March 6, 1989 - Dream Theater and When Dream And Day Unite
Happy New Year! It's been a little over four months since my last release but we finally ring in the new year with a new band as Dream Theater released their debut album "When Dream And Day Unite" on March 6, 1989. But who is Dream Theater? They are a five-piece progressive metal band from Boston and were originally called Majesty before being forced to change their name. They consist of guitarist John Petrucci, bassist John Myung, drummer Mike Portnoy, keyboardist Kevin Moore and lead singer Charlie Dominici. These guys play very progressive music reminiscent of the 70s, but it has a very 80s metal feel to it as well. Let's check out the debut effort from Dream Theater!
That is the end of "When Dream And Day Unite" and I thought it was a pretty cool debut album! Charlie Dominici is an odd choice for lead singer and he's definitely not my favourite, but he wasn't awful and he certainly couldn't spoil the musical talents of the rest of the band. With awesome guitar, bass, drums and keyboards throughout the album, Dream Theater show that they have some incredibly talented musicians who not only are great at their respective instruments, bit seem to have a really great understanding between them as well. And this is only their first album, I can't wait to hear more!
True album begins with "A Fortune In Lies" and they come thundering right in with an epic and heavy riff. There's a lot happening here but Petrucci leads the way with some cool guitar while Myung, Moore and Portnoy are all playing some great bass, keyboards and drums respectively as well. Petrucci delivers a short early solo and the end of it leads perfectly into a fast new main riff. We hear some almost thrash-y riffs on guitar and bass that keep the fast pace and Moore plays some pretty sweet lead keyboards overtop. Dominici finally comes in to begin the first verse and he has a very high voice with an 80s feel to it. He's not off key or off time or anything, but his high, dreamy voice just doesn't seem to fit the feel of the music, at least in this verse. The music slows down for the chorus and Dominici seems more at home singing overtop this lighter but still solid rock riff. They start up the next verse with some more cool music, but when Dominici begins the next verse he seems to take the energy of the song down. After the verse and another chorus they move into a nice thrash-y bridge riff and Portnoy delivers several great drum fills in this part en route to setting the stage for the guitar solo. Petrucci plays his first full solo and he does a pretty nice job of matching the mood of the song while occasionally doing some quick shredding. He turns it up at the end with some great guitar and this leads right into a final chorus to finish off this opener. Up next is "Status Seeker" and it opens with a synth-led riff with some decent stuff by Moore then they nicely shift into a cool part with Petrucci and Portnoy playing some nice stuff until it suddenly stops. The whole mood of the song drops as things get much quieter and Myung carries the verse with some cool bass. Petrucci plays some light guitar and Dominici sings in a lower voice in this interesting verse, but when Moore's synths join the mix Dominici reverts to his usual high voice and things get louder. The chorus has a couple of the guys singing backing vocals while Charlie yells and hits some pretty high notes. He seems like a solid singer, just not quite the right fit. It's quiet again as they go through another verse and chorus before it's guitar solo time. Petrucci plays another pretty good solo that leads to a new bridge with Charlie singing high and some more great drumming from Portnoy. This takes us into the chorus as they jam it out a couple times to end it. Track 3 is called "The Ytse Jam", which is Majesty spelled backwards.
It's an instrumental song that opens with a short rock-and-roll flourish with a nice drum roll by Portnoy, then they kick into the main riff. Petrucci and Myung sync up and together play an awesome and catchy main riff. It sounds really cool hearing the same riff played in high notes on the guitar and Myung impressively keeping pace with the low version on bass. Moore eventually echoes them as well on synths as everything sounds great and Petrucci breaks off for a guitar solo. He does a great job of matching the rhythm and feel of the song with a cool solo and it leads perfectly back into the catchy main riff. After another go through everything stops except the guitar and Petrucci abruptly shifts gears and starts up a fast new riff. Everyone falls in line quickly as they shift wonderfully to this much faster and more metal riff that sounds great as well. And overtop this fast 80s-style metal riff, we get an old 70s-style keyboard solo from Moore. In his first solo of the album he shreds his keyboards like a madman and it sounds freaking amazing! Moore shows off his talents in this incredible solo and it perfectly leads right into Petrucci's guitar solo. He too goes absolutely nuts on his respective instrument with some really great guitar and just when you think things might be over, it's Myung's turn! John takes off on a super fast bass solo and it seems every member of this band can shred it with the best of them as he delivers one hell of an amazing bass solo! Everything stops and Portnoy takes his turn by delivering a short but pretty freaking great drum part that segues perfectly into a short stop-and-start part that sounds nice and heavy. From here they take off on yet another new riff as Petrucci leads the way with some more solid guitar and Myung continues to play some great bass as well. Petrucci plays a short final guitar solo that sounds pretty sweet and they end the song as it began by returning to the catchy original riff and finishing the song on a brilliant note. It seems without Dominici, the other four members show they are all stand-up musicians in this amazing song! The next song is "The Killing Hand" and it opens with a light guitar intro that sounds alright, but the feel of the song quickly shifts to heavier as Petrucci's guitar is much louder and Portnoy plays some solid drums. Moore adds some decent synths to the mix as well and Myung joins in to complete this solid riff. They quiet things down a lot for the verse as Moore leads the way on keyboards and Dominici sings in his high glam-y voice. Myung's bass in the background is pretty cool as well in this verse and it turns out the solid riff that preceded the verse is