IMAGES AND WORDS

Man, I almost the praising of this album as much as I hate the bashing. People have created so much contreversy around it, that the ratings tend to seperate to both extremes, being "masterpiece" and "total shit". It's appreciatable if you don't expect greatness out of this.

First and foremost, this is an important and widely influencial release, and that's reason enough to have it in your collection. The styles displayed on I&W are a mix of hard rock/metal, fusion and whatnot, and incorporates progressive elements. The band's greatest influences are namely among the greatest prog bands of all time, so there you go. It manages to remain melodic all the way through, mixed in with a few technical runs here and there that really keep it interesting. There are weak songs, as there are strong ones; many people have a difference of opinion as to which ones are which, but that doesn't matter.

People often refer to Petrucci's fast and precise playing when they describe DT, and this creates misconceptions. I'm sure you know the kind. In any case, the tempo in DT's music is just about average, all the way through. The "virtuosity" you keep hearing about, will only shine through some of those 30 sec to sometimes 2 min of of solos per song, so it can't really ruin anything for you. The solos aren't really the highlight of DT anyway, through they're well recognized for their style (unison solos, etc). In any case, you'll probably know why people make a big deal out of it when you hear it.

The few tracks I especially like are "Under A Glass Moon", my favorite and still blows me away, and "Take The Time", "Metropolis PT:1" (which has some of those "legendary" solos DT fans will mention), "Wait For Sleep". Hm, those few are actually most of the album lol... there aren't that many songs, but they're lengthy.

Give it a shot.