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Rating: What was the historical event of 1989? The fall of the Berlin Wall? No! The release of the first album by the legendary Dream Theater! In the same year I was born, five guys from Boston kicked off their dazzling career. They did it with an album that was not yet a product of their maximum expressive capacity, an album that wasn't enough to push them to success but still provided an excellent taste of what they would go on to achieve later.
In this debut album, the influences of classic metal prevail, but there is already a good dose of progressive influences. However, the sound seems quite poor, giving almost the impression that it was poorly recorded. The singer was someone else, Charlie Dominici, whose voice did not yet reach the magnitudes that would come later from James LaBrie. The songs do not yet have the particular structure that those of Images And Words would have, and there is not a single ballad, but the album can be considered decent as a first attempt.
"A Fortune In Lies" we can already admire Dream Theater at work: short structure but good tempo changes, good keyboard accompaniment, and also a nice solo by Petrucci... The first in a long series. "Status Seeker" is a song with lively and sunny tones, notable for the excellent introduction offered by Kevin Moore in a very Van Halen style. A first semi-masterpiece can instead be "The Ytse Jam" an instrumental where the band's technical and virtuoso side immediately emerges; but a masterpiece can also be "The Killing Hand" with its eight minutes and forty seconds alternating powerful guitars, semi-acoustic parts, atmospheric music, and soul influences. It deserves some more attention "Light Fuse And Get Away", a track with fast rhythms that offers a small instrumental section where Kevin Moore shows off a good keyboard solo. More frantic instead is "Afterlife", the most aggressive based on the strong guitar timbre; the instrumental part is also beautiful where we witness a nice solo by Petrucci and a nice guitar-keyboard unison. A glaring missed masterpiece is "The Ones Who Help To Set The Sun": textbook start with keyboards joined to the bass, almost fairy tale or Cinderella cartoon atmosphere but when it kicks in with the guitars... it transforms into a bland, repetitive and not very creative riff. In "Only A Matter Of Time" Kevin Moore is the protagonist: he is the one who perfectly introduces the track but he is also the one who stands out the most throughout it; the best notes are played right here; the ending is SPLENDID with all the instruments playing louder and louder until suddenly vanishing.
Overall, not bad, but the best always comes later, in everything.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Status Seeker (04:14)
Heart sick at the sight of the
Status Seeker
In a sense I'm not beyond reproach
The aspiration to drop a name
When any rose might smell the same
Maybe you'll figure it out someday
'I want to know you now...
You know I've always believed in you.'
Nothing is sacred...
You draw the bottom line
With a dollar sign
Change of opinion...
At the drop of a dime
Graceless intrusion...
Are you sanctified in your judgment of me?
All that I deserve is what you were unable to see
In the garden where the seeds were spilled
I favored the few that stood strong in the sun
As I reached for the profit of my prize
I found I had trampled the forgotten ones.
Nothing is sacred...
You draw the bottom line
With a dollar sign
Change of opinion...
At the drop of a dime
Graceless intrusion...
Are you sanctified in your judgment of me?
All that I deserve is what you were unable to see
You're running in circles
And I'm turning away
You refused to believe
Now I'm turning away
Nothing is sacred...
You draw the bottom line
With a dollar sign
Change of opinion...
At the drop of a dime
Graceless intrusion...
Are you sanctified in your judgment of me?
All that I deserve is what you were unable to see
You're running in circles
And I'm turning away
You refused to believe
Now I'm turning away
04 The Killing Hand (08:38)
An Angel's kiss now fallen
Descending scarlet cuts the sky
Faded names left on the wall
Honor the fighting leave life to die
Remembered is the sacrifice but
No praisal of blood still flowing
Who were the leaders?
What controlled the Killing Hand
That caused this mourning?
Crossing over...
06 Afterlife (05:24)
I touched with one
Who made me run
Away from my own soul...
In this world with its many illusions
We are moving like mice through a maze
And now I find
What's left behind
Has served to make me whole
Full of doubt, deception, and delusion
Seeking purpose to all earthly days
I search within
Beneath a skin
That bears both pleasure and pain
In a world full of constant confusion
I will not be a par to the craze
In the Afterlife
Will dark be bright?
Will cold be warm?
Will the day have no night?
In the Afterlife?
Will the blind have sight?
In the Afterlife
Behind closed eyes
Some comfort lies
In knowing the truth never spoken
Through this world with its hidden conclusion
We'll keep moving like mice through a maze
In the Afterlife
Will dark be bright?
Will cold be warm?
Will the day have no night?
In the Afterlife?
Will the blind have sight?
In the Afterlife
In the Afterlife
Will dark be bright?
Will cold be warm?
Will the day have no night?
In the Afterlife?
Will the blind have sight?
In the Afterlife
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Other reviews
By MetallAro
For a debut album, the word 'experience' does not exist in the vocabulary of these ALIENS!
In 'The Ytse Jam,' every member (except the singer) delivers a stunning solo, showcasing their harmonic and technical beauty.
By weseven
"When Dream And Day Unite" is the debut album of what would become one of the most beloved and discussed bands of all time.
The absence of Dominici for the 5:47 of the jam is a godsend.
