When Dream and Day Unite
At first glance, the debut Dream Theater album isn’t much more than a glorified demo. But the band had been working on this material for years, there are demos for these songs and there was a demo tape made a few years earlier when the band were known as Majesty. So in a way, much like the first Maiden album, this is like a greatest hits of the band’s early years. Unlike the first Maiden album, it’s not exactly heralded as a classic. The production is very rough (I would say worse than the Maiden debut), the songs are pretty messy at times, and the vocals have received their fair share of criticism. The band hasn’t really developed their sound yet either, at times it doesn’t really sound like what we would come to recognize as DT.
I have to say I actually enjoyed the album on this listen significantly more than I have in the past. It definitely has problems, but at the same time I appreciate the raw energy and experimentation that feels absent from the last couple decades of the band’s recorded and live history. I also found myself appreciating the riffage, it’s a little more Metal than the other stuff. More in line with Fates Warning and Queensryche than the “Metallica meets Yes” aesthetic that came later. There’s also a lot of Rush and Maiden in there. There’s a lot of shredding which is at times distracting, they hadn’t yet learned how to be tasteful with the instrumental acrobatics. There are a lot of moments where every single instrument is going at full force and it’s hard to know what to focus on. A lot of vocal sections feel busy as a result of this. Say what you will about DT, but they generally do a good job with making sure the instrumental parts stay out of the vocalist’s way.
As far as the songs go, this album is bookended by its best tracks. A Fortune In Lies has probably had the most staying power, but Only a Matter of Time also has a really cool rhythmic feel and an awesome buildup at the end. These songs are also the only ones where it feels like there’s a healthy balance between hooks, interesting song structures, and instrumental fireworks. They feel well arranged.
Otherwise the songs seem to fall into two categories: jumbled messes that don’t go anywhere (Light Fuse, Ones Who Help To Set the Sun) and songs that are really melodic but don’t really showcase the band as instrumentalists (Afterlife and Status Seeker). Between the two categories, I much prefer the latter. Afterlife is an awesome Metal song that would be well placed in any old school metal mix tape. Status Seeker gets a lot of undeserved hate imo, It’s a cool song with some really nice melodies and Rushisms. Definitely some hints of greater things in the album too. Ytse Jam is fine, but has some nice parts throughout. Killing Hand has some cool ideas but lacks a cohesive arrangement, suffers from the vocals, and has a really abrupt ending.
Overall this album is probably a 5/10. It isn’t terrible but it definitely sounds like it was made by a bunch of college music students in a basement. I should also mention that this is the only DT album without James LaBrie on vocals. I think Dominici gets more hate than he deserves. He definitely couldn’t handle the stuff like Killing Hand, but had the band gone in a direction more like Fates Warning or Queensryche with a more power metal sound he would’ve been fine (a producer also would’ve worked wonders). He actually sounds pretty good on the more straightforward rockers. I can’t imagine him doing anything off I&W though.
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