Dream Theater - Images And Words (1992)

Every great band has at least one album that has a legendary status. An album that set the foundation for the bands success. Iron Maiden has "The Number of The Beast", Slayer has "Reign In Blood" and Helloween has "Keeper of The Seven Keys" Part 1 and 2. "Images And Words" is by many considered the album by Dream Theater that led them to what they are today. Released in 1992, "Images And Words" was the first album with James LaBrie as the singer. An improvement from Charlie Dominici? I would say yes but I think that Dream Theater could have gone with either one of them. Both Charlie and James are competent and powerful singers. Enough chit chat, on to the review.

The opener is the highly praised "Pull Me Under". And no wonder why it became the only song by Dream Theater that reached over top 10 on the hit charts. The song opens up in a great mood and shifts pace from time to time on the 8 minute running time. The song is epic, grand and has three short but sweet guitar solos. But the best part of the song is the ultra epic chorus. Talk about using your voice to the max James. Continuing the album is the ballad "Another Day". In later years, Dream Theater's ballads has been shifting from good to bland and horrible. But when listening to "Another Day" (and the other ballads on this album) I realize why the band is still making ballads. "Another Day" is powerful and brings out emotions, something any good ballad does. The strong opening does not end there. After "Another Day" comes "Take The Time". This song has a unusual verse and a straight forward chorus. But then we also have a super long and sweet solo that ties the bag on this song perfectly.

After those three songs, "Images And Words" looses some speed and strength but that does not mean the rest of the songs sounds horrible. The only song in this album that is close to being bad is "Surrounded". That songs fits more in a Sonic the hedgehog game than a DT album. Now this album has two really epic works. The first one is "Metropolis - Part 1. "The Miracle And The Sleeper"", and yes, it is the predecessor to the album "Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From A Memory". Now I have not listened to the second part but if that album is as epic and versataile as Part 1, I will be a happy camper when I am going to listen to that album. The other song is "Learning To Live", a 11 and a half minute long song that is a great song to conclude the album. Even though it is not as good as some of the other songs on this record I really like the mellow mood during the entire song.

So yeah, "Images And Words" definetely deserves its legendary status. It is an album filled with great musicianship and exciting songs. But is it a perfect album? No, I would not think so. "Images And Words" does not have enough muscles to reach that high on the rating scale. But it is certainly an album to remember.

Songs worthy of recognition: Pull Me Under, Take The Time, Metropolis - Pt. 1 "The Miracle And The Sleeper"

Rating: 9/10 Glass Moons

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When Dream And Day Unite
Awake
Falling Into Infinity
Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Train of Thought
Octavarium
Systematic Chaos
Black Clouds & Silver Linings
A Dramatic Turn of Events
S/T
The Astonishing

Distance Over Time