WHEN DREAM AND DAY UNITE

When Dream Theater released their debut album, When Dream And Day Unite, let's just say that it was a bit of a shaky beginning. While this album isn't bad at all, with some really great tracks strewn throughout, the album does fall flat in a few ways, the biggest offender being the incredibly thin production that everything has. I also find the record to have an even larger quantity of cheese that I'm used to seeing from the band, complete with vocals that while not bad, are far from special. As for positives, the instrumental prowess of the band already shines through, especially in the extremely fun Ytse Jam, already displaying the ability to write catchy riffs and then back them up with some insane technicality. My personal favourite example of this is in the opening song A Fortune In Lies, which has a great duality between the fast paced verses, the frenetic transitions, and then the slower, more melodically focused chorus. While the synths can feel somewhat cheesy in places, I also find that it makes for some incredibly entertaining fun, especially in Status Seeker, which has a chorus that I can't help but sing along like an idiot to.

In general, while I personally don't think that this album has any particular track which is bad, I do find myself gravitating far more towards the shorter cuts here, with the longer stretches of music tending to feel quite samey and bloated at points, despite all of them having some merit. I definitely find that the album is also suited much more for the faster paced tracks, as whenever it slows down to attempt being emotional or powerful, it doesn't really work thanks to just how awful the production is, combined with lackluster vocals. This is why Afterlife works very well, being one of the more proggy songs on the album, while still maintaining the entertaining campiness present throughout. One particularly egregious misstep on the album is Light Fuse And Get Away, which I find to be extremely all over the place, with the vocal melodies feeling unusually choppy and awkward, dragging down the song immensely.

Overall, while this is definitely far from a perfect album, there's definitely some merit here, with instruments being well played all around, and composition being largely decent. It's just a major shame about how the album actually sounds, as I don't believe that the record deserves the flak it gets from many DT fans, yet also cannot deny a few serious flaws within. I'd definitely recommend a large variety of DT albums before checking this one out.

Best songs: A Fortune In Lies, Status Seeker, Ytse Jam, Afterlife

Weakest songs: Light Fuse and Get Away

Verdict: Not a terrible album by any means, fairly solid prog metal for the most part, but it's marred by its glaring flaws. I'd recommend that you check out other DT albums if you're looking to get into the band, as this is quite a poor introduction to the band.