Images and Words

Friendly reminder not to take any "Greatest Guitarists" list seriously if it doesn't include John Petrucci. Dream Theater sounded dated and kitsch from the get-go, but who cares when they can play this well?

Wow these guys are impressive! Progressive metal feel to this that I really loved. I've heard the song "Another Day" in the past somewhere and it was great hearing it again! Terrific!

Sometimes an album is better than even its most rabid, nerdy fanboys can describe. It's pretty rare, but it does happen, and this is one of those times. Something about the unashamedly-cheesy approach, the ambition, the incredible pinpoint technical proficiency, etc etc. It's basically the standard for any band full of conservatory graduates (either this or Toto IV). Either way, it's a 5/5.

I said this on the last Dream Theater album someone posted and I’ll say it again - there were some weird kids in my music program that wore Dream Theater merch everyday and this checks out. It’s kinda fun though

Dream Theater makes a kind of music that is a horror to me. Certainly the ballads like Another Day irritate me to the core of my listening experience. It's a collection of bombastic and pointless sounds that feel like eating like cheap prefab noodles. It sort of fills the room with sounds that are familiar, but add nothing to your life.

September 5, 2025 Half the songs are over 8 minutes, and the thing is still less than an hour. For a metal/prog band, that's efficiency! My only real exposure to Dream Theater has been "Pull Me Under", from Guitar Hero IV, but I'm looking forward to hearing more! Whoa the lead singer is a Canuck, instant 5 stars "Surrounded" is exactly the kind of maximalist madness I want from these kinds of bands. AOR power ballad + Dreamy synth + over-the-top guitar shenanigans. More Whitesnake than Metallica, but still

Easiest 5 in a while and an insane miss from the original list. Images and Words is a classic and should be cherished as such. It’s not my personal favorite of their albums, but if I had to pick one of their album to show to others this would be it every single time.

This was a truly ridiculous inclusion. Progressive metal at its most over the top. Fun for a bit for sure, but so ridiculous.

Interesting genre of metal. Like the name, it sound sort of 'theatrical'.

Great guitar playing, but the keening vibrato-laden singing dates this music as a product of its era.

When theater kids start to get the improper idea that they are cool/badass/not extremely beat-upable (I was a theater kid)

Dream Theater are really conservatory players with metal hearts, and Images and Words makes that obvious from the very first note. The technical brilliance is staggering: Petrucci, Moore, Myung, Portnoy, and newcomer James LaBrie all sound like they are born for this. The production is crystal clear, every riff and run perfectly audible, and “Pull Me Under” remains a classic that deserved its unlikely MTV run. And yet, as much as I admire the skill, I’ve never fully connected to it. Too often the songs feel more like showcases of musicianship than pieces that grab you emotionally. It’s dazzling, but also distant. And at times it feels like fretwanking. I get why this album is revered as the blueprint for modern prog-metal, and it absolutely earns its reputation for influence. But for me, it’s a 3.5* listen: impressive, but it never resonated.

Rush for even bigger nerds.

Overwrought

I haven't given 2/5 and 1/5 marks to Rush in the original list to now give a higher grade to Dream Theater. I stand by what I said in those reviews. Inserting hair metal pyrotechnics into the prog rock vernacular just empties the latter of its poetic substance and cinematic potential. And it's the same if you do it the other way around and insert prog rock elements into hair metal. Call me close-minded if you will. I know how open-minded I can be, believe me (all you need to do is to compare galleries...). So I don't think I need lessons here, just like a lot of other people on this generator -- who also have very broad and yet demanding tastes -- don't need lessons about how to open their hearts to a vast array of musical styles. That said, I respect the stellar musicianship displayed in *Images and Words* a lot, and I admit that some of the extravagant, show-off flourishes in this record, such as the ones found in opener "Pull Me Under", can be kind of fun to listen to. But come on! If you take away the metal ingredients in "Another Day", "Surrounded" and "Wait For Sleep", what you have here is for all intents and purposes eighties pop dross. Without the metal guitar solo at its end, "Another Day" is basically an Avril Lavigne song, for instance. It's no dig against people who like Avril Lavigne, lol. It's just that the thought that Avril Lavigne and Dream Theater might actually have something in common would probably be considered ridiculous by fans of both acts. And yet... To conclude, the problem I have with this record might also stem from what I consider as flawed execution of an artistic vision. And this is where the prog rock elements actually sound worse than the metal ones, very ironically. Amazing how closer "Learning To Live" constantly goes from thrilling hooks and motifs to laugh-out-loud cheesiness in the space of its eleven minutes and thirty seconds, for example. Those sorts of medieval shenanigans in that closer hearken back to Genesis, sure, but they sound so awkward and overkill to my subjective ears... To the point where the totally clichéed metal elements felt like a breath of fresh air in comparison. Guess that overkill mode goes with the territory of the genre harnessed here, though. More power to you if that's your kind of thing. Metal power, of course. 2/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums. 7/10 for more general purposes: 5+2 Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ----- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 48 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 62 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 114 (including this one) --- Hey, Émile. J'ai enfin trouvé le temps de répondre ! Regarde sous la review de *Young, Loud And Snotty* des Dead Boys !

