A dark but dominant effort..
I would tend to agree that this is one of DT's darkest/moodiest efforts. This is a serious departure from the more commercially flavored Images and Words and Falling into Infinity releases. Simply put, the songwriters seemingly bore their souls and poured them into a classic. From the catchy "6:00" to "Erotomania" the band showcases musical mastery in a way not unlike the epic prog-rock of Triumph or Rush. DT obviously took the raw genius of their previous release and refined it into a stellar, cohesive production that integrates the excellence of every bandmember. Not quite a concept album, the thread that ties each track together is purely musical. In terms of bang for the buck, this CD really delivers at over 70 minutes...and believe me you'll be hooked on every second. My personal favorites are the "Mind Beside Itself" trilogy and "Scarred"--which I consider their best. Whether this may be considered a "heavy" introduction to Dream Theater, I would say Awake is one of the premier albums of the 1990's.
Extremely Impressive
An astonishingly solid album. Dream Theater may very well not appeal to all, and it is hard for me to attempt a recommendation here: rest assured if you enjoy rock and metal and do not feel uncomfortable with a measure of intelligence adhering to music then this band is well worth the time to investigate.
This CD is considerably heavier then its predecessors, as well as assuming a more dark, menacing tone which is very welcome. Only 'Innocence Faded' would not seem out of place when viewed beside the material included on 'Images and Words'. The guitar playing is very accomplished technically, although those who prefer more immediacy im music may not enjoy the intricate, lenghty instrumental sections on some of the compositions, or the speed of the halen/Vai esque histrionics. The vocals are decidedly operatic and overwrought in places, yet extremely strong, comprehensible and entirely fitting to the band. The drumming is astounding: Mike Portnoy never ceases to amaze me with the constant level of invention he diplays on his instrument and I speak as a drummer myself. The bass playing and the keyboards both maintain the extremely high level of musicianship.
'6.00' and 'Caught in a web' are both prime slices of hard rock perfection, whilst the extended suite 'A mind beside itself'(including 'Voices') is particularly strong. 'The Mirror' and 'Lie', two of the bands heaviest compositions both evoke strong images of spite and anger throughout, while Petrucci churns out earth shattering riffs effortlessly. 'Lifting shadows off a dream' and 'Space Dye vest' are both more mellow and reflective, unspeakably beautifully in Space Dye vest's case. The 11 minute 'Scarred' provides the albums highlight, including as it does numerous tempo changes and stunning solos.
In conclusion, if you enjoy this type of music, this album is a must buy, if you are new to metal and prog in particular it is still a wonderful starting point, but if your musical views are firmly wrought and you dislike this type of band you should avoid like the plague.
gave it 5 stars bcs I totally love DT, but...
It seems that there are 2 kind of DT fans. The ones that love the earlier, more musical, more easy listening, works. The ones that love the totally weird, totally progressive, totally insane LTE kind of music. My first DT album was Scenes from a Memory. It was an instantaneous shocker. Love at first sight. Such an amaizing combination of prog rock and some softer music. I bought several other DT/LTE albums afterwards. Luckily my first album DT was not Awake. I think this is not one of their greatest albums (well, I am the LTE kind of fan :) ) You can find lots of non-DT music in this album. I dare you to find Bon Jovi, Pink Floyd, Metallica, Korn, and some other bands of the 70's, 80's and 90's throughout this album. It's not hard, it's actually pretty obvious. What the heck is The Silent Man? The kind of music I was composing in early high school when I was learning to play accoustic guitar. Whenever James LaBrie sings, we get some pretty corny and mainstream sounds. He imitates other singers and their music a lot. Sorry James, I consider you have an amaizing voice, and sometimes you are a great singer as well (well, when you are not pissed off or sour and you give a lousy showing and you sing like bored to death), but hey man, where is your own personality?. I think that from the musical perspective James drags the band back to the dark ages of sugary ballads and commercial sounds. Whenever Petrucci plays his solos without any (or with minimal) voice intervention , we have something amaizing going on. He's a (damn! I am out of appropriate words here!), well, a hell of an amaizing of a shocking guitaris and musician. He comes up to save many of the songs on this album. For example Lie, it's pretty much boredom and mediocre music until Petrucci's solo, and even during his intervention pretty much all the other guys are dazed and confused and lost in space and out of synch in the background. Sometimes he gets out of line improvising too much and aimless and loosing the train of song, but most of the time he comes up with such totally amaizing masterpieces. I like Kevin Moore on this album, although many other people don't. Thing is, he doesn't show up too much, but listen carefully his work in the background. It's discreet and of good quality. Myung is pretty much the same one, seldom heard and seldom out of ordinary. Petrucci and Portnoy are THE ones, and Moore at times. Luckily, Jordan Rudess joined them and they came up with such masterpieces like Scenes from a Memory and LTE work (no coincidence: LTE was without James LaBrie). To conclude, the only songs really interesting on this album are Erotomania, and (surprise! as I keep ranting against James) maybe Space Dye-Vest. Erotomania is really an amaizing piece of instrumental work, a Petrucci/Moore/Portnoi masterpiece. Petrucci is totally top notch and totally stunning. Also, he got excellent help from Kevin Moore. Space-Dye Vest is a nice slow song although at times cheesy and at times sounding like Pink Floyd The Wall. All the other songs are fairly mediocre and already heard. If you like Bon Jovi or Korn, keep this album althought you should buy more Bon Jovi or Korn. If you like real progressive music, buy LTE and Scenes from a Memory. Well, and all the Genesis before 1975 :)
Very good, very heavy
This was my first Dream Theater, which I got around last year. It is a great album with some awesome songs and always outstanding John Petrucci solos. The highlights on this album are definitely "Erotomania", "Voices", "Lie", and "Space-Dye Vest". There are other great songs like "6:00" and "The Mirror" which are all great. Jame's voice sounds good on this album, but maybe not quite as good as "Images and Words". The songs on this album lack the magic of the songs on albums like "Scenes From A Memory" or "Images and Words", but it still a must have for any progressive metal fan.
