DREAM THEATER — Images and Words (review)

DREAM THEATER — Images and Words album cover

Album · 1992 · Progressive Metal

5/5 · 2017-09-18
The Crow

This is probably the progressive metal's most important album, and one of the most important albums of progressive music too!

Due to this disc and the later Awake, the progressive genre enjoyed from really good health the last decades, because a lot of people (like me) discovered this way of understand music with Dream Theater. For that I must give a lot of thanks to Dream Theater for revitalizing the progressive music at the beginning of the 90’s.

The album itself it's a true masterpiece. All the songs are magnificent, with a fantastic production and instrumental development. Maybe the keyboards are in a little too 80's way sometimes, but I'm still loving this entire album completely.

Pull me Under starts with a mysterious guitar melody and original keyboards, and soon derives in a very strong guitar riff which are soon accompanied by the great La Brie’s vocals. After that we can hear the typical masterclass of songwriting and variations that this album had in their first albums. Another Day is even better, with a memorable saxophone playing and an outstanding guitar solo.

Take The Time is simply the best Dream Theater's song in my humble opinion, and among the best progressive songs ever recorded. Just incredible! Surrounded it's different from the rest of the album, and maybe for this reason has a special place in my heart. It has some Rush and Saga influences and sometimes it sounds even Neo-Prog for me. Just great!

Metropolis – Part I has another atmospheric beginning leaded by the Kevin Moore’s keyboards and after that, just like Pull me Under we can hear a collection of great riffs which lead to the verses. This composition is more obscure and dramatic than the rest, and a very good central track. I will never forget the first time I heard the instrumental part of this song which begins at 4:17 many years ago. I was blown away! And I’m still amazed of the quality of these musicians.

Under a Glass Moon has a majestic beginning, worthy of the best science fiction film! Then the strong drums beef up the song, which derives in another heavy riff and very original verses with the initial melody. The instrumental development of the song is also fantastic. Another classic of this album with a superb guitar solo!

Wait for Sleep is a slow and beautiful ballad driven by a marvellous piano melody. Here we can also hear the ability of La Brie to sing in lower tones. And Learning to Live is the final masterpiece. Another brilliant piece of pure progressive metal with the best keyboard work of the album, great bass lines and another outstanding example of good songwriting and musicianship.

Conclusion: Images and Words is one of the peaks of progressive and a must for everyone. Even if you don’s like progressive metal, this is a must hearing album.

Last fact I want to comment: James LaBrie couldn't never reach again the great voice and the incredible high notes that he reached in this album. In Awake he sounded rougher and he has been losing his voice along the years for the reasons we all know.

And that’s a pity.

Best Tracks: Pull Me Under, Another Day, Take The Time, Surrounded, Metropolis – Part 1.

My rating: *****

This review was originally written for ProgArchives.com years ago, and rewritten today to be included here.

more than 2 years ago
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The Crow wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I first heard Dream Theater when Awake was released.

I was almost a kid then, but I remember being totally blown away by this music. And you're right, back in the 90's their style was really groundbreaking. In Europe we had bands trying to increase the complexity of metal music like Iron Maiden, Halloween and Blind Guardian. And in America we had others like Metallica, Savatage, Fates Warning and Queesrÿche trying to do the same thing.

But Images and Words was the piece of the puzzle which made all the other pieces fit! This album changed the conception of progressive metal forever. When I bought it short after I heard Awake I became a huge fan of Dream Theater.

And of course, Images and Words is one of my all time favorite prog metal albums, alongside others like Streets - A Rock Opera from Savatage and Mabool from Orphaned Land.

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Definitely a fantastic album, and my personal favorite DT album too. And it really did help revitalize the progressive movement, which had had a Down period during the 80s. If you were there, you´d probably remember too how different they sounded to anything else on the scene in those days.