Ooh, I can remember the first time I heard of Dream Theater. "Dream ... Theater?! Progressive Metal? Uh, gaaaay ..." As a fan of Heavy-, Thrash- and Death Metal I never thought of hearing Progressive Metal or Power Metal or other genres with vocals which can reach heaven ... But, god thanks, I gave them a chance and the name of this chance was "Thought of Train". "Sounds heavy ... sounds nice ... oh real good solos in there ..." So I've listened a few times to them until I heard that Images and Words is their best album. A milestone in Progressive Metal and after one minute with Images and Words I was totally gob smacked. This album was the best I've heard sine Master of Puppets. This album is really a milestone and not only in Progressive Metal.
The other thing which fascinated me was the individual skills from each member. Petrucci is just god by himself. LaBrie has a freaky voice; I just wonder what the hell makes him sing like that. Skyscrapers like in Dubai are nothing complaining to this. Myung is a cool guy. I don't know if I ever heard him say something but hey he's the bassist. Mike Portnoy on the drums reminds me a little bit of Brann Dailor from Mastodon. I don’t know why but they sound familiar even though Mike isn't that chaotic. And finally Kevin Moore. I prefer Rudess but I think Moore isn't bad at all. At least it was him who done this crazy keyboard on Space-Dye Vest
But now, let's go with the review of Images and Words:
It starts with Pull me Under; a song with great atmosphere and lovely arrangements but still is a heavy song. Petrucci is warming-up with some awesome riffs and a great solo. If this is just the first song I am really curious for the following songs. So now it comes, one of my favorite songs from the whole album. Another Day. I've heard many people saying. "Oh, how boring ... it doesn't bang" *** them. This is Progressive Metal and no Porngrind. It has a rhythm which is programmed not to leave the brain until your dead. It's like a computer virus which gives a *** on Norton or Kaspersky because its ruling them blindly. Until the end of the song it's getting more and more breathtaking and then it explodes. Puh, 6 songs left...
Now it's getting more progressive with Take the Time with all those tempo changes it's coltish and cool and sometimes slow and serious. This song gives the album some alternation but still fits in the whole concept. Another favorite of mine on this album.
With Surrounded they've just composed their best song ever (in my opinion). It’s just Dream Theater. This song has all aspects I love this band. It's lyrically genius and instrumentally not from this world. LaBrie's voice has so much feeling in it, it's just incredible.
And there it goes: "Metropolis, Pt.1: The Miracle and the Sleeper" It took a lot of time getting into this song. The solo on this song is just awesome. One of the best Petrucci ever made. But the rest difficult. Some say it's an epos and the best on this album ... Can't agree but still it's a good song.
So the end is near ... Wait for Sleep gets the atmosphere of the Artwork and fits the feelings, colors and style of drawing very well. It's short but a nice bridge to Learning to Live which finally kicks ass. 11:32minutes of pure Dream Theater. Great rhythm, great sound ... everything’s great ... nothing left to say.
Dream Theater can be very proud of this peace of metal history. It's just stunning. Anyone who can’t get into Progressive Metal: No problem. With this album you will!
I would give 6points but their are little things whish are not soooo brilliant so it's "just" 5/5 ;-) |
