Warthur I can't blame Dream Theater for taking their time about crafting a followup for Images and Words - after all, that album was such a huge hit they must have felt a huge pressure to produce an album worthy of that illustrious predecessor. I'm not sure they succeeded. Though I was initially impressed by Awake, over time I feel that it hasn't stood up to the extent that Images and Words has.

I find James LaBrie's vocals rather soulless - he's technically very proficient, but perhaps a little *too* polished and I don't detect much in the way of personality or emotion in the delivery. And on the whole, that's how I feel about the rest of the performances too; technically they're highly accomplished, but there's a plastic, too-perfect sheen to the album which means that once all the flashy prog showboating is done I'm left curiously unmoved, despite the fact that as I understand it a lot of the songs deal (directly or indirectly) with things which meant a great deal to the band. When the guys do make an effort to get emotive, they often overshoot and end up being overly cheesy and saccharine. I may be Awake, but I'm not feeling anything.

AtomicCrimsonRush My first introduction to this incredible band began right here.

A friend said you have to hear this and I had no idea what to expect. When I heard that choppy off sync riff of 6:00 I was hooked immediately; "6:00 on a Christmas morning, 6:00 on a Christmas morning". The amazing dexterity of the group, the skills of Petrucci, Portnoy and LaBrie are unsurpassed. I knew this was a super group and of course they are still churning out one excellent album after another. Back in 1994 Awake was flooring the critics, they were hailing Dream Theater as master musicians, and they have improved since then. Rudess replacing Moore was one way, although Moore is an accomplished keyboardist on this album. Myung is a fantastic bassist and shines on Awake. Best songs are 6:00 which begins with Portnoy's drums and a crunching memorable riff. I love the chorus with LaBrie powering out an amazing performance; "Melody walks through the door and Memory flies out the window, nobody knows what they want til they finally let it all go".

Caught in a Web is truly a masterful track that sounds awesome here. LaBrie is fantastic on vocals, his high register is faultless. Moore is a virtuoso on this too, and since I have heard Rudess on this and both sound amazing in the solo section.

Erotomania is an instrumental that is tight, taut and terrific. Lots of fast paced lead work makes this one of the great showpieces of the album.

Voices is one of the all time greatest DT tracks with a strange time sig and massive lead break. It became a fan favourite live for good reason. LaBrie is powerful and retains a complex melody blending perfectly with the instruments.

The Mirror is another of the highlights with monster riffing guitars and keyboards to accompany. This one should have been played live more often, but it is great to return to on this album.

Lifting Shadows Off a Dream features very melodic verses and once again Moore is able to fly into a wonderful keyboard solo.

Scarred is awesome due to Myung's contribution along with Portnoy. They are an indelible rhythm machine. It builds into a full blown metal passage, and detours into many time sig changes.

Space-Dye Vest is a classic DT song and the last time Moore would play on an album before being replaced. There is a melancholy feel as though saying farewell to a friend. The spacey atmospherics are wondrous and it is a perfect way to end an excellent prog metal album.

So overall I was blown away by Awake and of course ended up getting hold of everything the band would produce. I can comfortably award this 4 stars as it is one of the best DT albums and one of the best of 1994.

The Angry Scotsman My third favorite DT album

6:00. Starts with some AWESOME Portnoy drumming. Then some sweet keyboard riffing. There is a lot of heaviness in this song, complemented with great keyboard work. A technical song from all musicians involved this is one great piece of prog metal. Perfect vocals to boot, and some great guitar solos! Runs the gambit of prog-metal in this song and does it all well.

Caught in a Web. Very interesting and cool intro. The keyboard on this album can not be over hyped! Not that Rudess is a slouch of course, but this song has great stuff. This song has all that you'd want.

Innocence Faded. Ew is the only way to describe the intro. So generic and happy! But really, very mediocre intro...this is overall a slower, more melodic, more synth driven song. But don't worry, that technical guitar work is in there, wonderfully intertwined with the keyboard. In the middle section LaBrie's vocals go to that place that I hate oh so much. Pretty good song though! Nice change up.

