WHEN DREAM AND DAY UNITE

This was the beginning, this was the first record made by the New york greats; after this, what was to come was the best collection of prog-metal in any band's catalog. The album that following this one is for me one of the five best of all time; so, how was the debut?

Well, it has hints of greatness. The Rush-meets-metal sound is more evident than ever here, as DT were yet to achieve the trademark, original prog-metal sound they created in their next output. But we could hear the origin of that signature style: long songs, complex riffs, interesting instrumental parts, lots of keyboards.

The main problem is not really their still inmature sound, but the awful singer thay started with. Rest assured that, if Dominici had stayed for Images and Words, that album, instead of becoming the angular piece in Prog-metal would have been forgotten inmediately, for this gentleman's voice is really bad, it's almost in a league of its own when it comes to badness (at least in this album; nowadays it has gotten better). I'm not going to describe it for, what's the point? It exists only in this album, and thank heavens it was replaced by LA Brie. Now that's contrast! After having arguably the worst singer ever, DT got the best voice in all prog-metal.

Highlights: Ytse Jam (a small gem, a preview of what was to come), After Life (good chorus, even Dominici couldn't screw this one up) and Light fuse and get away, a decent, well crafted long song, with very good instrumental parts.

All in all, a good, very good debut album, not up to par by DT's standards, but a fairly decent collection of good riffs, good keyboards, good solos, and horrendous vocals.

Recommended for every DT fan. If you are not one of them, try to listen to Images and Words or any other of the following albums first, for if this is your first encounter with Portnoy and Co., there's a good chance you will avoid them for the rest of your life, only not to hear that singer ever again!