It's really hard to believe that this album came out literally ten years ago. Right in the midst of the whole grunge/alternative rock experimentation schlock that was flooding airwaves at the time, came a highly welcomed record from prog-metal's forerunners that in terms of musicianship, was, and still is, way above all the mainstream armature bar chord shit, I mean you didn't hear too many great guitar solos or even neo-classical keyboard work on the radio at the time, however,
Dream Theater was not out of place, they were their own in place, outlasting all the poseur bands of that time period.
Without following any trends, more or less creating and influencing most music that would explode in the following years,
Dream Theater created a record (and a sound) that stood out alone, creating one of the biggest metal albums of 1994, not selling out for commercialism, creating music on their own terms. The album did not go unnoticed at the time though; a few cuts on this record did make it to most of the last remaining "rock" stations in the United States, even in the age of
Green Day and The Offspring, some rockers and metalheads still had clout as programmers and who better to keep the fire burning than these guys.
Opening up with
"6:00," a track with it's odd time signatures, intrigues us with the keyboard and guitar solos (not to mention the bridge acting as the segue-way between the two), and the lyrical content, providing all the elements that are brought to the table here, what's next, that track wears you out and the record has only begun. Following up with haunting opuses such as the moody
"Caught in a Web," "Lie" and the dark grinding
"The Mirror," add more edgy aggression for
Awake, while it's ballads like the acoustic
"The Silent Man" or the moody
"Space-Dye Vest" (provided that track's near doom-ridden atmosphere), and of course, lets not forget the heavy instrumental jam session
"Erotomania," with it's riffs borrowing from different songs from the record that almost provides more or less a post overture experience into the record; and add more melodic madness to
Awake. To me, the most hook laden song on the album (and favorite DT song) is
"Innocence Faded," complete with the title sung out in the most memorable of notation, with the five notes that sing out the title with harmonizing vocals and the jam session paying homage to Yes, making this song, and the whole record timeless by all means.
For the five musicians that make up this band (no matter what keyboardist is involved), it's pure musicianship for the sake of playing awesome music. This being their third record, having had success with the predecessor
Images and Words, the band at this point had begin to draw a fanbase that included fans of all music, growing with popularity even through the dark years for metal, following up in later years with even more albums we know and love so much, with everyone of them combining virtuoso musicianship with songs that are even easy to sing along to,
Awake might begin by saying it's "six o' clock on a Christmas morning," but if it's six o' clock in your world, what are you listening to?
Written by
Hashman Saturday, September 4, 2004
Show all reviews by HashmanRatingsHashman: 9/10Members: 9.5/10 - Average of 1 ratings.
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 | Steen (Staff)
Rating: 9.5/10
It's a close race, but this is my favorite Dream Theater album. Something very special ind... · Read more · |
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