Dream Theater - Images and Words (1992) Reviews
I've lost some of my love for Dream Theater over the years. Metropolis, Pt. 2 was the album that got me into the progressive side of metal, so I had a special place in my heart for it for a while. But after exploring so much prog, I grew out of that album because all of the songs were pretty much trying to do the same thing. Such is not the case with Images and Words, which is constantly trying to reinvent itself. The album is much heavier and more melodic than Metropolis, Pt. 2 ever was, and it doesn't keep the album from being heavily accessible. It's a little experimental, too. Another Day has a sax solo that sounds exactly like Kenny G (although that's not a bad thing in this instance because it somehow fits right in), and Take the Time's first verse has a funky bass solo and the 80's synths you'd get in all those later disco albums or even Prince songs. And let's be honest, the guitar tones of Surrounded belong in an AOR song. It's like the album is deliberately experimenting with the concept of accessibility. If that was the mindset, then Dream Theater did a perfect job.
Images and Words is kind of the first Progressive Metal album of the white collar, semi-symphonic ballad heavy variant. While Dream Theater’s debut was a pretty generic slice of first wave Prog Metal, here Dream Theater take a cue from the likes of Queensryche and Fates Warning, adding strong, anthemic choruses and near-Pop commercial sensibilities, though retaining the later band’s complex songwriting and musicianship. More interestingly, they borrow Savatage’s melodramatic balladry, and bring a strong ensemble of keys, strings, sax, and probably a bunch of other instruments to the mix.
New (and now long-time) Vocalist James LaBrie adds a signature charisma to the vocal delivery, with an impressive range and strong lyrical chops. Instrumentally, it’s not in the overtly technical territory of prog wankery, and rather the band does a great job of servicing the song as needed, and showing off when appropriate. There’s also a huge variety to the songs here, and they pull off just about everything they try their hand at. There’s epic songs, somber songs, sappy songs, serious songs… and tons of different styles, all wrapped in that signature Prog Metal package. The band is so instrumentally entertaining that they actually make a cheerfully cheesy wankfest in “Take the Time” that manages to be a total delight from start to finish.
There really isn’t a wasted minute here, and the penultimate track “Wait for Sleep” is proof of that. Normally, 2 minute non-metal interludes on Metal albums are terrible wastes of space that just slow things down, but this one is a beautiful piano-vocal duet that not only sets the mood perfectly for the last track, but is a memorable piece of beauty in it’s own right. And that last track, “Learning how to Live,” is definitely the band’s greatest achievement as of release. Perfect closer that goes through a total range of moods and styles in it’s 11 minute runtime, never overstaying it’s welcome.
Before the Theatrics
As is probably pretty common among metal listeners, Images and Words and Dream Theater in general is an immensely important band that guided the Progressive Metal scene for many, many years. Dream Theater dominated my old Ipod with Octavarium, Change of Seasons, and Metropolis Pt. 2 with those introductory albums eventually giving way to Train of Thought, Systematic Chaos, and Dramatic Turn of Events. I was enthralled with the idea of amazing musicians playing music that obviously sounded technically difficult. It was no longer about catchy classic rock riffs or singalong pop songs, it was about creating music that showed off how creative and impressive a band can sound, and that forged my initial love for Progressive Metal of all kinds. Images and Words may not have been the first Progressive Metal album, but it was one of the first to really gain the street cred that allowed Dream Theater to spread their influence to many, many other bands and people.
After listening to so much modern Dream Theater going back to Images and Words fully for the first time was a serious treat. This 1992 Dream Theater is more bare bones and straightforward than their later content but it's far from watered down; it represents a simpler time in their career before they felt the need to go extremely theatrical with their compositions. Although Images and Words has three pretty forgettable power ballads with "Another Day", "Surrounded", and "Wait For Sleep", the other 40 minutes of the album are well produced and mixed classic Dream Theater that are accessible but impressive. LaBrie is thankfully pushed down far enough into the mix that he blends into the band's sound rather than cutting through it and each instrument gets its own spotlight on all of the extended tracks, especially in "Metropolis, Pt. 1". Images and Words stays true to being a legitimate Metal album with crunchy chugs and memorable riffs in "Pull Me Under" and "Metropolis, Pt. 1" while still inserting their signature time signature changes, syncopated rhythms, and notable but slightly out of place solos. Each member of the band is obviously very skilled which is what makes Dream Theater so exciting to listen to.
However, after all this time and hundreds of albums and bands later, Dream Theater have definitely lost their charm for me. Years ago I would have probably given this album full marks, but Progressive Metal is a genre that is only as impressive as the listener's knowledge if the band's goal is simply to thrill the listener through solos and complex rhythms. Of course I thought that Dream Theater was the craziest band on the planet because they were the only Progressive Metal band I listened to at the time besides Tool. Now that I've broadened my horizons Images and Words is still a great album with some of the most iconic Progressive Metal songs ever created, but it doesn't blow my mind anymore. "Pull Me Under", "Metropolis Pt. 1", and "Under a Glass Moon" are still some of my favorite tracks that showcase how Heavy Metal can be augmented through simple but effective use of music theory and creative rhythms, but Dream Theater's flaws of song structure, transitions, and the obviously questionable vocals really shine through even at the beginning of their career. These flaws will be multiplied as their career goes on and even though I still enjoy these earlier releases it's hard to say that this holds a candle to some of my other Progressive Metal favorites.