Erotomania. Crazy synth intro! An instrumental song it is well constructed, and of course as an instrumental there is plenty of showing off by each of the musicians. But hey, I would if I was as good as them! Melodic solos, shred solos, technicality, you'll hear everything from Petrucci here. I almost never use such specific times, but 1:21 to 1:30 as well as 4:35 to 5:30 are my favorite parts. The latter being a shred fest that sounds like something Jason Becker! Great drumming as well. Awesome song.

Voices. Very good intro, (again!). Gives way to a pretty synth section. However, there is an ominous guitar tone growing in the background...sadly it gives way to something bad. Upcoming is one of those famous DT sections filled with enough cheese to make a pizza. There is some good music for a while but AHH! LaBrie's vocals! The soothing section is welcome, song picks up though and ends going out well.

The Silent Man. Acoustic song, very melodic and so wonderful. Thankfully the vocals are pretty fitting. Mellow song. Very nice.

The Mirror. WOO! That starts off heavy. A nice heavy, staccato riff over some sweet drumming and haunting synth. This continues as the song just keeps picking up, eventually giving way to shred and thrash! Love it! Lots of deep LaBries vocals, that are really just awesome. All the heaviness gives way to a more melodic rest of the song. Good solos, and I love the keyboard over the last part.

Lie. Heavy, complex and cool riffing. Backed up, as with the rest of the album, by chilling keyboard with some awesome songs. Some of LaBrie's best work on the album. One of the best solos on the album in later, middle half of this song!

Lifting Shadows Off a Dream. A ballad, starts off with great bass, guitar, and keyboard work, with some simple, yet effective drumming under it all. Very powerful song, with good dynamic shifts and great work from every member.

Scarred. How can you not love that jazzy intro!? I kind of hate to keep repeating, but the contributions from all band members are superb. Well built song that really feels like it moves.

Space-Dye Vest. A pretty synth driven piece, it gives me a very space rock feel to it. Dark and heavy at times, always with a chilling keyboard riff playing, there are those audio clips that seem to creep into DT songs to often. Real killer in my book. It picks up later with some simple, heavy guitar playing, as the song continues to be pushed by the keys. Ends on a great note.

Wow. What an album. Some of Dream Theater's finest work. Fresh, has metal, has prog, great composition and musical skills saturate the album. Also LaBrie's vocals, (NEVER a strong point with me) are overall pretty good. There are some times when I went to rip my ears off, but that's what we get with LaBrie. I keep talking about the great musicianship, because besides that, it's a shame Moore left after this album. His playing was second to none on this album. Overall, superb album with all the DT classics, including some bad vocals, audio clips, and moments that drag. This album is probably a bit too long. However, it is a great work.

Four Stars

Stooge After witnessing Dream Theater live for the first time in 2002, I had to get my hands on one of their albums as soon as possible. Not knowing much about the band, I purchased the cheapest album at the store. Thankfully, that album happened to be “Awake”, the gem of Dream Theater’s discography.

One of the more interesting things about this album is that it has more of a dark atmosphere than what is on most Dream Theater releases. With tracks such as “Space-Dye Vest” and “Voices”, we have Dream Theater bordering on some doomy/gothic territory. At the same time, we have the band we are accustomed to providing us with well-crafted and progressive instrumental sections. Much like their previous album, compositions are kept to a reasonable length, with only “Scarred” eclipsing the 10-minute mark.

Awake also has singer James Labrie in fine form. His vocals maintain the power they had on Images and Words, but he adds a level of grittiness to his vocals that weren’t there previously. His performances on “Innocence Faded”, “Voices”, and “Lifting Shadows Off A Dream” are among career highlights. Unfortunately, when touring for this album, Labrie suffered a vocal cord injury that would affect his singing for quite some time.

