Dream Theater - Images and Words (Album Review)

Okay, so, where do I even begin with this album? Some people call it the very first Progressive Metal album ever made (something I don't agree with), others call it the greatest Progressive Metal album ever and the greatest album DT has ever and will ever made. Yes I'm talking about the mythical and groundbreaking Images and Words.



Ok, so first of all, this album has this messianic complex that we all love. This album was made during a really tough moment for Dream Theater. Their debut album "When A Dream And Day Unite" was a complete commercial failure but this wasn't really DT's fault, there were serious problems with the record label when it came to the management and distribution that WDADU had.

DT was basically ripped-off by its first label company which offered them a tour, a single and even a music video and we all know that at the end of the day they didn't get a thing. It was also in this moment when DT realized that Charles Dominici wasn't the right singer for them and they decided to "let him go". I love that phrase, "let him go" ,come on dudes, it sounds pretty but you fired him, say it like that.

That's something that I have always thought was kinda cruel, especially when you watch Charles Dominici's early basement interviews with DT and you can see that he has the DT logo tattooed on his arm, OH DAAAAMMMNN, that must have hurted; It's like tattooing the name of your ex-girlfriend... but a little bit cooler.

Miraculously they managed to find a new label and a new singer, the infamous James Labrie. Now, they were ready for their second album but I'm pretty sure  this was their last chance; I don't think that DT would have survived another failure.

New unknown label, new unknown singer, only one bullet left and... this thing came out

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300"] There was no time for pain, no energy for anger[/caption]

You know... just..one of the greatest albums of all time... it happens... it happens.

A lot of people call Images and Words the greatest album that DT has ever and will ever release, and I know that because I'm one of them.

Yes, for me, Images & Words is the greatest DT album ever, this album is just perfect in every way. There's nothing I have to complain about it, nothing! Every single second of music is perfect: poetical lyrics, beautiful melodies, technical compositions that are not from this world including a great number of the greatest guitar solos that you'll probably ever hear and an overwhelming emotional atmosphere ( we must to thank Kevin Moore for that, honestly).

There's only one other album that sometimes manages to battle my I&W preference, but it all depends in what kind of mood I am, but generally I&W is the one.

Every song of this album is a famous classic: Pull Me Under is probably the most famous progressive song ever, Under A Glass Moon is one of the greatest guitar composed songs of all time. The lyrics of the songs have also been memorable and analyzed through the years. Whether or not Metropolis is about Romulus and Remus, whether or not Wait For Sleep and Learning to Live are about HIV or about the struggle of fighting a mortal disease, whether or not Pull Me Under is really about Hamlet. There are a lot of interpretation of these songs that have risen over the years and that's because they wrote those lyrics in an amazing metaphorical but also literal aesthetical way.

I also think that this album has the greatest lyrics of any other DT album... well maybe except Awake. When it comes to lyrics I&W and Awake are in a complete tie for me. Awake lyrics are a little bit more literal but full of emotions and strong feelings.

Metropolis is my favourite DT song. Pull Me Under's guitar riff that starts at 4:03 is my second favourite guitar riff ever, only top by one of the final riffs that you can hear almost at the end of The Ivory Gate of Dreams by Fates Warning.

For me this album just represents the real and honest Dream Theater, this is not DT trying to copy or imitate other style, they started imitating bands like Iron Maiden and Rush but they soon evolve and here you can see a truly form style completely developed by them, a style that changed this whole genre and inspire many musicians to come. For me this is the real Dream Theater, every time that someone mentions DT; this! is the first album I think about and every time someone asks me about them I just say: Go and listen to I&W first! Because for me, that album is who they are, or well, who they really were.

I could talk about this album just on and on but I'm afraid all that I have left to say has already been said. Images & Words is just simply one of the greatest albums of all time (talking in general not only inside the genre), the greatest Dream Theater album, and a perfect candidate for the greatest Progressive Metal album of all time.