actually the chorus riff. Dominici holds some long high notes that are okay but nothing special, but the music as usual is pretty good. They move into a short bridge with some cool drum fills by Portnoy and this takes us to a new upbeat verse with some more annoyingly high vocals from Dominici. The end of this verse leads into a really short but pretty sweet guitar solo by John, then they repeat this with another verse and another short bit of shredding. From here they explode in a new direction with an abrupt change to a fast new riff as Petrucci and Myung are both playing some cool speedy stuff. Dominici sings another new verse and this sets the stage for a keyboard solo by Moore. Kevin does a pretty awesome job, playing lots of fast stuff that sounds quite similar to a guitar solo shredding. The end of the solo nicely fades out into a quiet new part and Petrucci plays some slow and epic guitar and Dominici attempts to match the epicness on vocals. The slow guitar nicely ramps up as Charlie continues to sing and Dominici ends the verse with a particularly high "haaaaaaand" and Myung takes over the next part as he leads the way with some cool bass. The guitar and keyboards join in as they nicely finish off this longest song on the album at just under nine minutes. Track 5 is "Light Fuse And Get Away" and it begins with another cool metal riff led by some nice guitar but after the intro Moore takes over the lead with a fast and cool keyboard riff. After a lengthy instrumental intro they finally settle into the main riff with some great guitar and keyboards doing separate cool riffs. The rhythm section is pretty great as well and even when Dominici finally joins after the two-minute mark, the verse still sounds pretty great with Moore playing some epic synths inbetween Charlie's singing. After a couple verses they finally arrive at the chorus where Petrucci and Moore sync up for a really cool chorus riff. Dominici sings quickly along to match the speedy riff and I think this is easily one of Dominici's beat vocal performances of the album as he actually sounds like he fits in here! After the chorus they change to a new riff with Portnoy playing some great speedy drums and this new riff somehow also leads seamlessly into the chorus. After the chorus Myung and Portnoy cue up one hell of a rhythm section as they both play some fast and amazing stuff while Moore plays some trippy keyboards in the background. But they soon take over as Moore begins a keyboard solo and once again he nails it with another awesome 70s-esque synth solo. It also leads nicely into Petrucci's guitar solo and he too does a fantastic job with some very cool guitar work. They arrive at the chorus once again and then finish out the song with a final minute of cool instrumental stuff, including another short guitar solo from Petrucci. Up next is "Afterlife" and Petrucci leads the way with another fast and pretty sweet guitar riff. The rest of this main riff is a bit tame compared to the others on this album, but it's still a decent rock verse. Petrucci plays a short and sweet solo inbetween the several short verses and eventually they do arrive at the chorus. The guitars slow down and along with the keyboards play a catchy chorus riff as Dominici sings decently overtop. They return to the verse but just play one short verse before quickly returning to the chorus again. After this chorus Moore sets the stage nicely with some light synths and Petrucci begins a lengthy guitar solo. He does a pretty sweet job, really shredding things at the end and it leads right into a wicked dual-solo part with John and Kevin both going berserk! It's a pretty awesome dueling solo part as they both sound amazing going to town on their instruments! They wrap up the song with a final chorus and Petrucci plays it out until a sudden crack of thunder signals the start of the next song, "The Ones Who Help To Set The Sun". It begins quietly and we hear a car ignition followed by the hum of an engine. Out of this strange opening Moore and Petrucci emerge with some distorted and trippy stuff that sounds pretty psychedelic! Myung plays some cool low bass in this part as well and Moore's keyboards change into an actual riff as he plays some slow and epic stuff overtop this haunting opening. They finally shift into a more typical main riff after three(!) minutes as Portnoy and Myung cue up a rhythm section and Petrucci plays a nice guitar part to match. Moore joins in next adding some synths to the mix and finally Dominici comes in nearly halfway through the song to start the first verse. He sings in his usual voice as Petrucci and Myung carry the verse with some great guitar and bass. Portnoy ends the verse with a nice drum fill, then it's right into the next one. After another verse they reach the chorus as Portnoy plays some quick double bass drum and Charlie holds lots of long, "epic" notes. Portnoy's excellent drumming continues into a new bridge riff with some dreamy synths by Moore and this sets the stage for the guitar solo. Petrucci plays a long and actually epic solo as he seems to know all the right notes to play and can shred up and down his guitar with ease. After this awesome solo they return for a final chorus before ending the song on a nice heavy note. The album concludes with "Only A Matter Of Time" and it begins with a nice heavy rhythm section from Portnoy and Myung while Moore kicks right into a sweet keyboard solo! He starts slow but nicely ramps things up as the synths go quite nicely with the heavy metal backing riff. Petrucci follows suite with some epic guitars and after this epic opening minute they switch gears for the main riff. It's a solid upbeat main riff led by some catchy guitars and Dominici sings quickly along to match the mood, but it seems like he's running out of breath at the end of each line. They continue to jam out several verses of this before Moore nicely segues to a new riff with some cool keyboards. Moore leads for a little bit, then Petrucci takes over on guitar and starts a new speedy verse as Dominici continues to try and keep up with the rest of the band. After this verse Petrucci ramps it up with some sweet guitar, Myung plays some great bass and they set the stage for a very short synth shred by Moore. Dominici then comes in to sing the name of the song a few times, then Moore really takes off with a lengthy synth solo that sounds pretty incredible! The keyboard solo flows beautifully into a closing instrumental part as these four talented guys jam it out to end the album.