This album also ushers in a newfound heaviness for the band, which is no doubt aided at times through John Petrucci’s introduction of the seven-string guitar into Dream Theater’s sound. While the seven-string is used only on select tracks, the majority of the tracks (“6:00”, “Lie”, and “The Mirror” among them) should please metal heads with respect to their heaviness. Fans of diversity will appreciate the inclusion of tracks such as “The Silent Man” and “Space-Dye Vest” to hear the band tackle more stripped-down material that is just as strong as their more “acrobatic” material.

I’ve heard all the Dream Theater albums since my discovery of Awake, and I have yet to hear the band sound as good in the studio. Awake is fully deserving of the maximum rating of five stars!!

Time Signature A mind besides itself...

Genre: progressive metal

"Awake" is a great progressive metal album, and I think, it contains some of Dream Theater's best songs. It is also a much heavier album than "When Dream and Day Unite" and "Images and Words".

Musically, it continues where "Images and Words" left off, although in a slightly more heavy direction, as mentioned above, with long and complex and genre-transgressing songs and, of course, a complete disregard of the conventions of popular music.

My favorite tracks on this album are the opener "6:00", "Caught in a Web", "The Mirror" (which was probably the "hit" of the album", and "Erotomania" all of which blend technicality and catchy melody.

This is another pivotal progressive metal album that should be included in any progressive metal collection.

Stephen Two years after a successful release, "Images And Words", Dream Theater went on to release their third studio album, "Awake", which is the last album with keyboardist Kevin Moore and shown a slight departure from their prior album to a more metal side. Some cited this as their best release, but I guess the most obvious thing about this album is this is quite difficult to digest and probably needs more than couple of spins to understand the essence of the entire album.

"6.00" made a bumpy start but still a good song and Petrucci's guitar fill steals the show. "Caught In A Web", a classic and their best pick here, completely featured a furious vocal, pounding drum, heavy keyboards, low-growly guitar groove, and a memorable chorus. "Innocence Faded" took the pattern from "Images" where the beautiful melody and chorus are the highlights and LaBrie's relaxing voice floated nicely above a clean guitar strum. The three-part suite of "A Mind Beside Itself" is interesting to listen, from the good instrumental passage of "Erotomania", the dark ambience of "Voices", and the soothing acoustical-piece of "The Silent Man".

Onto the second part of the album, the single "Lie", got a sharp thrashy edge and put Petrucci on the spotlight again with his magnifying shred. "Lifting Shadows" is a moody keyboard-driven ballad and could be a sequel to "Surrounded", a lovely piece. "Space Dye Vest" is an atmospheric Pink Floyd-ish track and a very good one especially if you like a psychedelic-style rock.

"Awake" required me more times to appreciate compared to "Images". Musically, this is definitely darker and heavier, but based on the songs' composition, I think "Images" is still superior, but "Awake" opens the door to a more metal experimentation and still among Dream Theater's strongest albums to date.

Conor Fynes 'Awake' - Dream Theater (5/10)

No matter how much I've listened to this album, I've never really been able to appreciate it all that much. Yes, there are some great moments in it, and 'Space-Dye Vest' is one of the best progressive ballads ever written, but the fact remains that much of the album is half-baked, and a steep dive from the awesome music found in 'When Dream And Day Unite' and 'Images And Words.'

That's not to say that this is a completely bad album. It's alright, but alot of the music on it is subpar. It really doesn't sound like a Dream Theater album. Songs like 'Lie' are just heavy, noisy messes and don't deserve too much listening time. There are only 3 or 4 songs on this album I really like... '6:00' for example is a very funky sounding track, and while it's not gold, it's still very enjoyable to listen to.

The true power of this album lies in 'Space-Dye Vest.' It's certainly one of the greatest songs Dream Theater ever made, simply because theres no pretension in it. It's an emotionally based song, and theres no flaunting of musical virtuosity in it. It makes me sad that Kevin Moore is no longer in Dream Theater. There would have been alot more amazing songs like that in Dream Theater's repetoire if he had stayed.

In conclusion, not a great album, and alot of it is very disposable, but it has just enough worthy points in it to be worth checking out.

