WHEN DREAM AND DAY UNITE

Dream Theater's first album is quite an enigma to me; it definitely has some potential, but there are a number of flaws that get in the way of making this as good as it should.

Firstly, (please excuse my bias) it has too much of an 80's sound, for which a great number of the band's that influenced Dream Theater existed in. This may not be a big deal for many, but as I hate most of what came out in the 80's, I sincerely dislike the sound. The shoddy production doesn't help matters either.

Secondly, the singer, while perhaps not completely terrible out of the context of the band, simply doesn't work for me. He does sound a bit like Geddy Lee of Rush at times, which I always found interesting as Rush is easily one of Dream Theater's biggest influences.

On the flip side, there are plenty of things I do like about this album. The sound is still sophisticated, but not pushing it like many of their more recent releases. This is a young band, and a lot of the songwriting here is brilliant. The opening to 'Status Seeker,' most of 'The Killing Hand,' and all of Ytse Jam' are good examples.

Overall, what we have here is a massive ball of potential with an equal number of flaws. Had this been recorded with LaBrie in the 90's and had better production, I think it would have been one of their better albums. But such was not meant to be.

3/10