IMAGES AND WORDS

Sure, this album was only their second, but many of the elements found here are sharpened and perfected on later releases. The slower songs like "Another Day" seem pretty sappy or even shallow, though "Wait For Sleep" is to a somewhat lesser extent. James LaBrie's voice is often the target of critics of Dream Theater, though to me, this is the only album (of those I've heard at least) in which his vocals truly irritate me. Whenever LaBrie tries to pull off the really high notes, it aggravates me to no end... "Pull Me Under" is actually the only song where I don't mind his singing, and it happens to be my favorite song on here.

"Under A Glass Moon" and "Learning To Live" also have their moments, but the album in general feels pretty uninspired, much of it sounding like under-developed material from Awake. Even though this came before that album, the material on Awake is superior in arrangement, energy, and overall depth. I would recommend getting that before Images and Words, but tastes differ; someone may think the same of Dream Theater's third album as I think of their second. If you like this, that's just fine... but I just don't get all the hype.

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