IMAGES AND WORDS

When i first listened to this album i instantly heard strong improvement over the patchy debut album and a much stronger grasp of progressive rock. Images and Words defines Dream Theater and begins to show off their true sounds and abilities to the maximum.

On my first listen i found this album to be excellent in shifting between mellow and heavy guitar pieces, The piano pieces are truely incredible, especially on "Wait for Sleep" and LaBrie is a much more emotional and moving singer and he settles in well on this album. Images and Words can actually be difficult to get into at first if you are more accustomed to later albums such as "Scenes from a Memory" but after i saw how highly rated this album was by the fans i thought i would give it another chance and it really started to grow on me, to the point where i love it as much as their other albums.

The opening track "Pull me Under" starts with a dreamlike, haunting guitar intro that manages to build up into an opus of heavy guitars, battling keyboards and a mixture of different vocal elements. LaBries shows off his power and the record already starts to feel much better than the debut album. "Another Day" continues this with its excellent lyrics. This is perhaps more emotional than previous songs by the band where LaBrie powerfully proclaims "you won't find it here". "Take the Time" manages to keep the flow going with some rather excellent progressions and the song manages to keep you captivated throughout. "Metropolis" is one of Dream Theaters best prog rock pieces including fiddley guitar and keyboard solos, experimental guitar effects and reprised vocals. This song proved that Dream Theater were able to keep up with the big guns of progressive rock, such as YES and KING CRIMSON.

"Under a Glass Moon" continues the albums incredible trend and by the time you reach track 5 you are well settled into the record and ready to expect the best. This song again offers the best abilities of the band but Petrucci is on fire here with one of his best ever guitar solos towards the end of the song. "Wait for Sleep" is a the most beautiful piece on the album. Moore and LaBrie dominate the track with the beautiful piano piece and brilliant and haunting singing. This piano riff continues into "Learning to Live" and builds up to serve an ever flowing piece which is a great note to end on as this shows off as much skill as on "Metropolis". This album is a masterpiece yet the fact that it can sometimes struggle to keep the listener captivated can drag the album down. For those who didn't enjoy the debut album, Dream Theater start here.