By 1994, progressive rock band Dream Theater had found what they
\nmay have thought they wouldn’t have: consistency. They had secured
\na deal with a record label, and recorded two albums with the exact
\nsame lineup.<\/p>\n
But their third album,
\nAwake<\/i>, is not as consistent as the band was at that time.
\nThere are some great moments on this release that build on their
\ngroundbreaking work
\nImages And Words<\/i>, but in the end, things do begin to
\nsplinter for James LaBrie and company.<\/p>\n
In a sense, what you are presented with on this disc is the
\nportrait of a band torn between two worlds. On one hand, you have a
\ngroup who wants to live up to the success of the surprise hit “Pull
\nMe Under,” and struggles to come up with a song that has all the
\nright hooks (“Caught In A Web,” “Innocence Faded”). But right
\nbehind it is a band who want to follow their progressive roots,
\nsingles be damned (“6:00”, the three-song suite “A Mind Beside
\nItself”). In the end, you’d have to call it a draw, and everyone
\nloses some ground.<\/p>\n
If you listen to “6:00,” the opening track from
\nAwake<\/i>, you quickly will realize that Dream Theater is a band
\nwho are best off left alone to do what they do the best – and that
\nis churn out progressive rock. This song has everything, from a
\ncatchy rhythm pattern to John Petrucci’s blistering guitar work,
\nfrom Mike Portnoy’s simple yet complex drum work to LaBrie’s
\nunrestrained vocals. It holds the promise for great things to
\ncome.<\/p>\n
And while the first half of
\nAwake<\/i> doesn’t quite turn into the blockbuster it could have
\nbeen, it still holds out much promise for those willing to put the
\ntime and effort into listening to it. “Caught In A Web” actually
\ndoes a disservice to Dream Theater, as it shifts the focus from
\nstrict prog-rock to a radio-friendly song. (I will admit, though,
\nthat Petrucci’s guitar work on this one is astounding.) And while
\nthis track is still a favorite live staple of the audience, it was
\nan unnecessary shift in style. Fortunately, the three songs that
\nmake up “A Mind Beside Itself” – the instrumental “Erotomania,”
\n“Voices” and “The Silent Man” – help to undo some of the
\ndamage.<\/p>\n
It is only in the second half of
\nAwake<\/i> that the struggle between the two musical sides truly
\nshows its head. Tracks like “The Mirror,” “Lifting Shadows Off A
\nDream” and “Lie” all focus on a band struggling to determine which
\nmusical path will serve to provide the greater good for them. In
\nthe end, it sounds like they try to keep one foot on each path, and
\nthe music suffers. It’s not that these songs are unlistenable; it’s
\njust that they don’t have the glue-like qualities that keep the
\nlistener focused on other works by Dream Theater.<\/p>\n
Maybe there were forces working on the band that I’m just not
\naware of at this stage. After all, this album proved to be
\nkeyboardist Kevin Moore’s swan song with the group. But whatever
\nthe case,
\nAwake<\/i> is not as strong of an album as it could have been.
\nWould Dream Theater discover the best musical route for them to
\ntake? Would it take a toll on their music? We’ll have to see about
\nthat down the road…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5988],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-36712","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-dream-theater","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36712"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}