The good and the bad
Awake is a slightly heavier release than the classic Images & Words. This album has a great dark feel to it, exemplified by songs like "Voices", "The Mirror/Lie", and "Space Dye Vest". Despite some stellar numbers, there are also a few mediocre tunes that bring the overall rating down.6:00 (7/10):There's a cool groove to the riff that starts this song off. One of the problems I have with this song, which Dream Theater does far too often, is the spoken voice-overs that occur at certain points. This is a very typical, good DT song. Nothing too out of the ordinary here.
Caught in a Web (6/10): Catchy chorus with good output from LaBrie, decent main riff, uninspired solo. Not much else to say, a pretty average DT song overall.
Innocence Faded (8/10): This song is a great throwback to the 80s. I've said in other reviews that I love the 80s, so it gets points for that. LaBrie does some great work doing both gentle vocals and his high power shrieks. Petrucci offers good stuff throughout the whole song, and solo has a sort of Journey-like feel to it (at least I see it that way).
Erotomania (9/10): A blistering instrumental with fast and slow parts. Petrucci takes center stage on this song, of course, but you do hear input from the rest of the band (minus LaBrie, of course). He even does a short but impressive rendition of a classical piece during the most intense part of the song. This song is a great combination of speed, technicality, and feeling. It is made even more potent by the seamless transition into the next song (Erotomania is the first of a 3-part suite).
Voices (9/10): The intro to this song is a great riff that breaks suddenly into the most gentle vocals from LaBrie with just piano in the background. This song is loaded with emotions, on the soft parts and on the more intense parts. Even the guitar solo, while being incredibly fast, manages to maintain a sense of the feeling surrounding it at the same time. The song is dark and haunting, and certainly one of the best on the album.
The Silent Man (8/10): This is a short acoustic song, but it is quite well-done. It ends the trilogy suite that Erotomania and Voices are a part of, and it also echoes part of Erotomania during a short bridge.
The Mirror (7/10): The heaviest song on the album. There's not a lot that stands out on it, but it picks up a nice melody where James starts singing "Let's stare the problem right in the eye...". It also segues flawlessly into Lie, the next song.
Lie (8/10): The vocals have such a cool sense of rhythm that is quite rare for the band. When the song returns to the same segue that ended The Mirror, expect to hear John Petrucci's best speed solo, which is fast, complex, and still loaded with emotion.
Lifting Shadows off a Dream (6/10): The vocals are nice, and there are some good non-guitar instrumental sections. It feels like something is lacking, though.
Scarred (9/10): Probably the best song on the album. There are so many ranges of emotion and musical intensity wrapped up in this song. It starts with a fantastic blues solo by Petrucci, some gentle vocals by LaBrie, and then on to the metal part. There's a part where LaBrie sings "Do you feel... you don't know me anymore..." that conveys such a strong feeling of understanding that the listener can relate to. It's my favorite part of the whole song, and possibly of the whole album. The guitar solo (not the intro) is fairly run-of-the-mill, though.
Space Dye Vest (8/10): One of the most unique songs the band has ever done (it is mostly regarded by the band as Kevin Moore's song, which is why they won't play it live without him). There is a lot of voice-over in this song, but unlike the other songs which have voice-over, it feels like part of the song, so it isn't distracting. There are some fine piano parts here and there, especially towards the ending.
7.73/10, or 4/5. I don't recommend this as your first DT album, but you will definitely want it once you have gotten into some of their other work.
Some rock & roll purists consider the term "progressive rock" an oxymoron. After all, rock & roll is supposed to be about feeling, not thinking. Prog rock bands miss the point by taking the soul out of a musical form that's purposely crass and anti-intellectual. All the precise, long-winded arrangements, keyboard flourishes, wailing vocals, and overorchestration of groups like Yes, Emerson Lake & Palmer, and, to a degree, Rush suck the soul out of something that should be less head and more body. Dream Theater, though they possess many of the same characteristics as these bands, still manage to maintain a human element in their music. Awake is at times self-indulgent and pompous, but songs like "Lie," a passionate crusher that finds guitarist John Petrucci launching riff after thunderous riff in a cacophonous volley of crunch, ring true with real passion and base emotion. It's the depth and tonality his guitar brings to the music that keeps Dream Theater from falling into the Styx-isms they often veer dangerously close to. A very solid record for those who don't mind thinking while rocking. --Adem Tepedelen
