chroma Key mixed with dashes of latterday Porcupine Tree... there are bits and bobs all over the album that could easily have fit on In Absentia."[17]
Gordon described the performances on the album as "crackling with electricity and passion".[15] He lauded Matheos' performance on the album: "In any other subgenre of rock, Matheos would be a guitar hero on the order of Steve Vai or Eddie Van Halen, the Fates Warning frontman capable of both classically styled acoustic craftsmanship and chaotic metallic riffing, often in the context of the same song."[15] He praised Malone and Portnoy for "[holding] down the bottom line with rock-solid rhythms".[15]
Gordon praised Moore for "providing an instrumental counterpoint to Matheos' raging guitar. Moore's imaginative style and natural skill coax a myriad of sounds from his instrument to challenge Matheos in the mix."[15] Sander noted Moore's contribution, saying that "at times there's more technology and electronics than in the average house release". Bollenberg noted that Moore's keyboards added "textures flirting with semi-industrial patches and often being closer to Nine Inch Nails than 'vintage' melodic prog."[17] Hash praised Moore's vocals, noting they "fit in well with all of the instrumental textures".[16] In contrast, Sander criticized Moore's voice as "dull": "the many added distortion and echo effects cannot always make it more interesting. His voice is okay for one or two tracks... but it's too flat to keep you tied to the speakers for much longer". He cited Moore's vocals as the main weakness of some tracks.
Bollenberg listed his favorite track as "Hello, Helicopter!": "it once again gets so very close to authentic Porcupine Tree with Portnoy introducing some tribal rhythms that go ever so well with the rest of the material. I simply melt once that superb sound of the Fender Rhodes enters, taking turns with synthesizer tweaks."[17] Gordon described the instrumental parts of the album as "powerful and purposeful: an integral part of each composition rather than an excuse to merely 'jam'".[15]
Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to concentrate further on the band that would eventually become Dream Theater. Their current lineup consists of Petrucci, Myung, vocalist James LaBrie, keyboardist Jordan Rudess and drummer Mike Mangini.
Transatlantic is a multinational progressive rock supergroup consisting of Neal Morse, Roine Stolt, Pete Trewavas and Mike Portnoy. They formed in 1999 as a side project to their full-time bands, but disbanded in 2002. They then reunited in 2009.
OSI is an American progressive rock band, originally formed by Fates Warning guitarist Jim Matheos in 2002. Chroma Key keyboardist and vocalist Kevin Moore is the only other full-time member of the band. The collaboration may be considered a studio project, as its members and contributors write and track most of their material independently, sharing and developing tracks long-distance, only coming together at the end of the process for mixing and additional tracking. The band's name is a reference to the Office of Strategic Influence, a short-lived American government agency formed in 2001 to support the War on Terror through propaganda. The band has featured a number of guest musicians on its albums, including Sean Malone, Steven Wilson, Mikael Akerfeldt, Joey Vera and Gavin Harrison.
Kevin Moore is an American keyboardist, composer, and founder of the Chroma Key music project. He is also a former member of the American progressive metal/rock band Dream Theater, co-founder of the progressive rock supergroup O.S.I., and a composer of film soundtracks. Throughout his career, he has become known for his emotional music and lyrics, nomadic lifestyle and use of spoken word samples.
Falling into Infinity is the fourth studio album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater, released on September 23, 1997 through EastWest Records. It is the band's only studio album to feature keyboardist Derek Sherinian, following the departure of Kevin Moore in 1994.
Fates Warning is an American progressive metal band, formed in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1982 by vocalist John Arch, guitarists Jim Matheos and Victor Arduini, bassist Joe DiBiase, and drummer Steve Zimmerman. There have been numerous lineup changes over the course of their 41-year career, and Matheos is the only constant member. As of 2020, the band consists of Matheos, vocalist Ray Alder, bassist Joey Vera, drummer Bobby Jarzombek and guitarist Michael Abdow. Fates Warning also had a revolving cast of drummers and guitarists by the time Jarzombek and Abdow joined the band in 2007 and 2020 respectively.