Phonebook Eater Dream Theater’s third album, after the badly seen debut “When Day And Dream Unite”, and the masterpiece “Images And Words”, seems to go further the way that the second album opened: indeed, “Awake” is another wonderful, enigmatic masterpiece, much more complex and dark than I&W.

Musically speaking, it is a little different than the previous album: it is more progressive in many ways, starting from the structure: eleven songs, but very well distributed, since two songs are ten minutes long. Also the technical virtuosity is much more highlighted; I&W was more concentrated on the melodies than the arrangements, solos, and musical flamboyance.

“6.00 A.M.” starts the album. Boy, this song rocks. Great drum intro by Portnoy, the best Progressive Metal drummer ever, very good verse, excellent chorus, brilliant solos, beautiful bridge, where everything is calmer, great comeback, where Petrucci uses the wah wah guitar pedal, while playing the theme. Great song.

“Caught In A Web” is another awesome tune. Very catchy verse, great musicianship by all artists, an even better chorus, many awesome moments in this song, certainly a DT classic.

“Innocence Faded” is the least good song of the album. It is a semi ballad, with a weak chorus, but some moments are enjoyable. Now, the trilogy, the center of the album: A mind Beside Itself.

“Erotomania” is an awesome, mind blowing, and extremely technical instrumental song, which takes , in 6 minutes, many shapes, and has many time changes. Although it doesn’t quite reach the level as “The Dance Of Eternity”, DT’s best instrumental song ever, from the “Scenes From A Memory” album, it is still an awesome song.

“Voices” is one of the two ten minute songs of the album. Many memorable moments, mainly it is quite a mysterious song, or at least the melodies themselves are mysterious, but the arrangements make them more desperate. The chorus is nice, but all the rest is what really makes the song. I can’t say I love Labrie’s work in this song, frankly.

“The Silent Man” is one the band’s best ballads. Beautiful melody, played only with an acoustic guitar. The chorus is one of the most beautiful choruses DT has written, In which even Portnoy gives a nice contribute with his backing vocals. Wonderful.

“The Mirror” harshly ends the trilogy, with a heavy, but exquisite riff played with one note. This is another favorite DT song. Heavy, a little mysterious, great guitars, keyboards. The chorus is also great. Absolutely fantastic.

“Lie” for some reason I didn’t like for a while. I now love it. A really cool verse, a great chorus. The guitar, like in “Caught In A Web” and “The Mirror” are very heavy, but amazing. Around four minutes is my favorite, where band gets more technical than ever. A mind blowing part indeed. Fabulous song, even though I needed some listens to acquire the taste of it.

“Lifting Shadows Off A Dream”, is, somehow, the song that people consider the worst of the album. I think it’s one of the best. Very nostalgic and mysterious melody, beautiful verse, haunting chorus, great arrangements. A very emotional song, if you ask me.

“Scarred” is the other ten minute song, even better than “Voices”; it is in fact, in my opinion, better structured. Psych like beginning, but then it gets more “wild”. A complex song, one of the best of DT generally speaking. I love it.

“Space Dye Vest” is another mysterious and melancholic ballad, but there are no cheerful moments here. Indeed, a very grim piece, but still beautiful. I bet it doesn’t get as much credit as it should, since it closes one of the greatest prog metal albums ever.

“Awake” leaves me speechless every time I listen to it: so beautiful, complex, and a little tormented. 5 stars.

Negoba Simply My Favorite DT Album

While I had listened with keen interest to Dream Theater during the Images and Words period, it was not until joining a band of Dream Theater maniacs that I became immersed in their sound. Awake was released soon thereafter, and some of my greatest memories of being in a band are connected to that album. Our whole group took a several hour road trip to Chicago to catch DT on this tour. It was a great show, with Metropolis as a great climax. But the entire Mirror Besides Itself was also played. (I was lucky enough to see a recent tour which included this as well.) All that is just to say I'm a little biased.

Awake, of course, is the album after the breakthrough. The band had some money in their pockets and the pressure of not falling back into obscurity. Luckily for all of us, they chose to cater to their deeper fan base rather than make a popularity grab. Awake is heavier, more chops-heavy, and more complex overall than Images and Words. There are less pop / glam elements, which is the main reason I prefer this album to the predecessor.

