WHEN DREAM AND DAY UNITE

Whether or not it's quite the same kettle of fish as Dream Theater's subsequent albums or not, I still find it hard to dislike their debut, When Dream and Day Unite. Sure, it's a little obvious what their major influences are this time around - Iron Maiden, Fates Warning, a pinch of Queensryche, and a big heaping dose of Rush (Charlie Domini's vocals even sound a bit like Geddy Lee from time to time), but when the band blend those influences so expertly I don't feel inclined to complain!

The basic bedrock of the band's sound as it existed at this time was based around Rush's work from around, say, A Farewell to Kings to Signals, with DT's other influences working their way in mainly as a means to update Rush's sound from that period with more recent innovations in metal. The end result is an intriguing thought experiment in what Rush might have sounded like if they hadn't prioritised synthesisers over metal for most of the 1980s, and Dream Theater more than possess the technical skills needed to bring this experiment to life. Tracks such as The Ytse Jam and The Killing Hand in particular prove that the band were more than ready to hit the big time, and after a couple more years of honing their sound, they would do precisely that.