It's an instrumental song that opens with a short rock-and-roll flourish with a nice drum roll by Portnoy, then they kick into the main riff. Petrucci and Myung sync up and together play an awesome and catchy main riff. It sounds really cool hearing the same riff played in high notes on the guitar and Myung impressively keeping pace with the low version on bass. Moore eventually echoes them as well on synths as everything sounds great and Petrucci breaks off for a guitar solo. He does a great job of matching the rhythm and feel of the song with a cool solo and it leads perfectly back into the catchy main riff. After another go through everything stops except the guitar and Petrucci abruptly shifts gears and starts up a fast new riff. Everyone falls in line quickly as they shift wonderfully to this much faster and more metal riff that sounds great as well. And overtop this fast 80s-style metal riff, we get an old 70s-style keyboard solo from Moore. In his first solo of the album he shreds his keyboards like a madman and it sounds freaking amazing! Moore shows off his talents in this incredible solo and it perfectly leads right into Petrucci's guitar solo. He too goes absolutely nuts on his respective instrument with some really great guitar and just when you think things might be over, it's Myung's turn! John takes off on a super fast bass solo and it seems every member of this band can shred it with the best of them as he delivers one hell of an amazing bass solo! Everything stops and Portnoy takes his turn by delivering a short but pretty freaking great drum part that segues perfectly into a short stop-and-start part that sounds nice and heavy. From here they take off on yet another new riff as Petrucci leads the way with some more solid guitar and Myung continues to play some great bass as well. Petrucci plays a short final guitar solo that sounds pretty sweet and they end the song as it began by returning to the catchy original riff and finishing the song on a brilliant note. It seems without Dominici, the other four members show they are all stand-up musicians in this amazing song! The next song is "The Killing Hand" and it opens with a light guitar intro that sounds alright, but the feel of the song quickly shifts to heavier as Petrucci's guitar is much louder and Portnoy plays some solid drums. Moore adds some decent synths to the mix as well and Myung joins in to complete this solid riff. They quiet things down a lot for the verse as Moore leads the way on keyboards and Dominici sings in his high glam-y voice. Myung's bass in the background is pretty cool as well in this verse and it turns out the solid riff that preceded the verse is actually the chorus riff. Dominici holds some long high notes that are okay but nothing special, but the music as usual is pretty good. They move into a short bridge with some cool drum fills by Portnoy and this takes us to a new upbeat verse with some more annoyingly high vocals from Dominici. The end of this verse leads into a really short but pretty sweet guitar solo by John, then they repeat this with another verse and another short bit of shredding. From here they explode in a new direction with an abrupt change to a fast new riff as Petrucci and Myung are both playing some cool speedy stuff. Dominici sings another new verse and this sets the stage for a keyboard solo by Moore. Kevin does a pretty awesome job, playing lots of fast stuff that sounds quite similar to a guitar solo shredding. The end of the solo nicely fades out into a quiet new part and Petrucci plays some slow and epic guitar and Dominici attempts to match the epicness on vocals. The slow guitar nicely ramps up as Charlie continues to sing and Dominici ends the verse with a particularly high "haaaaaaand" and Myung takes over the next part as he leads the way with some cool bass. The guitar and keyboards join in as they nicely finish off this longest song on the album at just under nine minutes. Track 5 is "Light Fuse And Get Away" and it begins with another cool metal riff led by some nice guitar but after the intro Moore takes over the lead with a fast and cool keyboard riff. After a lengthy instrumental intro they finally settle into the main riff with some great guitar and keyboards doing separate cool riffs. The rhythm section is pretty great as well and even when Dominici finally joins after the two-minute mark, the verse still sounds pretty great with Moore playing some epic synths inbetween Charlie's singing. After a couple verses they finally arrive at the chorus where Petrucci and Moore sync up for a really cool chorus riff. Dominici sings quickly along to match the speedy riff and I think this is easily one of Dominici's beat vocal performances of the album as he actually sounds like he fits in here! After the chorus they change to a new riff with Portnoy playing some great speedy drums and this new riff somehow also leads seamlessly into the chorus. After