It was back in 2003 that I was looking in a Virgin Megastore (remember those?) with the noble intention of investing my money in a band I'd never heard before. These were before the days when YouTube and streaming were so easily accessible. When we had to take risks with our money to try out new artists. I had stumbled across an album by a band I'd only heard of in name, but that risk was about to pay off; Dream Theater.
Being a 16-year-old heavy metal fan at the time, raised on a healthy diet of groups such as Megadeth, Metallica, Kiss and Rammstein, my initial thoughts were, quite simply; “this album sucks”. However, one thing piqued my interest, and it should come as no surprise that it was the amazingly heavy intro to the opening track, ‘Pull Me Under’.
As I heard more and more, the album grew on me. All these random traits of progressive music were becoming clearer. Odd time signatures, long, complex arrangements, the eclectic mixture of styles, keyboards (a heavy metal no-no), the creative lyrics and massive instrumental sections... It all started to make sense. To this day, 'Images and Words' not only introduced me to a new style of music, but a whole new way of looking at music.
So what makes it so great?
'Images and Words' is an album that defined a genre. Without Dream Theater, progressive metal might never have become what it did. Coming at a time when the genre was in its infancy, Dream Theater had that intangible X-factor that bands like Fates Warning, Queensryche, and even a group like Rush, were all missing at that point.
There's a perfect combination of everything on this album. There's metal songs, there's ballads, there's funky songs and there's jazzy songs too. The musicianship came at a time when there weren't many bands displaying such incredible technical prowess, at least in the mainstream anyway. Every song is perfectly crafted, with interesting musical passages and mind-boggling lyrics. 'Pull Me Under', 'Take the Time', 'Learning to Live' and the monstrous epic 'Metropolis Pt. 1; The Miracle and the Sleeper' are all staples in prog metal history.
This is the record that put Dream Theater on the map, and defined all progressive metal bands/albums for years to come. Every fan of the genre needs this in their collection, immediately. And I'm sure most old-school progressive rock fans will at least appreciate the importance this album had on prog music as a whole. Undeniably my favourite album of all time, 'Images and Words' is better than perfect.
When people think of progressive metal, one of the first names that most people think of is Dream Theater. And that should come as no surprise. During the 1990s when prog metal was becoming prominent, Dream Theater were at the front of the revolution. Countless numbers of imitators have tried to copy Dream Theater's sound over the years; most of which failed. And it also doesn't help matters that Dream Theater are still around today, making very similar music as well.
I mentioned previously in my review for the bands most recent album, Distance Over Time that I have had a very difficult relationship with this group. This is lead by the fact that, being the prototypical progressive metal band, it's very difficult to find any originality from them in the modern day. Certainly a respectable band, but hardly memorable.
So going back and listening to Images and Words gives me the opportunity to see where Dream Theater began and what's changed since their humble beginnings. And not much has changed since 1992; part of the reason why my relationship with Dream Theater has been so convoluted.
That being said, I can still appreciate what this album was able to accomplish. It truly is a trend setter of the most obvious variety. And it would only set the benchmark for what would become the bands superior albums later on in the decade. This album paints its "images through words" and does a wonderful job of connecting these images from one track into the next. Whether that be the use of similar harmonic themes in the ensemble all throughout "Learning to Live" such as the opening riff from "Pull Me Under", the percussion patterns from "Metropolis - Part 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper", to outright copying the main theme from "Wait For Sleep" and using it as a coda on "Learning To Live". Or perhaps cross referencing other lyrics from previous tracks later on in the albums runtime.
The production on this album has aged like a fine wine. How the band is able to have each instrumental passage sound so crisp and precise; how each instrument is an important member of the collective whole. Even during Petrucci ridiculous solo passages, John Myung's bass lines never become swamped underneath the keyboard harmonies, or Mike Portnoy's percussion.
My least favourite part of the album comes from James LaBrie. I think he is a fantastic singer and one of the best pure vocalists in metal, period. But on this album, he sounds like he is just trying to get his feet wet. As a result, there are a couple of questionable passages where LaBrie's vocals are given a swath of pitch correction. These happen primarily during the extended highs on songs like "Take the Time" and "Learning to Live". The band would eventually iron out these issues on later records, but it was a stylistic decision made by the band at the time, so I do have to point it out.
By today's standards, Dream Theater's Images and Words is, by enlarge, an unoriginal progressive metal album that lacks any unique qualities compared to... everyone else in the genre! But for a time, it was game changing. The fact that you can still hear its influence in progressive metal today is a testament to its longevity. But what I like about this album the most is the planting of the seed. This album could have been good enough if it hadn't included "The Miracle and the Sleeper" with its long form composition and performance. But they did include it. And it formed the basis for what I consider to be Dream Theater's superior records, Scenes From A Memory and Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. Images and Words is the lesser of the three grand Dream Theater albums, but one still worth revisiting to see where Dream Theater, and progressive metal in general, got their start.