IV. Intervals Before each stanza in the lyrics, Mike Portnoy says a scale degree. In each stanza, a song from Octavarium is referenced, and an audio clip from that song is played in the background. As this part progresses, the guitar and drum rhythm starts to intensify after each stanza.
*Mike Portnoy says "Root"
"Take all of me" (from 3:03 in The Root Of All Evil) plays in the background
*Mike Portnoy says "Second"
"Don't let the day go by" (from 4:21 in The Answers lies Within) plays in the background
*Mike Portnoy says "Third"
A clip from These Walls plays in the background
*Mike Portnoy says "Fourth"
"I walk beside you" (from 1:06 in I Walk Beside You) plays in the background
*Mike Portnoy says "Fifth"
"Hysteria" (from 3:55 in Panic Attack) plays in the background
*Mike Portnoy says "Sixth"
"What would you say" (from 3:03 in Never Enough) plays in the background
*Mike Portnoy says "Seventh"
A clip from Sacrificed Sons plays in the background
*Mike Portnoy says "Octave"
"Side effects appear" (from 11:52 in Octavarium part II) plays in the background
To finish the Octave, LaBrie repeats the line "Trapped inside this Octavarium", meaning that the speaker is trapped in the Octavarium's full circle, which begins and ends the same. To enunciate the intensity of this statement, LaBrie screams the line, straining his voice more than he had done for over a decade. By the time the song reaches the fourth repeat of the line, his voice has reached as high as G5, the highest note heard on a Dream Theater studio song from vocals, beating the famous F# in "Learning to Live". During live performances, LaBrie usually sings the first three lines with the same notes, then jumps to the note on the last two syllables of the word "Octavarium", sometimes going as high as A5, holding the note and doing trills downwards on the last.
V. Razor's Edge
This movement simply emphasizes the cyclical nature of all things, as well as the album, as it begins where it ends, using the same melody as the end to the first track, it also ends with the same note that The Root of All Evil begins with. There is also an alternative ending where the main flute theme is reprised and faded at the end of the song.
This movement also serves as the capstone for the song and the album which shares its name, being the fifth movement in the eighth song on the album. In this way, it continues the 5:8 theme. When performed live as part of "Schmedley Wilcox" on Chaos in Motion, Mike Portnoy adds in additional vocal emphasis to portions of this movement.
This movements lyrics also references Rush's Progressive epic Hemispheres, by mirroring the "Perfect Sphere Theme".
Hemispheres - "...With the heart and mind united in a single perfect sphere."
Octavarium - "A Perfect Sphere, colliding with our fate..."
Also, the first movement and the last movement were written by the same person, again referring to the theme "Everything ends where it began".
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