The loaded cheese fries of music.

So cheesy I had it with crackers and grapes.

Gonna be real with ya, sometimes I feel like prog might have had an expiration date of mid-1975.

Really bad. I appreciate the musicianship, but the songs are incredibly boring. Prog is hit or miss with me, and metal is pretty much a miss with me, so I guess prog x metal = double miss for me. 1.5/5

Have always loved this album

One of my all time favourites. Flawless.

Good pick!

Overlong and overblown, but with nothing that could sensibly be cut. Prog good, metal good, prog metal good!

Favorite songs: Pull Me Under, Metropolis - Part 1: "The Miracle and the Sleeper", Take the Time Least favorite songs: Another Day 4/5

I’d love to give this album multiple listens because I think it takes that to fully appreciate the songs better. Knowing this genre is one of my favorites, I’m giving it a 4.

Is this Love Metal? Very ballad heavy, but really good ballads. Portnoy is incredible as usual. All around great band, good submission. 3.5, but will round up

this is awesome, its like an 80s fantasy movie in 8 songs

User album #45 Of course I've heard of Dream Theater, but I only knew Pull Me Under. It's probably the best song here. I knew the singer sounded like someone else, but I couldn't place it. ChatGPT says maybe Geoff Tate from Queensryche, and YES, that's it! I listened to this a week ago, and can't remember if I was going to give it a 3 or 4. I usually give a 4 if I would listen again, so I'll be a bit generous.

Favorite Track: Pull Me Under

Progressive metal. Ni fu ni fa.

Yeah calm whatever

Rating: 6/10 Best songs: Take the time

Sounds like what I imagine Tool sounds like mixed with hair metal. An interesting combo that I don’t think I’m into. They seem a little late to the game. Instrumentation shouldn’t be stealing the show. Lyrics are fine, but the way this guy sings them makes me tune out. Also, there are five songs on here that are over seven minutes long. Fuck that shit. They didn’t need to be that long. It’s a fine album, but not for me. 3/5

An interesting genre bending album here. Primarily hard rock and metal, yet there are ballads, and sax solos. This album does feel a bit dated in the 90s metal era but it’s still an enjoyable album with lots of unique features that your typical metal album wouldn’t have. There is some replay value there but this is an album that is better artistically than it is enjoyable as a whole. 6.5/10

Creative and well-played progressive metal with some excellent guitar work. Leans a little theatrical for my taste but honestly, I kind of miss the days when bands went this big musically without a hint of irony. Good stuff. Fave Songs: Pull Me Under, Take the Time, Under a Glass Moon

Great memories of playing ‘Pull Me Under’ on Guitar Hero World Tour so there is a nostalgia bump here most likely. There’s no denying the instrumental work here is incredible – everyone in the band is firing on all cylinders, and while the guitar parts are a standout I found myself entranced by the drums throughout. That being said, I can’t help but feel that sizable chunks of this album just feel kind of silly, with the synth parts and completely over the top arrangements evaporating the immersion at times. I’m being a complete hypocrite given I’m a huge Rush fan, but this early-aughts prog does sometimes feel like it fell victim to the rise of electronic instrumentation which can make it sound dated and overdone. All in all, though, this was a solid listen and a great modern add.

This kind of baroque metal (though this has a lot of shades of prog rock and frankly just pop) doesn't do a lot for me. Musically very competent. Less strong lyrically - simultaneously grandiose in attitude while being pretty basic in execution. Overall a nice e enough listen but not something I'd seek out.

Progressive metal. Ni fu ni fa.

