PULL ME UNDER

Best known as an MTV hit that Dream Theater had in the early nineties, 'Pull Me Under' was the single from the classic progressive metal album 'Images And Words', which in the eyes of many, innovated the prog metal sound as we know it today. As for this song in particular, it does seem to be a fairly well suited choice to represent the album. Although there is much better material on that album then 'Pull Me Under' (even in its unabridged form), 'Pull Me Under' is one of the more songwriting centered tracks, focusing more on vocal melodies and memorable riffs rather than complex instrumentation.

Here, we get two versions of the song; one version in its abridged, 'music video' length, and the other in the uncut album length. While both are essentially the same song and have the same elements to them, the edited single cuts out alot of repetition and build ups, leaving a song that sounds less adventurous, but quite a bit more to-the-point and explicit. In this rare case, I actually favour the edit over the full version, which- even on the full-length album- always felt as if it needed a little trimming to get the message across more successfully. The sound here is dark but synth heavy, and as one might expect, there is little flaunting of technical abilities in this single, except from the necessary guitar solo, in which John Petrucci delivers some great chops over the course of a few seconds. Coupled with the rather campy music video, 'Pull Me Under' is a somewhat cheesy song that sounds like its trying to extend the eighties decade into the nineties. Regardless of that though, Dream Theater makes a powerful impression here, showing that even while they may be best known for their technical abilities, they remain good songwriters.