Dream Theater
Images and Words

THE REVIEW

Released in 1992, after "When Dream and Day Unite", a jazzier album if you will, but it contained tracks like Ytze Jam or A Fortune In Lies, The Killing Hand (and kept in progress the Change of Seasons).
We are in the post Glam-Speed-Shred Metal era, progressive is reborn partly thanks to Queensryche, and the Majesty, later Dream Theater, reign supreme in this neo-progressive scene. Well, Images and Words is a summa, a great melting pot, a container that houses all the stylistic elements of old-school progressive and the new hard wave. All obviously reworked, filtered, and Theaterized.

It starts with Pull Me Under, a famous track, a flagship song. For those listening to this album for the first time - free from the preconceptions of commercialization, the relatively catchy, the sold-out - the emotion hits already here. The riff made of chorus and tremolo, the keyboard weaving with the guitar and the drums framing it... simply gives you goosebumps. LaBrie's voice is unparalleled (when he could still afford it).
Second track: Another Day, a classic ballad. Well, not so classic! An evocative song, also thanks to the beautiful lyrics by Petrucci. It is a slow, arpeggiated track, yet it doesn't lack a more rock-rooted section. Jay Beckenstein's (Spyro Gyra, not the last one to arrive...) soprano sax takes are remarkable.
Here comes the first peak: Take the Time. My absolute favorite song. Energetic, powerful, funky, melodic, aggressive. In a word, progressive. A sort of programmatic manifesto of what Theater's music is. Simply fantastic. Notice the guitar-keyboard solo in unison. Technique and class meet and give life to an absolutely unrepeatable union.
Fourth track: Surrounded. In my opinion, after Take the Time, the most beautiful track on the album. A genius track. The piano intro takes us back to atmospheres very distant from the genre. But here comes the guitar marking a fantastic 9/8. A powerful riff and incisive rhythm, with that odd time signature you don't expect. This is precisely the aspect that most characterizes Dream Theater's music. The alternation of odd time signatures with 4/4, always serving the music and never an end in itself. Here the lyrics, really well done, are the work of the late Kevin Moore.
The fifth track is another flagship of the DT: Metropolis pt.1 - The Miracle and the Sleeper. The track that will be the basis, at least as a link, to Dance of Eternity. The track is straightforward in the first part, more canonical and simple. Petrucci's lyrics evoke strange landscapes and talk about the three dances of humanity: death, deceit, love, the dance of eternity. This too is a goosebump-inducing track. The prelude to the harder and more progressive part is the splendid solo by Myoung. Afterward, it's all a play of unisons between guitars and keyboards, with a splendid rhythm by Portnoy. Powerful.

Under a Glass Moon. Initial riff that plays on octaves and keyboard harmonization. A more metal and powerful track. I love the solo of this track. It's fantastic, it reminds me a lot of Steve Vai at some points. It's the usual JP who signs the lyrics. He never disappoints, at least on this CD.
Wait for Sleep, is almost a lullaby. Piano and voice. Odd time, 5/8, 3/4, 2/4, alternated. Difficult to follow at first impact. However, it remains beautiful and enjoyable. Sweet. Fundamentally a product of Moore, although LaBrie's interpretation remains one of the most beautiful on the album.
The last major track. Learning to Live. Here you are a bit reminded of Yes or Rush. A track in the classic progressive structure. The keyboard's backdrop work is commendable, never predictable. The rhythms are "naturally" syncopated, never predictable, and always appetizing. From minute 8, the theme of Wait for Sleep is revisited. But here it's faster, pressing, percussive. All the instruments align, and Petrucci launches into a short classic solo. The last song is almost a summary of what has been heard before.

This is a fundamentally unmissable CD. Beautiful from start to finish. I want to emphasize especially the compositional contribution of Kevin Moore. Indeed after Images and Words and Awake, there have been few moments when the band managed to replicate themselves at these levels.

Rating: I don't think there's a need.