I missed the window of my adolescence where I could have become a Dream Theater fan. As it stands for me they’re a band with good moments, but rarely a full good song. This record has many good moments though, and ”Metropolis - Part 1” is one of my favourite compositions of theirs. The synthetic production unfortunately dampens my enjoyment, and LaBrie should really sing more inside his range, but overall this is still on of their strongest efforts. This isn’t an album I would’ve but on this list, but I can’t really argue with the inclusion

First record I listened to using lossless on Spotify connect on my main system. Never explored them before but I know the name. Enjoyable listen. Well recorded.

Not a band I'm very excited about, but in little doses, I can stomach. I own the albums When dream an day unite and Octavarium, and I enjoy those just a tad more. But if you are into Dream Theaters brand of Prog Metal you won't be dissapointed

I liked Images and Words enough for a solid 3/5, when it's good it's good melodic anthemic prog metal, especially the first two tracks and then Surrounded is excellent, but there's more than a bit of filler and when it gets weird like it does at several points during Metropolis and ballady like Wait For Sleep I'm not so keen. Better than a lot of what we've heard but not enough to say it's as good as some of the other rock/metal stuff we've had.

Melodiöst och det finns väl något där men trots allt så är det här inte min grej.

This review goes out to Ben, a guy who I went to uni with almost two decades ago who was really into Dream Theater. I didn't listen to them at the time and listening to them now, I feel like I'm not missing much, sorry Ben. It's pretty down the middle of the road prog rocky stuff. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? Slight no.

This sounds a bunch like Kansas's Leftoverture with the 'just enough' drum and the soaring vocals.

Different, but not terrible. Not really what I'm into but I can see the appeal. Like a love child of classical music and metal

Not an easy listen, compared to yesterday. Some cool, classic prog here though. But it does sound slightly dated.

If 80s hair bands had a type (either arche- or stereo-) it would be Dream Theater. Listening to this, I could almost taste the hairspray.

I like the idea of this more than the execution. I can't stand the singers singing

Dream Theater, right? Always impressive and very often tiring.

It was ok.

Prog metal fan here but this is a little too polished for me. I like rougher edges, and this guys voice, while technically amazing, is not doing it for me. It feels like a bunch of dudes going “look out how good I am” rather than “we’re a band”

Kitschy metal that submarines itself with the overblown and full of itself prog noodling. A bit torturous to get through the whole album.

Ew Huh, thought Distance over Time was the most popular dream theater record. Thought Untethered Angel and At Wit's End were the popular ones. What is this compared. (Also might be the ugliest album cover yet except for any Marillion album) 2

Progressive metal. No me va.

Think this just sounds like dated over the top metal to me.

Prog metal is pretty darned close to prog rock and I’ve got a bit of an allergy to that. Still, there were some riffs that got my head nodding and the shredding is real.

I feel so conflicted on Dream Theater. At some points I really dig it, but at others it's so goofy and theatrical in the worst ways and it really takes me out. Overall not something I'd listen to super regularly.

Prog metal. Doesn't really do it for me.

Progressive metal, eh? One wonders what makes it so – the screeching/beseeching vocals? The guitar pyrotechnics? The gesturing at least at melody? Okay … we’ll it’s like the other metal genres in that one more survives, rather than savors, the listening, though this is far from the worst. Though that slow dance tune -- how many fans did that embarrass? Did their girlfriends like it well enough? Still one’s mind wandered, dreaming of Dreams So Real, Dream Syndicate and dreamier indie rock. No need to put on the list proper.

honestly? kinda deuchey I’m all for prog rock, but prog-metal? sorry but when done right I can love it, I just really, really don’t care for this like at all - 4/10

I didn’t know what genre to compartmentalise this into. Soft ballad glamorous (not glam) rock? There was a lot going on

I didn't realise that 15 years after it'd sell-by date there were groups still churning out Prog Rock dirges like thjis.

Oh, I get it. It's like Rush but replace the amazing instrumentation for just good instrumentation! ...I'll stick with Rush.

I love their song Panic Attack. This is more prog metal than that song.

I really didn’t like the dated sound of this album.

nah man, not for me. i liked them when i was younger but i cant really dig this anymore.

How many teenage boys dreamed of superstardom in their bedrooms playing air guitar with the poster of this album on the wall? Was this really someone's 'greatest album not included in the original 1001'?

Dream Theater is described as progressive metal, but I think much of it could easily be called pop metal. At other times its much closer to the more annoying aspects of 70s progressive rock. Progressive metal is a concept that definitely has potential, but it is not reached on "Images and Words."