WHEN DREAM AND DAY UNITE

This first release by Dream Theater sports some good songs with remarkably poor production values. Charlie Dominici's voice may sound like a lukewarm Geddy Lee with some AOR overtones; however, his overt "lack of character" works both negatively and positively. By negatively, I mean that the vocals are delivered mostly in the same tone of voice, without the dynamics that current singer James LaBrie tries to deliver (albeit with inconsistent results). By positively, I mean that he avoids the pitfalls of histrionic, out-of-my-vocal-range slingshotting vocal delivery that LaBrie often stumbles into. Again, poor production is what is most notable here, with a frightening lack of both bass and treble frequencies. Highlights of this album include "Status Seeker", the always propelling "Afterlife", and "Only A Matter of Time". The last of these songs is a pretty good anthem for dedication to musical ideals, and closes out the album on a positive note. Also of note is "Ytse Jam", which is an instrumental which seems to have an almost talismanic rating in the eyes of the Dream Theater fan community. It's not bad, but they've released better songs.