UMUR "Awake" is the third full-length studio album by US progressive metal act Dream Theater. The album was released through East West Records in October 1994. There have been no lineup changes since "Images and Words" (July 1992) but keyboardist Kevin Moore annouched during the mixing process of the album, that he would depart. Moore therefore didn´t tour in support of "Awake", although his keyboard style is an integral part of the sound of the album. Dream Theater hired Derek Sherinian as a touring musician to replace Moore on the tour supporting "Awake" but it took a couple of months before he was announced the official permanent replacement on the keyboard position.

Stylistically "Awake" is quite different to "Images and Words", which is a bit surprising since the predecessor was such a huge artistic and commercial success, but then again Dream Theater already this early on in their career showed that they were not content to release the same album twice and that they were willing to experiment a lot between album releases. It was a gamble considering that they were still not an established act at this point, but it paid off and "Awake" was a big success for them (although the label wasn´t satisfied), although "Images and Words" is still their best-selling release.

While "Images and Words" often featured a light and uplifting mood (although combined with both heaviness and melancholic atmospheres), "Awake" is the darker and heavier brother. The lyrics are darker, James LaBrie´s vocals are more aggressive (although he still sings melodic and hits the high notes when that is needed), the guitars are downtuned (or maybe it´s just a 7-string guitar used), and the rhythm section play some heavy parts too. But while "Awake" can be pretty dark and heavy, the album also features loads of melodic sensibilities and there are as many heavy riffs and rhythms as there are melodic AOR/hard rock influences. The complexity of the compositions and the virtuosic playing are in place too, and "Awake" is a both varied and intriguing release. Heavy tracks like "6:00" and "Lie" sets side by side with melodic inclined tracks like "Lifting Shadows Off a Dream" and "Innocence Faded". "Awake" closes with the atmospheric and melancholic Kevin Moore composition "Space-Dye Vest". A track which points in the direction Moore would take with his solo projects (Chroma Key and OSI) after he left Dream Theater.

Featuring 11 tracks and a total playing time of 75:00 minutes, "Awake" is a long album, but it´s one of the rare cases where a long running time is warranted. The tracks develop naturally and they need to be as long as they are. At no point during the album´s running time do I feel like the album is too long. Everything on the album is just where it´s supposed to be. Personally I don´t have a preference for softer rock/ballad type tracks like "The Silent Man" or "Innocence Faded", but I can´t argue that they don´t serve a function on the tracklist or that they aren´t quality material. The contrast of hearing a track like "Innocence Faded" seque into an increadibly technical instrumental track like "Erotomania" is one of the great strengths of Dream Theater. They master everything they do with what feels like ease.

"Awake" features a heavy, detailed, and powerful sounding production, which suits the new heavier direction of the band´s material. The drums feature a more organic tone than they did on "Images and Words" and that´s a good choice. Moore experiments a little more with his keyboard sounds here than he did on the predecessor and it makes that part of the sound more fresh and modern. It´s interesting to look back at "Awake" in retrospect, because I remember when it was released and the excitement it brought to my ears back then, but it´s aged really well too. It´s a pretty timeless release because of the sound production values and in the terms of Dream Theater´s discography it´s a unique album. It doesn´t sound like the two albums that came before it, and it certainly doesn´t sound like anything Dream Theater have released since. A one of a kind type of release and another seminal progressive metal release from the early- to mid-90s. A 5 star (100%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Images and Words" is the second full-length studio album by US progressive metal act Dream Theater. The album was released through ATCO Records in July 1992. It´s the successor to "When Dream and Day Unite" from 1989 and there´s been one lineup change since the predecessor as lead vocalist Charlie Dominici has been replaced by Canadian singer James LaBrie. Dominici and Dream Theater parted ways in mutual understanding, and the remaining band members auditioned a couple of hundred vocalists before finding and hiring LaBrie.

