Dream Theater - Images And Words (CD 1992)

Back in the early seventies King Crimson, Yes, Sky and Pink Floyd (to name but a few) explored new and uncharted regions. The everybody had been there and Prog Rock was no longer progressive. In fact the Hammond Organ and primitive synth sounds routed the genre firmly in the past. Blue Oyster Cult had a tentative go at pulling Prog Rock into the late 1980s with limited success, and Marillion managed to coax it into the 1990s but it seemed the ground had been well and truly trod and the (now stereotypical) traits of the genre were no longer cause for excitement. Then came Dream Theater. Despite being unable to spell, this group have managed to push the boundaries of rock and metal without getting shouty about it. In 'Images and Words' the band show a remarkable gift for song writing, excellent melodic vocals and superbly technical instrumentation. There are soft songs here, and rough metal, and the almost-Floyd keyboards in 'Metropolis Part 1' are a very nice nod to their predecessors.

The lyrics are very nice overall, a bit obviously 'arty' in places, but the beautiful range of Kevin James LaBrie could be singing anything and get away with it quite frankly! His Glam Metal roots really show with a great falsetto (particularly in 'Under A Glass Moon')and beautiful soft tones on 'Surrounded'.

The guitars move between Thrash Metal palm-muting, crystal-clear Classic Rock, classical acoustic and rhythmic scuffing to match the best Death-Metallers. Indeed it is really in the rhythm that Dream Theater truly progresses. The drumming is immense and stunning (yet not intrusive to the overall sound)and while the songs lack the symphonic quality of Opeth, with almost every song over the 7 minute mark there's plenty of time for the melody and rhythm to play around with each other, as they do. It's hard to put into words just how good this album is without listening to it so I reccommend picking up a copy right now!

Having said this, there is one flaw... On my album anyway, the first track seems to cut out far too abruptly to be the intended ending in my view. Whether this is only on my copy, a universal flaw or something very arty i haven't grasped I don't know!

This is probably one of Dream Theater's best albums. Plenty of differing sounds to get your teeth into, and John Petrucci showing all those "pretend" guitar bands how it should be done. Do yourself a favour and equip your collection with a class album.

Every song is a masterpiece! This band is one of the greatest to ever live. Sheer genius! Even at this stage in their carriers, the musical ability of the band is unrivalled.