the chorus Myung and Portnoy cue up one hell of a rhythm section as they both play some fast and amazing stuff while Moore plays some trippy keyboards in the background. But they soon take over as Moore begins a keyboard solo and once again he nails it with another awesome 70s-esque synth solo. It also leads nicely into Petrucci's guitar solo and he too does a fantastic job with some very cool guitar work. They arrive at the chorus once again and then finish out the song with a final minute of cool instrumental stuff, including another short guitar solo from Petrucci. Up next is "Afterlife" and Petrucci leads the way with another fast and pretty sweet guitar riff. The rest of this main riff is a bit tame compared to the others on this album, but it's still a decent rock verse. Petrucci plays a short and sweet solo inbetween the several short verses and eventually they do arrive at the chorus. The guitars slow down and along with the keyboards play a catchy chorus riff as Dominici sings decently overtop. They return to the verse but just play one short verse before quickly returning to the chorus again. After this chorus Moore sets the stage nicely with some light synths and Petrucci begins a lengthy guitar solo. He does a pretty sweet job, really shredding things at the end and it leads right into a wicked dual-solo part with John and Kevin both going berserk! It's a pretty awesome dueling solo part as they both sound amazing going to town on their instruments! They wrap up the song with a final chorus and Petrucci plays it out until a sudden crack of thunder signals the start of the next song, "The Ones Who Help To Set The Sun". It begins quietly and we hear a car ignition followed by the hum of an engine. Out of this strange opening Moore and Petrucci emerge with some distorted and trippy stuff that sounds pretty psychedelic! Myung plays some cool low bass in this part as well and Moore's keyboards change into an actual riff as he plays some slow and epic stuff overtop this haunting opening. They finally shift into a more typical main riff after three(!) minutes as Portnoy and Myung cue up a rhythm section and Petrucci plays a nice guitar part to match. Moore joins in next adding some synths to the mix and finally Dominici comes in nearly halfway through the song to start the first verse. He sings in his usual voice as Petrucci and Myung carry the verse with some great guitar and bass. Portnoy ends the verse with a nice drum fill, then it's right into the next one. After another verse they reach the chorus as Portnoy plays some quick double bass drum and Charlie holds lots of long, "epic" notes. Portnoy's excellent drumming continues into a new bridge riff with some dreamy synths by Moore and this sets the stage for the guitar solo. Petrucci plays a long and actually epic solo as he seems to know all the right notes to play and can shred up and down his guitar with ease. After this awesome solo they return for a final chorus before ending the song on a nice heavy note. The album concludes with "Only A Matter Of Time" and it begins with a nice heavy rhythm section from Portnoy and Myung while Moore kicks right into a sweet keyboard solo! He starts slow but nicely ramps things up as the synths go quite nicely with the heavy metal backing riff. Petrucci follows suite with some epic guitars and after this epic opening minute they switch gears for the main riff. It's a solid upbeat main riff led by some catchy guitars and Dominici sings quickly along to match the mood, but it seems like he's running out of breath at the end of each line. They continue to jam out several verses of this before Moore nicely segues to a new riff with some cool keyboards. Moore leads for a little bit, then Petrucci takes over on guitar and starts a new speedy verse as Dominici continues to try and keep up with the rest of the band. After this verse Petrucci ramps it up with some sweet guitar, Myung plays some great bass and they set the stage for a very short synth shred by Moore. Dominici then comes in to sing the name of the song a few times, then Moore really takes off with a lengthy synth solo that sounds pretty incredible! The keyboard solo flows beautifully into a closing instrumental part as these four talented guys jam it out to end the album.
That is the end of "When Dream And Day Unite" and I thought it was a pretty cool debut album! Charlie Dominici is an odd choice for lead singer and he's definitely not my favourite, but he wasn't awful and he certainly couldn't spoil the musical talents of the rest of the band. With awesome guitar, bass, drums and keyboards throughout the album, Dream Theater show that they have some incredibly talented musicians who not only are great at their respective instruments, bit seem to have a really great understanding between them as well. And this is only their first album, I can't wait to hear more!
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