While "When Dream and Day Unite" got Dream Theater noticed it wasn´t the grand entrance to the progressive rock/metal scene that Dream Theater had hoped for, but with a new lead vocalist on board, and a couple of years to hone their skills and songwriting craft, they hit the bullseye with "Images and Words". The mid-to late 80s produced progressive metal artists like Queensrÿche, Fates Warning, Crimson Glory, and Watchtower, which are all artists Dream Theater are arguably influenced by, but Dream Theater managed to perfect and develop upon the sound of the 80s progressive metal acts and take progressive metal into the 90s and they did that with the release of "Images and Words".

One of the things which made Dream Theater different from their 80s influences, was a permament keyboardist in the lineup (most of them to varying extents used keyboards in their music but didn´t have a permanent keyboardist in the lineup). In that respect they were more influenced by 70s progressive rock artists than the above mentioned 80s progressive metal artists. A sort of pairing of the complexity and virtuosic ideals of the 70s (and omnipresent use of keyboards) and the hard rocking and heavy metal oriented 80s. Dream Theater also helped change the perspective that most heavy metal acts through the 80s were predominantly focused on the lead vocalist or the lead guitarist. In Dream Theater all members were virtuosos and the focus are therefore on all members of the band.

"Images and Words" was originally intented to be a double album release, but ATCO Records refused Dream Theater´s ideas for a double album, and that for example meant that their over 20 minutes long epic "A Change of Seasons" was left off the tracklist. It was a track they had performed live in the previous years, but since they were only allowed to release a single album and not a double album, it had to be left off.

Dream Theater still manange to include a lot of different music styles and influenced into the 8 tracks featured on the 57:07 minutes long album. Opening track "Pull Me Under", which is one of the heaviest and less complex tracks on the album, starts the album in great style and immediately graps the listener and introduce the varied sound of Dream Theater. The heavy riffs and rhythms, the strong melodies, the epic atmospheres, the time-signature changes, the mainstream/AOR pop/rock oriented choruses, and the virtuosic playing and singing. "Pull Me Under" is followed by the ballad track "Another Day", which is a very mainstream pop/rock oriented track, featuring a soaring soprano saxophone melody (courtesy of session musician Jay Beckenstein). It´s by far the most accessible and technically simple track on the album. "Take the Time" follows and it´s quite the diverse musical experience, with both a funky opening, heavier riffs and rhythms as well as a melodic pop/rock chorus, and some pretty impressive technical guitar/keyboard playing.

"Surrounded" is up next, and it´s another softer track. But it´s more a power ballad than a ballad, and it´s not as simple or easily digested as "Another Day". It´s actually something as rare as a progressive power ballad. It´s quite the brilliant song. It´s followed by the most complex and technical track of the album in "Metropolis, Part I: The Miracle and the Sleeper". Another brilliant and complex composition, which upon release turned a few heads and helped convince people of Dream Theater´s virtuosic qualities. "Under a Glass Moon" is a track I´ve always thought of as being in the same vein as "Pull Me Under" and "Take the Time". A heavy track but with an uplifting mood and some great technical playing. Guitarist John Petrucci´s guitar solo on this particular track is legendary. The piano/keyoard and vocal ballad "Wait for Sleep" works as an introduction track to the closing 11:30 minutes long epic closing track "Learning to Live". Another brilliant and well composed track showing both the melodic, the atmospheric, the heavy, and the virtuosic sides of Dream Theater.

Featuring a clear, detailed, and powerful sounding production job (the drums feature a sometimes sterile and artificial sound, but it suits the music), brilliant musicianship, and a varied, adventurous, and powerful songwriting style, "Images and Words" is not only a high quality release in itself...it´s also a seminal progressive metal album and a true game changer in the genre. A 5 star (100%) rating is deserved.

martindavey87 Released in 2022 as part of the ‘Lost Not Forgotten Archives’ series, ‘Live At Wacken (2015)’ sees Dream Theater make a stop on their 30th Anniversary tour at the world-famous German heavy metal festival.

With only an hour to spare, the band make a brief run through a number of their albums, with a set list that incorporates all their major elements, both heavy and melodic (‘As I Am’, ‘Panic Attack’, ‘The Spirit Carries On’), and full-on progressive (‘Metropolis Pt. 1’). No easy task, given the wealth of their back-catalogue, as well as the duration of most of their songs.

