Dream Theater
Awake

THE REVIEW

I begin by saying that the "Dream Theater" are not the perfect band. In fact, I'll go further, there is no perfect band, so this little preamble is for those who think that the "Dream Theater" are the only source of inspiration in this very foggy musical world (speaking of now), but especially I address those of you who spend hours commenting on all the reviews of the "Dream Theater", dispensing judgments as obtuse as they are exhaustive in making everyone understand the very poor musical expertise that envelops them.

Having said that, I hasten to start with the review of this album, which sees the light in 1994, 3 years after the breakthrough of the previous work of the Americans "Images And Words". According to many, this album marks a sharp turn in the musical path previously undertaken by the band, but I limit myself to saying that the choice of a clearer and fresher sound is the only relevant change.

The "awakening" opens with "6:00", the idea of handing the intro over to Portnoy's drums is nice, then the song unfolds with the pressing bass of Myung aided by Mike himself, forming a solid rhythmic base to the "solo" accompaniment (if we can call it that) of a Petrucci in great shape. A fairly pissed off La Brie accompanies the track's melodic line. Moore is a bit subdued (as in several points of the CD). "Caught In A Web" is a great track, nice chorus, and nice solo in the middle in unison between synth and guitar, one of the few in the album, as the group has spoiled us with many. We continue with "Innocence Faded", the first melodic track. The initial guitar of Petrucci is beautiful, then the rest goes into a progressive decline (to stay on theme), with a fairly banal chorus in my opinion. Really uninspired. "A Mind Beside Itself" is the sum of the "Dream Theater thought", instrumental rides of superlative technique ("Erotomania" even if Moore's keyboards are in the background), dramatic ballads with an epic flavor ("Voices"), and soft songs sometimes of fine workmanship like this one ("The Silent Man"), which manage on some occasions to make even the most pessimistic reconsider, those who believe the "Dream" are made only of useless dizzying "frivolities" instrumental. In short, a track among their most successful, truly beautiful. At this point, we come to "The Mirror", which we can easily connect to the following "Lie", tracks blatantly metal in nature, very Metallica in my view, but performed with very good technique and quite appreciable. We proceed with "Lifting Shadows Off A Dream", a track that did not cause much sensation in me, but characterized by a nice singing alternating with Moore's ever-present strings in this album. "Scarred" is an exquisite ballad that somehow connects to "Learning To Live" with an excellent Myung. Petrucci's solo around the seventh minute is grandiose. In conclusion of the work, there is a true gem, as they say last but not least. It is "Space-Dye Vest", dominated by Moore's piano, of truly touching sensitivity, and I emphasize TOUCHING. The intro is wrapped in immense drama rendered such by the cold notes of the piano that at first impact seem almost alien to the context. Excellent La Brie, reaches levels never attained by him, not even in the future.

I conclude by saying that I reviewed this album because Dream Theater has recently entered my musical culture, but they did it with an overwhelming impact, and because I reviewed this CD on the day I bought it, and this probably means something.