10/10

New Yorker top prog metal band, after Fates Warning, they are the creators of progressive metal, actually is the most influential, well-know and successful band of the genre, they revolutionize the metal with an impressive technique, all the musicians are virtuosos, the band’s line up in the Awake era was John Petrucci, Kevin Moore, Mike Portnoy, John Myung and James Labrie, a perfect line up, that always be the best in DT history, after this album they convert in a perfect model to any musician, with the departure of Kevin Moore they lose the fascinating feeling, with the arrive of Derek Sherinian they become more technique and when Jordan Rudess arrives, the band becomes even more technique; “Awake” was out in 1994, eleven songs, lasts 75 minutes, the best album of DT, something new, spectacular, brilliant, entirely creative, if I was been impressed by “Images and Words” this surpasses all ever done, along the album they recorded voices and dialogues, if you hear these sounds with a headphones is pretty amazing, you can hear a voice in each ear, this recording work is fantastic.      

Song by song:

6:00, Powerful piece, begins with progressive drums, then, Petrucci appears with a melodic guitar followed by Kevin’s keys, next, appears a guitar distortion and bass, followed by Kevin’s orchestration, and next Myung’s brilliant bass, James starts to sing, original progressive metal; Mike is one of the drummers that build a complete drums, It seems that he got two drums together, he also influence a lot of musicians, now they use the most of the accessories that Mike uses; Continuing with the song, amazing prog metal, everything is perfect, quickness in every instrument, changing rhythms, heavy guitars, strong voice, loud bass, the best orchestrations, fast scales, powerful drums and virtuosity in the entire song, and also in the entire album.  

Caught in a web, there are many bands that based their music in this song, the characteristic sound of DT, soon it turns in their trademark, I’m sure if you ask to the influenced bands which line up prefer, they’ll choose Awake era’s line up; just check the music from Dreamscape and Vox Tempus to mention a few; the song begin with guitar, keyboards, bass and drums at the same time, followed by vocals, everyone making his work spectacularly along the song. 

  
Innocence faded, melodic guitar to commence, the feeling in the music is showed, Labrie really sings, Mike makes great sounds, incredible rhythms, John’s distortion, what a crashing sound, keys with a Yes style, guitar solo to say goodbye.

Erotomania, Impressive instrumental song, this the pure prog metal, the band starts to play slow and then gets faster, Keyboard’s great sounds, the velocity of the band to play is amazing.  

Voices, Top song by DT, guitar sounds with a cymbal (“ride” to be precise), distortion is added, keys orchestration appears, then the drums, next, heavier music and psycho keys are played, and then appear a whispering voice by La Brie, great sound effects added, makes you digress, a guitar distortion, John makes a lot of sounds on this song, magnificent work, by the way, great solo by him, James sings powerful, sings clear, what happen now with that voice?

The silent man, this is one of the worst songs of Dream Theater, there’s not space in this album to this track, awful song, why a talented band did something like this??? It seems that they try to do something like Extreme’s more than words, disgusting.

The mirror, another top song, crushing riffs, the keyboard orchestrations are perfect, Petrucci’s heavy and distorted harmonies, Mike’s powerful and progressive drums, Kevin’s plays incredibly, very innovative at that time, at the 5:20 appears a keys notes, that are the same in “space dye vest”, this is the Kevin’s feeling, Labrie sings with an incredible voice and sentiment, all these are lost now, at the end Myung’s loud bass followed by the keys, drums and the guitar.

   
Lie, starts immediately after “the mirror”, awesome music, heavy guitar, Mike’s changing rhythms, totally unpredictable, Petrucci’s makes extraordinary sounds again, the chorus are great, James’s strong voice, Myung’s bass very loud, Kevin’s keys magnificent, please check the musical part at the 3:41 this is followed by a guitar solo, Wow! Another guitar solo to end the song.

Lifting shadows, quiet song, slow music at the beginning, the bass is very notorious, maybe is cause Myung wrote the lyrics, James’s quiet voice, Kevin’s great orchestration, one more time Petrucci recorded various guitars that creates fantastic sounds, next, the music turns heavier and faster, the drums are great, progressive and loud, guitar solo, keys and cymbals to end the track.

Scarred, another top song, almost 11 minutes of exquisite metal, this is the best album by DT, by far; starts with the hi hat, piano, bass, shine and guitar, sounds like jazz, Mike plays percussions, drums and cymbals, James sings different, then turns to normality, Myung’s very clear bass, after these starts an amazing prog metal, James now sings with a strong voice, accompanied by the guitar harmonies and Kevin’s orchestration; along “Awake” album the orchestrations are magnificent, Kevin inspire a new generation of musicians; continuing with the song, James’s voice unique, singing softly and suddenly strong, another great solo by John, keys and drums excels at the end of the song.

Space dye vest, top ballad, one of the bests ever, exciting lyrics, this lyrics made Moore a poet, wrote with the heart, and sung with a lot of sentiment; painful, sad and tragic song, the idea of put movie and tv dialogues in the song is brilliant, when you’re listening this song it seems that the tv is turn on, the keys effects are wonderful; to initiate the song, two piano playing something totally different, incredible mind, then appears the guitar and keys orchestration, next, a quiet voice singing, nearly declaiming sorrow words, next, piano and orchestration with the first movie dialogue, appears an almost imperceptible guitar distortion, piano and guitar, the devastating words continues, orchestration like chorus, awesome, next, the 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th dialogues, piano continue and the distortion is notorious, appears other piano, James’s voice turns aggressive, piano, orchestration and distortion continues, next, appears a guitar playing the piano part and then drums, piano and orchestration, marvelous! Piano’s notes until the end this perfect album.