Awake also still has Kevin Moore, the best songwriter to have ever been in the band. Moore is nowhere near the speed demon that current keymeister Jordan Rudess is, but his attraction to moody textures adds a layer to the music that the band never really has regained. Moore's parting treat is "Space Dye Vest," one of the most melodic and compelling DT songs. To be certain, he's no slouch on chops, and the interplay between Moore and Petrucci is still very good.

Petrucci is very good on this album as well. Though his sound is very grounded in the shredder movement of the late-80's and early 90's (most notably Steve Vai), he integrates the chops into a band context better than anyone had before. His unison bend opening to the solo on "Erotomania" is great, as is the wah solo on "Voices." Of course, his chops are fiery and precise, perfectly shown in the solo section of "Scarred," but it is his riffing on Awake that really makes the album. The added heaviness is what fans either love or hate, and I for one love it.

Drummer Mike Portnoy already was on the way up when this album came out, but after this one, he was firmly established as the new leader of metal drumming. I remember our drummer watching aghast and later remarking "That dude can COUNT." I had never heard a drummer so seamlessly change time signature and shift the accents so perfectly. Portnoy of course has gone on to be the definition of prog metal drumming.

James Labrie is what he is. He's a good glam metal vocalist without anything especially distinctive about his tone. The simple fact that he still keeps up with the others musically was probably his biggest qualification. His pipes are still in full form here, and a vocal chord problem would set him back after this tour. Labrie's voice was always the biggest obstacle for me to get over listening to this band, but as this style has become the standard for a certain subset of power metal, I'm used to it now.

There are no weak songs on this album, though as has been noted it's a little long. The suite of "Erotomania," "Voices," and "The Silent Man" is a great centerpiece, but "Caught in a Web," "Lie," and "Space Dye Vest" are equally as great.

Bottom Line: Dream Theater at their best.

Dellinger I rate this album mainly on the strength of "The Mirror" and "Space Dye Vest", which for me are the best ones in it, and for me this album is worth having just because of this two songs. The Mirror is mainly a heavy metal song, but what a metal song it is, with great heavy guitar riffs and dark moods... and within the song it incorporates a little bit of the theme that is to be found within the other great track. Space Dye Vest has to be the most emotive song Dream Theater has created, and perhaps their best ballad as well, very mellodic and beautiful, it was the last great gem from Kevin Moore before he left the band. Another song I have come to like very much is "Lifting Shadows off a Dream", a very soft and beautiful ballad. The rest of the album is good also, including more metal moments, ballad moments, and proggy moments... but in the end none of them move me as much as these songs. I find 3.5 stars to be a very fair rating for this album.

Kassimatis Dream Theater's "Awake" is mysterious, dark, and heavy. It is less energetic and more focused than "Images and Words", even if the melodies are slightly less memorable. Perhaps this is why it is less popular. But it is no doubt musically superior to the previous album. The whole album is brilliant to me, both lyrically and musically. Some highlights include James' incredible performance (particularly in 'Voices', 'Lifting shadows off a dream', 'The Mirror' and 'Scarred') and the instrumental sections (such as in 'Voices', 'Erotomania' and 'Innocence Faded'). 'Space-dye vest' is a beautiful lament. The issues explored are deep and profound, I enjoy the lyrics in particular to "Innocence Faded" and "Scarred".

Favourite tracks: 'The Mirror' and 'Scarred'

This is art!