Chroma Key is a band of Kevin Moore, known for his work with the bands OSI and Dream Theater. Although primarily a solo project, several other musicians have recorded as part of the band such as bassist Joey Vera, drummer Mark Zonder, and guitarist Jason Anderson.
John Arch is an American singer most well known for his work with the progressive metal band Fates Warning.
Jim Matheos is an American guitarist and the primary songwriter for the progressive metal band Fates Warning, in which he has been the only consistent member since the group's beginning. Matheos also plays in OSI alongside Kevin Moore, as well as making other appearances with many different bands and artists.
Bobby Jarzombek is an American musician of Polish and German ancestry who is currently the drummer for country music legend George Strait. Bobby also has been a drummer for: vocalist Sebastian Bach, and progressive metal band Fates Warning. He has a brother named Ron Jarzombek, who is a guitarist.
Inside Out Music is a German independent record label originally based in Kleve, North Rhine-Westphalia, and dedicated to the publication of progressive rock, progressive metal and related styles. In 2009, it formed a partnership with Century Media Records and moved its base of operations to Dortmund, also in North Rhine-Westphalia. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music and became its premier label for progressive music.
Disconnected is the ninth studio album by progressive metal band Fates Warning, released on July 25, 2000, through Metal Blade Records. Kevin Moore previously played on the Fates Warning album A Pleasant Shade of Gray and later appeared in OSI with Matheos.
Graveyard Mountain Home is the third studio album released under the name Chroma Key by American keyboardist Kevin Moore. It was released on November 8, 2004 by InsideOut Music. Moore originally started work on the album in 2003, planning to release a less electronica-influenced album than previous Chroma Key albums, but put it aside to work on the first OSI album. He then moved to Istanbul, Turkey, where he wrote Ghost Book, the soundtrack to the film Okul. Enjoying the experience of writing music to film, Moore scrapped his previous plans for the third Chroma Key album, instead writing an album as an alternate soundtrack to an already-existing film.
Free is the second studio album by American progressive rock band OSI, released by InsideOut Music on April 21, 2006.
A Pleasant Shade of Gray is the eighth studio album by progressive metal band Fates Warning, released on April 22, 1997 through Metal Blade Records. It is a concept album, and contains one song divided into twelve parts and is noted for its darker mood and more progressive style.
The Majesty Demos are the first recorded attempts of progressive band Dream Theater, under their original name, Majesty. The original 1986 tape contained six tracks that were recorded on Mike Portnoy's analog 4-track recorder, and another 4-track recorder obtained from friends at Berklee College of Music. All the band members were about 19 years old at the time of the recording. Only 1,000 copies were recorded on cassette tape and distributed to fans and rock and metal magazines. Portnoy gave one copy to Jim Matheos of Fates Warning, a move that was instrumental in the band's break into the progressive rock scene. The line-up on the initial recording was keyboardist Kevin Moore, bassist John Myung, guitarist John Petrucci, and drummer Mike Portnoy. Chris Collins, the band's singer at the time, had been introduced to the band after a friend heard a demo of him singing a note-for-note version of Queensrÿche's "Queen of the Reich".
A Twist of Fate is an EP by singer John Arch, released on June 17, 2003 through Metal Blade Records. At the time, the EP was Arch's first musical work in over seventeen years since leaving progressive metal band Fates Warning in 1987, with whom he recorded their first three albums; the last being Awaken the Guardian (1986). Consisting of two tracks, A Twist of Fate features Fates Warning founder and guitarist Jim Matheos, with whom Arch would later release a collaborative album in 2011, entitled Sympathetic Resonance, under the banner of Arch/Matheos. Also among the line-up are former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy and current Fates Warning bassist Joey Vera.
Blood is the third studio album by American progressive rock band OSI, released by InsideOut Music on April 27, 2009, in Europe and May 19, 2009, in North America.
The Twelve-step Suite is a set of five songs by American progressive metal and rock band Dream Theater. One song was featured on each Dream Theater studio album from Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence to Black Clouds & Silver Linings.
Fire Make Thunder is the fourth studio album by American progressive rock band OSI, released by Metal Blade Records on March 27, 2012 in Europe and North America.
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