AWAKE

Excellent follow up to the stunning Images and Words. This is a much more brooding and heavier album than the album that made Dream Theater prog metal legends. This is much less immediate than IAW, needs more listenning to appreciate it. However it is also more versatile, and the whole album is very well balanced, every thack is in the right place. Especially a good idea that Kevin's farewell song(pure brilliance, and maybe an early forerunner of OSI) closes the album. It is also a good thing, that after the quite acustic piece The Silent Man the heavy riffs of The Mirror conquer the listener. On this album each song is great. I like especially A Mind Beside Itself , an epic in three parts(it contains their best instrumental Erotomania) , Scarred, and the "twin songs" The Mirror and Lie. The band members shine, but this is hardly surprising on a Dream Theater album. James LaBrie also gives a great performance, even if many people would prefer listening to a bunch of crows instead of him. Dream Theater proved with this album, that they are not one-album-wonders. Unfortunately , the last album with keyboard player Kevin Moore.His contribution was very important to the music of Dream Theater. His songwriting often will be missed, especially after 2002.