5.0 stars

SouthSideoftheSky Innocence faded rapidly

Third studio album and already running out of steam! In my opinion, Dream Theater never again came even remotely close to making such a brilliant album as Images And Words and Awake already sounds much less interesting to these ears. Having that said, there are indeed some great songs on this album too. For some reason I have never been able to enjoy the album opener 6:00, however. Maybe it is the spoken word samples that annoy me. My favourites here being Caught In A Web and Innocence Faded, particularly the former. The organ-heavy instrumental Erotomania is also very good with its Yngwie Malmsteen-like Neo-Classical guitar extravaganza towards the end, but I can’t help feel that the track is a bit too long for its own good and the main riff is not strong enough to be repeated as many times as it is. This leads straight into Voices, which even if a good song feels distinctively subpar in comparison with the Images And Words album, and the same goes for Awake as a whole. The nice acoustic ballad The Silent Man offers a chance to catch your breath, but it is a totally unremarkable and ordinary song. These three songs (Erotomania, Voices and The Silent Man) supposedly make up a suite titled A Mind Beside Itself, but the three parts sound very much like wholly independent songs to me.

The Mirror picks things up again with a Metallica-like riff and continues with Lie that shares some common themes, but again I feel like I’m hearing more of the same. The riffs and melodies fail to grip me and at this point I’m losing interest rapidly. Lifting Shadows Off A Dream sounds very much like a U2 song apart from the middle section. Scarred is the album’s longest track. It has some decent parts, but overall I find it overlong and a bit dull. Space-Dye Vest, which is based on a rather simplistic piano line, concludes the album.

A year later saw the release of the A Change Of Seasons EP, and it has always been my firm opinion that Awake could have been an extremely much better album had they replaced at least half of its songs with the great 20 minute plus Change Of Seasons track! That would have made a good album, but even then far behind Images And Words.

As it stands however, Awake is simply not among Dream Theater’s better albums and it is a very disappointing follow-up to Images And Words.

jampa17 Well... I really have this one album on a special place 'cause it was my first view of the band and I fell in love in first sight really. It's wierd, but back then I was really a dummy about music and this was a shock for me. How a band could be so good? So tight and complex, keeping sense on each song...? I heard 6:00 and I was insane, I'm a keyboard player so, for me to hear the quality of sound and performance of Kevin Moore was unbelievable. Then I didn't know that it wasn't his best album... that was insane.

The voice of Labrie at it’s best... maybe until the Black Clouds & Silver Linnings album. Everything sounds simply great. Portnoy drums have never sounded like in this album, Petrucci is accurate and acrobatic as always, Myung takes a different approach, less moody and sad and more basic and his contribution in this album is vital to the sound and Kevin More was just excellent by the developing of great soundscapes and layering more than acrobatic solos and show off. This was the last album of Moore in the band and for many of their fans, the shadow that his compositions have thrown over the rest of their catalogue is impressive. Even Jordan Rudess has problems to shine over the mastermind of Moore. He leave us a wonderful sad goodbye song: Space Dye Vest. “And I have no more dreams to defend” he said near to the end, weather it was a hidden code or not, it’s one of the most impressive songs of DT.

They share impressive heavy rock riffing, great lead vocals and melodies, many ambience moody keyboards, impressive solos, fresh and innovative drumming and depth original bass lines. The sound is maybe their most professional and great mixed. This is the album to check for sure. Just hear Scarred, 6:00, Space dye vest, The Mirror and Lifting Shadows, but I can’t point at one single “weak” song on here.

They become more metal and this one is their first “more metal than prog” album. For me it’s a masterpiece, very accessible to any metalhead and one my favorites albums of all time. 5 stars.

Valarius The departure of Keyboardist Kevin Moore shortly after the release of this album brought an end to what many Dream Theater fans consider their greatest era. Though maybe not as technically sound as Jordan Rudess, or as flamboyant as Derek Sherinian, Moore had a very majestic ambience to his song-writing which lent its part to Dream Theater's sound very well in the early 90's.

‘6.00’ is an amazing opening track, which sums up very well what you can expect on this album. There is a nice combination of heavy and melodic here. Some very well structured songs and as usual, the trademark Dream Theater virtuosity.

After going through two albums together here is a band fully knitted together. Each member is on top form as ever, playing every note with a fine crispness that'll jump right out of your speakers. While this record seems to have a bit more mood and atmosphere than ‘Images and Words’, there's no reason why fans of their previous album won't like this one.

