Dream Theater

Reissues (Rhino)

Three classics plus one clanger: prog-metal gods return to vinyl.

Long overdue a respectful vinyl repress, these four albums hold the key to Dream Theater’s huge and enduring success. Images And Words (9/10 – Excellent), an immaculate manifesto for virtuoso prog-metal, was hailed as an instant classic upon its release in 1992 and it remains one of the genre’s undisputed pinnacles. The band’s collective ability to blow people’s minds with instrumental prowess has never been in question, but Images was full of great songs, huge melodies and showy, intricate music that both metal and prog fans could actually hum. From eight-minute ‘hit’ ‘Pull Me Under’ to the masterful, melancholy sprawl of ‘Learning To Live’, Dream Theater were prog-metal’s new masters.

Two years later they cemented their authority with Awake (8/10 – Very Good). Heavier, darker and even more adventurous than its predecessor, it boasted elaborate, twisty instrumentals (‘Erotomania’), blissful, melodic rock detours (‘Innocence Faded’) and towering, technically miraculous epics (‘Voices’ and ‘Scarred’, corkers both).

Fans have softened towards 1997’s Falling Into Infinity (6/10 – Above Average) over the years, but it’s still the runt of this litter. Despite some strong material, ‘Peruvian Skies’ and the profoundly proggy ‘Trial Of Tears’ included, it came across as a self-conscious attempt to make DT’s music more commercially palatable, and with mixed results.

Fortunately the fourth of these long-awaited double vinyl editions obliterated any lingering doubts about the quintet’s fitness for the long haul. A stone-cold classic that simply belongs on vinyl, Metropolis Pt.2: Scenes From A Memory (9/10 – Excellent) sounded ingenious, elegantly crafted and utterly authoritative in 1999, and absolutely nothing has changed.

—Dom Lawson