In the Presence of Enemies is a song from Dream Theater's 2007 studio album, Systematic Chaos. It is split into two parts at the nine-minute mark, with the first part becoming the opening track of the album, and the second part, the closing track. In the booklet, it is subtitled The Heretic and the Dark Master.
Part II
• III. Heretic
• IV. The Slaughter of the Damned
• V. The Reckoning (instrumental)
• VI. Salvation
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Literal interpretation
The lyrics tell a story about a man who, at the moment of death, sells half of his soul to a "dark master" in order to gain power to stand in the way of the servants of an evil fallen angel, who are paving the way for their master's coming. The man is seeking revenge on the one who killed his beloved, and also seeks redemption for humanity. At the end he retains his own soul and does not fight for his master.
It is notable that the story told in the song is strikingly similar to the story of Ivan Isaacs told in the Korean comic Priest. Tokyopop, the publisher of Priest, provides a short résumé of the story that even shares certain expressions and phrases with the lyrics of In the Presence of Enemies. John Petrucci also said in an interview that one of the songs in Systematic Chaos was based on a manga.]The similarities have been listed here
Metaphorical interpretation
According to Petrucci the characters and happenings are merely metaphors, and the song is in reality about the turbulence inside the main character, struggling with his darker side.
Additional reference
• A part of the song called "The Slaughter of The Damned" cites a part of Psalm 23 in such a way as to twist the meaning to following the "Dark Master" rather than "the Lord" in the original.
Original artists
James LaBrie - vocals
John Myung - bass guitar
John Petrucci - guitar, vocals
Mike Portnoy - drums, vocals
Jordan Rudess - keyboards

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Presence_of_Enemies
http://www.faq.dtnorway.com/question/1098

Cover artists
Lafronde- Backing tract,acoustic guitars & distortion guitars (02.20-04.16)
Petruccifreak –All the rest of guitar works,including guitar mix
Solitude- Vocals, production, mix down & masterized
We would like to thank you to all audiences for taking time to listen & all comments.Hope you enjoy
Here's the link of our collab.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/ywf5kg

What an epic piece of work! Hell of a project to take on but you all did great! From the backer, guitar, mixing and Sols outstanding vox, all just fantastic. I really must find some time to give a proper listen to all the DT stuff I have accumulated due to hearing you guys cover them. *****

This is an outstanding piece of work, I tell you all dont let the file size put you off, give it a dam good listen.

You should all be proud of this guys, awesome piece of work.

this would get 10 stars if it was possible :)

awesome guys.

stay cool
:woot:
Bully

All i can say is bloody fantastic fellas !!!!!
Everything about this cover is just really fantastic , Sol i think you gave your best vocal peformance to date , i can't praise you enough on this , Lafronde did lovely work with guitars between 2:20 - 4:16 and ofcourse the excellent bt , then finally PF gave a proper Petrucci guitar perfomance which just added to the quality you already had from the bt , vocals , the other guitars , i do love Dream Theater and i definetly think you lads should feel extremely proud of this cover , super work fellas , 5 stars :rock: :rock: :rock:

This's super pro work,Perfection & Exellent in over all,Awesome guys*****:thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

Thx so much Steve,Bulldog,Mart & pkl for patiently spending your 16.37 minutes to listening to our collab(which we spent almost three months to do)lol.Cheers!!

Hey!man.What went wrong with the link??? I cant get it:headscratch:

Love DreamTheater, really like this album and this song,

you guys did a fantastic job!

thanks for sharing your talents :woot:

When are you guys gonna stop picking the easy tracks :lol: , seriously though, just wow, as you know Sol, i've been there with you on the 15min+ DT songs, and the 3 odd months spent on them, and this one sounds more complex then Ministrys, so a big well done to you all for that alone.
The quality is 5 stars for sure, each of you put in a perfect performence, what else can i say, 5 really isn't enough :yourock:

Thx very much JFK,Metaldeth_shredder,Jamie:) Hey!man.What went wrong with the link??? I cant get it:headscratch:
Sorry for inconvenient mate.Try this one
http://www.mediafire.com/?15znd93jjxz

Let me know if it still doesnt work.Cheers!
When are you guys gonna stop picking the easy tracks :lol: , seriously though, just wow, as you know Sol, i've been there with you on the 15min+ DT songs, and the 3 odd months spent on them, and this one sounds more complex then Ministrys, so a big well done to you all for that alone.
The quality is 5 stars for sure, each of you put in a perfect performence, what else can i say, 5 really isn't enough :yourock:

Our collab of TMOTLS is always the special one for me mate.I think that one was more complicated & especially you built it from scrath which is unbelievable deserved respect:bowdown: This one is also special for us too.Petruccifreak said that ITPOE2 is one of the best collab for him.He always did an amazing guitar works!!

I'm very pleased for all comments.:thumb:

The reason for spending about three months is that I was busy and didn't have enough recording time.
This song contains some difficult parts for me.
It takes time until I can play as before when the period that I can't play the guitar is long.

Amazing. Breath taking. Simply amazing. As always, you deliver a high standard when it comes to cover "Dream Theater" or something Petrucci-related. Makes me wanna quit :)

What else can i say you already dont know? That was a f&%&ng GUITAR BLAST!!!!!:bowdown: Petruccifreak and Lafronde are the best of the best when it comes to emulate Petrucci. And everything else was really good, from the synthz, mix, drums and the voice of our great friend Solitude.

Mindblowing guys. I wish i could be back on the road with you soon.:bowdown:

i don't know what to say. i am not familiar with this particular song but i have heard a lot of dream theatre to be pretty familiar with them. if i didn't recognise sols voice i would have sworn i was was listening to a dream theatre cd. this is just unbelievable guys. i don't think i have ever heard anyone cover a song with this much precision. 3 months? it should have taken 3 years. petruccifreak's solos were just amazing. wow. this makes our bohemian rhapsody seem as easy to do as singing happy birthday. totally amazing:bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:

I think to tackle a DT tune is a mammoth task in its self, let alone creating one which is just spot on in every way. I loved all the instrument work and lovely vocals as well. This is a masterpiece which you should all 3 be proud of. I think you all deserve a medal, instead of 5 measly stars which is what I'm giving! :)

Holy Crap!!!!!!:jawdrop: I'm speechless!!!!!:wtf: This is simply incredible, guys!!!!!:bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:

Damn! I dont know wat the fucks goin on with my internet connection lol!!
BTW,after painful downloading this very long cover.I must say this was fuckin' CCCoooOOOLLL cover!I agree with PF this is one of your best performances.Why dont you complete this epic with ITPOE part1?? and please go pro for fuck sake!!!

Thanks a lot bro!
We promise the next our collab is ITPOE1.:thumb:

Thx soooo much GT777,Kenny,axe2grind,Robbie & JFK.:)

Damn! I dont know wat the fucks goin on with my internet connection lol!!
BTW,after painful downloading this very long cover.I must say this was fuckin' CCCoooOOOLLL cover!I agree with PF this is one of your best performances.Why dont you complete this epic with ITPOE part1?? and please go pro for fuck sake!!!

I'll let you know that the backing tract of ITPOE1 is now underconstruction,cheers!

The first link has gone.Lucky the second link is still OK.
Breath-taking cover:) :) indeed 5 stars for sure!!