There really isn't anything else left to say about this album that hasn't already been said; as essential as ‘Images and Words’ and ‘Scenes from a Memory’, if you don't already own this one... why the hell not?!

Raff Though by no means a Dream Theater fan, I am also a very curious person - so,some four years ago, I bought "Awake" on the strength of the numerous rave reviews I had read on a number of prog and metal sites. Since then, I've been trying to get into it, unfortunately to no avail. However, I will try to make this review as fair and objective as possible, since panning an album just for the sake of it is not really my style.

Released two years after the undeniably ground-breaking I&W, "Awake" is widely considered one of DT's strongest efforts - and possibly the darkest, which I find to be quite true (more like unrelentingly gloomy, in my humble opinion). In fact, the band's many admirers will find a lot to enjoy in this album: dazzling instrumental pyrotechnics, long, intricate compositions - with a single exception, none shorter than 5 minutes (with epic "Scarred" clocking in at 11'), LaBrie trademark vocal theatrics, and a suitably baroque album cover as well. However, as a non-admirer, I found this record did not really succeed in converting either me or other like-minded people.

For one thing, it goes on way too long. After a while, those 75 minutes seem to go on forever, the individual tracks turning into a single, unrelenting, nearly impenetrable wall of sound, punctuated by LaBrie's more-often-than-not annoying wail. While the musical chops of the single members are quite evident, what is much less so is the ability to write actual songs that can attract the attention of those who do not yet worship at the band's altar. What I see in "Awake" is a sort of contemporary application of the well-known motto of "art for art's sake", but without the social and philosophical implications. DT can certainly play, and no one in their right mind is going to deny this simple fact: but then, why do their records give 'outsiders' (i.e. skeptics or newcomers) the impression of being exercises in narcissism, rather than coherent musical efforts?

Obviously, any track-by-track analysis on my part would be perfectly beside the point. I readily admit to being unable to distinguish between the various tracks, with the possible exception of album closer "Space-Dye Vest" (possibly the record's best composition, with very tasteful piano courtesy of Kevin Moore, whose contribution to the band's sound was sorely missed on later efforts). Opener "6.00" is quite promising, a hard-rocking, energetic song with a distinctive pace - pity that, later on, the songs start blurring into a single unit, and the attention starts to wander in such a way that eventually, halfway through the album, the ear does not perceive anything but the endless noodling of the various instruments. Blessedly LaBrie-free instrumental "Erotomania" is quite good in its own way, but fails to achieve the memorable quality that instrumental tour de forces like, for instance, Rush's "YYZ" seem to do quite effortlessly.

Not even a single comma of this review will convince any dedicated fans of the truth of what I say, and I must admit this is quite OK with me. Anyway, this review is not intended as a pointless exercise in bashing a cult album (I take my job as a reviewer far too seriously for that), but as an example of the response of the average DT unbeliever. Sorry guys... I suppose it is just not my cup of tea.

aiylyn Awakened!

After digesting all of Dream Theater's full-length releases, I have found that Awake is the album that ends up in my stereo more often than any of the others, even despite the fact that I consciously consider their newest album to be their best, I end up listening to this one more.

This is the heaviest Dream Theater album, overall. It doesn't have all the mood-swings that FII has, but it is quite brooding in places. The musical focus displayed on this album wouldn't be repeated until their 1999 offering, SFAM. There are four "sections" to this album: the first 3 tracks, then the tracks 4-6 which are "A Mind Beside Itself," then 7 and 8, and then the final three tracks. You will notice similar lyrical moods and musical ideas unifying each of the four sections. Mike Portnoy stated in an interview during the 1994 European tour that Awake is a "concept album of sorts."

They are distancing themselves from their 80s'-reminiscent style with Awake. Seven-string guitars are first used here (The Mirror and Lie) to great effect. Kevin Moore shines on this album; his last with the band. The only weakness this album has is the wildly overused movie samples which appear in many of the songs and often multiple times in one song. The production is top notch; though you will have to concentrate to hear the bass in some places. This is, all in all, probably the quintessential Dream Theater release - own this one if nothing else.