This is one of those albums that fits a certain state of mind nicely, for me this is when I'm feeling a bit melancholic and in need to drift off and get away form this stressing world for a while.
The dark and captivating all embracing atmosphere that surrounds this magnificent album is one of the aspects that I like best about it, Kevin Moore sets up a very special mood with his stunning keyboard performance for the rest of the instruments to unfold in.
Lyrics and music is running a very important supporting race here, this is some of the most sophisticated and challenging lyrics I have ever heard, dealing with themes as personal as they get, fear, sorrow, confusion, sadness, hope. The words found in ex.
Voices and
Scarred are simply amazing, and most brilliantly matched musically.
Let me try to present what for me is the most important aspect found on this mesmerizing adventure, mentioning all songs and digging deeper into some favourites (well that's more or less them all).
6:00 is a jamming kind of opener, lots of different things happening in a very packed track. It surely gets better with time and I just have to embrace this song's ultra progressive profile, and yeah the drums are simply unbelievable.
Caught In A Web pushes the tempo upward and the heavy guitar riffs works perfectly in harmony with the key melody, James' vocals shifting from both raw and highly melodic.
With
Innocence Faded we enter a very catchy cut spiced with detours of progressive passages and sensitive vocal parts. The chorus part is relaxing in style but could have been more exciting, nevertheless very melodic.
James sounds more experimenting in his approach than on Images And Words, having a broader range that of course matches the very different songs perfectly, he truly is a most excellent singer.
Erotomania is the album's instrumental track and also one of its most technical pieces. In these nearly 7 minutes all members engage in a thrilling and highly dynamic journey displaying great skill. Mind-blowing guitar passages and a most varied and admirable drum execution.
Voices has always been one of my all time favourite
Dream Theater songs. The way the different passages are mixed into a dark and emotional song is very impressive. Atmospheric piano melodies mixed with aggressive guitar attacks and emotional singing. The amazing technical bass lines and monster guitar solo at the end are yet other highlights.
In
The Silent Man we find the album's slow ballad, a cool interacting between the driving acoustic guitar rhythm and James sensitive vocals.
The Mirror completely breaks the calmness with a right in your face guitar riff, subsequently supporting power-drums and a magnificent keyboard build-up. The mid-section vocal part is one of the albums biggest highlights, melodrama and strong feelings of regret and frustration makes way for a completely moving passage. The flowing mystic and dreaming keyboard section in magic corporation with a massive dark bass is another kick.
The song goes right into
Lie that continues the hard profile in a very complex song. The ultra fast mid-section and one of John Petrucci's best solo's ever being absolutely thrilling.
With
Lifting Shadows Of A Dream we are back in the mesmerizing slower aura of the album that glows with its dim and mystical gleam. It's tracks like this that makes me leave this world for a while and just surrender to the magic mood. This is the song with the most "bright" profile, featuring a catchy binding chorus, and packed with the most excellent acoustic guitar play and mesmerizing keyboard moments.
John Myung not only succeeds in laying out a most vigorous base for all songs, his playing is also very innovative as goes for this next mind-blowing song,
Scarred. Once aging a very long track where
Mike Portnoy spices it with his detailed and powerful playing. One of the bands strongest sides is that they succeed in melting so many special and different passages together and each song still appears well structured, this element is very apparant here. The melodic keyboard solo and James emotional vocal parts being some of many stunning aspects.
Space-Dye Vest ends Awake with a rather strange but nevertheless very atmospheric track. Led by a soft piano melody, odd spoken parts, ingenious raw guitar effects and huge keyboard harmonies.
I have never heard anything like this before and even though I find the way the verse is working with the rest of the song a bit tame it's still a great song with a cool dreaming mood.
The production is, as goes for the music, quite unique and rather gloomy. A very tight sound with raw guitars, hard grooving bass play, solid drums, dominating keys and in front vocals make way for a brilliant result.
The is no need for elaborating more on the musical skills delivered here, every member of the band succeeds in putting out a performance that is no less than spectacular.
Awake combines emotionalism, technicality and unique captivating moods in one grandiose effort.
Written by
Tommy Tuesday, July 16, 2002
Show all reviews by TommyRatingsTommy: 9.5/10Members: 9.5/10 - Average of 3 ratings.
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 | Steen (Staff)
Rating: 9.5/10
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 | Sandra
Rating: 10/10
This was my first DT album. I found it in a second hand CD-shop in my hometown. I was jus... · Read more · |
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