As expected, the musicianship is superb, with the band on top form and really smashing the instrumental side of things. Sadly, as always, vocalist James LaBrie is tough to listen to at times, especially on the older material. He’s struggling, but he tries anyway. Bless him.

Overall, ‘Live At Wacken’ is a decent enough live album. It’s not essential by any stretch, but die-hard collectors will certainly enjoy owning it and giving it a spin or two.

martindavey87 ‘Live At Madison Square Garden (2010)’, recorded July 12th 2010 at the “world’s most famous arena”, sees Dream Theater playing to their hometown crowd as the opening act for metal legends Iron Maiden. The fact that Dream Theater are a headline band themselves shows how much of a big gig this was for them, and so I can totally understand why they’d want to release this under their line of “Lost Not Forgotten” series.

Consisting of six tracks and clocking in at only 50 minutes, this is a relatively short affair as far as Dream Theater live albums go. The set list caters to the heavier side of their fanbase, which would make sense considering who they were opening for, although surely Maiden fans wouldn’t have cared that much. I’m sure most of them probably like Dream Theater anyway.

As for the recording itself… it’s okay, I guess. The sound is fine, the playing is flawless, although LaBrie’s vocals, as always, are a little strained live. Drummer Mike Portnoy randomly speaks a number of times mid-song, which shows us his enthusiasm and excitement, but probably irritated the hell out of his bandmates. Two months after this concert happened, he would do the unthinkable by handing in his notice and departing the band he helped form.

Overall, ‘Live At Madison Square Garden’ fits the bill perfectly for this line of releases. It’s a nice gem for collectors to own, and highlights a special moment in the bands history, but ultimately, after a couple of listens, it doesn’t really have that much replay value. OCD completionists, like me, will snap this up, regardless.

martindavey87 Whenever a band releases a self-titled album, there’s always that feeling that this is their definitive piece of work, something that so truly encapsulates their sound and legacy that no mere title will do. Simply put, this is supposed to be THE Dream Theater album.

And yet, it’s just that. Another Dream Theater album.

The progressive metal legends have been one of my all-time favourite bands since the early 2000’s, and each of their previous twelve studio albums or EP’s have all garnered a four or five-star rating. But sadly, the band have finally put out an album that doesn’t quite match up.

Why? I don’t know… the magic just isn’t there. Whilst previous album ‘A Dramatic Turn of Events’ saw the band continue onwards after the departure of original drummer Mike Portnoy, this outing is starting to show that perhaps without Portnoy’s drive and vision, the band really are on autopilot.

All the usual traits are here. Absolutely fantastic musicianship, with incredible chemistry between guitarist John Petrucci and keyboardist Jordan Rudess, and James LaBrie’s voice still sounds great despite wear-and-tear. But the songs, ugh, they’re not awful, but damn, these took a lot longer to get into than previous output. ‘The Looking Glass’ and ‘Along For the Ride’ are pretty decent, and the usual “epic track” of the album, ‘Illumination Theory’ is pretty good, but nowhere near holds up to classics like ‘A Change of Seasons’, ‘Octavarium’ and ‘The Count of Tuscany’.

Overall, ‘Dream Theater’ isn’t a bad album, it’s just, kind of there. When I can be bothered to listen to it, it’s alright, and has its moments, but mostly, I just find that I can’t really be bothered to actually listen to it.

Warthur This came hot on the heels on the Live At Luna Park live set, which might prompt you to wonder whether Dream Theater were starting to flood the market a little with these epic-length live releases. Ever since Live Scenes From New York ended up as legendary as it was, triple album-length live workouts have been part of Dream Theater's schtick, but I'm unpersuaded.

If you're here for the visuals, then god this is a lot of Dream Theater to sit there and watch for nearly 3 hours; probably too much. This got an audio-only release on CD as well as a DVD release, at least, though the audio does reveal some issues with the mix - LaBrie's vocals are outright murky at some point, and some of the higher cymbal sounds end up coming across weird. The audience are also a little prominent in the mix - some crowd noise is nice on live albums, of course, but here it's a little more intrusive than usual.

