DREAM THEATER — Images and Words (review)

DREAM THEATER — Images and Words album cover

Album · 1992 · Progressive Metal

3/5 · 2015-02-17
Unitron

Dream Theater-Images and Words

'Images and Words' is the second studio album by progressive metal band Dream Theater. Often called one of the greatest progressive metal albums of all time, if not the greatest, 'Images and Words' holds the spot as Dream Theater's highest rated album here on the MMA. This album is also claimed to have popularized the progressive metal sub-genre, even though bands like Queensryche, Voivod, and Watchtower came years before Dream Theater released their debut. While I do have to agree it did popularize progressive metal quite a bit, I don't think it's one of the greatest prog metal albums.

The album opens up with one of Dream Theater's most popular songs, 'Pull Me Under', which rightfully so is called a masterpiece. It begins with very memorable acoustic guitar chords before picking up with heavy guitar. Soon the crunching thrash riffs come in with complementary keyboard work. LaBrie's voice, as many have expressed before, is very much a love-hate vocal style. I personally love his voice, it's especially strong on this song, but some may find it annoying. You know you've made a perfect chorus when it constantly flows through your head, I find myself singing to the lyrics 'Pull Me Under, Pull Me Under, I'm Not Afraid!' quite often. Easily the best song on the album, and one Dream Theater's best songs in general.

The song that standouts the most along with 'Pull Me Under' is the nine-minute 'Metropolis Part 1', which is another one of my favorites. This song continues the melodic thrash found on the aforementioned song, except on a grander scale. Mike Portnoy's drums I find to be especially strong on this track, creating some pretty complex rhythms. It has an awesome bridge with complex keyboard and drum patterns. 'Learning to Live' is another favorite, the finale epic. LaBrie's vocals are very strong during the second part of the song, complementing the flowing guitar very well.

The only real problem I have with the album are the sappy ballads like 'Another Day' and 'Surrounded'. I'm not a fan of ballads, but I do like them if they're done right especially power ballads. I do love power ballads, but unfortunately these ballads act more as filler then songs to benefit the listening experience. While I really don't like the former, 'Surrounded' is a decent song. It's kind of cheesy, but it picks up at the end and has kind of a U2-feel to it. At first I thought 'Take the Time' didn't fit well, but it's grown on me. It has some nice funky bass work mixed with crunching riffing.

Overall, 'Images and Words' is certainly a great album even though it has its flaws. While not my favorite Dream Theater album, it's still an excellent album to have in any metal collection. If you ever thought melodic metal mixed with power-thrash would work well, I'd say give it a try if you haven't already.

Hope you found this review helpful.

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more than 2 years ago
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Unitron wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I like it too, I just think it feels a bit out of place on the album. :P

Kingcrimsonprog wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I like "Take The Time" a lot but otherwise totally agree

Unitron wrote:

more than 2 years ago

They're certainly not nearly as bad as a lot of ballads I've heard, but I do think they lack in comparison to the rest of the songs on the album.

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I don´t know why but I´ve always enjoyed both Another Day and especially Surrounded. I usually don´t enjoy ballad type tracks much, but these two are quite intricate and there´s of course a nostalgia factor to it too.