AWAKE

As you guessed from my Images and Words review, this kind of progressive metal isn't really my kind of thing. But before you think I'm a Dream Theatre hater you should know that I am a very relentless music pit-bull and that I won't condemn or give up on a band just because they disappointed me once.

I've always thought Dream Theatre found their true voice on Awake. The playing is tight and functional, the production is excellent, the song writing is consistently strong. Ok, there still are cheesy moment as on Innocence Faded and Lifting Shadows, but it are exceptions. The music is cleared of its excesses; it's harder edged, with Metallica as a dominant inspiration.

For me, the most surprising element is Labrie. As much as he got on my nerves on Images and Words, as much he is in control of his voice here. Ok, he's still the type of vocalist that confuses hitting high notes with emotion, but his melodies are strong now and there is true passion and bite in his delivery.

If it wasn't for the occasional moments where they still remind me of the melodrama of the previous album, I might rate this with 5 stars.

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