Sure, some imperfections come with the territory, that's part of the appeal of live albums usually, but on the technical front past live releases from the band have avoided these issues. It really comes across as something knocked out and released in a hurry - particularly given how close this release was to the Luna Park one - which only contributes to the impression of Dream Theater needlessly flooding the market. Maybe I could give it more of a chance if these nagging technical issues didn't keep taking me out of it - there's nothing wrong with the performance here, if anything the band are at the top of their game - but in this case, their live recording setup wasn't keeping pace with them.

Warthur Though released in late 2013, a few months after they put out their self-titled album, Dream Theater's Live At Luna Park actually captures a 2012 residency at the titular venue hailing from the Dramatic Turn of Events tour - hence the daredevil unicyclist from that cover appearing here.

That album was, of course, largely an exercise in reassuring listeners that Dream Theater could still be Dream Theater without Mike Portnoy at the drum stool, though it managed to pull through on the strength of its material. Here, the band seem to be doing the same thing from the perspective of live albums - demonstrating to fans that we needn't worry, new boy Mike Mangini can drum for absurd amounts of time just like Mike Portnoy could. The three-CD live album had become something of a calling card for Dream Theater - though by this point in their career they tended to be coupled to DVDs - and so this seems to have been an exercise in demonstrating that the adjusted lineup could still do this.

It's not bad, on the whole, but it doesn't feel compelling necessary either. Unless you are a true zealot, there's a point where you've kind of got enough live Dream Theater, and though the focus here on material from A Dramatic Turn of Events at least means there's fresh stuff here, there's more that could have been done to shake up the set list. There's a bizarre lack of material from Black Clouds and Silver Linings, despite that they hadn't done any of their 3CD live albums since the Systematic Chaos tour, so that's an entire well of material left unaccountably untapped. Chunks of this material has already had good airings on live albums, and the strong focus on material from Images and Words and Awake makes the set list feel lop-sided - Octavarium, Six Degrees, and Metropolis also get a look-in, but there's several albums which just get overlooked entirely.

To an extent, of course, that's a testament to the strength of Dream Theater's body of work - of course you can come up with a 3 hour-plus setlist only working from a fraction of their back catalogue, they've got an embarrassment of riches to choose from! At the same time, it does make the setlist feel a bit off, and between this and them sticking fairly closely to the studio renditions for the most part it just makes the whole thing seem inessential compared to prior live releases. It comes across as Dream Theater putting out these super-long live albums because they feel an obligation to, rather than (as with Live Scenes From New York) it felt like the natural and artistically appropriate choice. If my feeling on that is correct, that's an issue; if it's not, it's still a problem, because it means the album's failed to convince me on that front.

Either way, this captures a solid performance so I can't rate it down too much, it just doesn't quite have the magic of Scenes From New York.

Warthur Dream Theater might have thought that their triple live album schtick was starting to wear thin after Live Scenes, Budokan, and Score, because for Chaos In Motion the triple CD is only actually available with the DVD set (though most of the live album - bar an intro track and a keyboard improvisation - is available streaming). I don't think they need to have worried; this live sampling of the Systematic Chaos tour absolutely cooks.

Naturally, Systematic Chaos itself is well-represented, with all but two of its songs represented (those being Repentance and Prophets of War, the latter of which I considered one of the weaker songs on that album). In the Presence of Enemies is presented as one single 26 minute song, rather than split into two halves on the album, which is interesting in itself. As far as dipping into the band's past goes, honourable mention has to go to the extended version of Surrounded from Images and Words, extending it from a five and a half minute piece to a fifteen minute workout which ends up being a medley incorporating a good chunk of Marillion's Sugar Mice, which is a fantastic interpretation of what is already an incredible song.

It's surprising to find that Dream Theater are still excelling to this level on these triple live releases at a point when you would have thought that these would start getting redundant, but I genuinely think Chaos In Motion is an overlooked and undervalued part of their discography and it's well worth a revisit... just, lads, consider a standalone CD reissue, will ya?