Awake (Dream Theater album)
Encyclopedia
Awake is the third studio album
by American progressive metal
band Dream Theater
, released on October 4, 1994 by East West Records
. It was the last Dream Theater album to feature keyboardist Kevin Moore
, who announced his decision to leave the band during the recording of the album.
Much of the material for Awake was written in writing sessions between February and April 1994, during which Dream Theater were under pressure from their record label to produce an album as successful as Images and Words
with a single similar to "Pull Me Under
". The label wanted the band to produce a more metal
-oriented album, hoping it would be easier to market. John Purdell
and Duane Baron
produced
, engineered and mixed the album. The album's cover, designed by the band, features numerous references to the album's lyrics.
Dream Theater auditioned for keyboardists to replace Moore for the upcoming world tour and eventually hired Derek Sherinian
. He had just two weeks to learn two hours of complex music before the tour started. Sherinian initially took up the position on a trial basis and was asked to become a full member during the tour. After the first leg of the tour, vocalist James LaBrie
suffered a violent case of food poisoning, severely damaging his vocal cords. His singing became unpredictable, leading LaBrie to become depressed for much of the tour. His voice only started recovering on the tour for Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
in 2002. The Great Hanshin earthquake
hit while the band was touring in Japan.
Released at the height of the popularity of grunge
music, Awake received mixed reviews; more recent reviews regard the album as one of the band's finest. The album peaked at 32 on the US Billboard 200
, the highest position a Dream Theater album would reach on that chart until 2007's Systematic Chaos
. "Lie", "Caught in a Web" and "The Silent Man" were released as singles but failed to be as successful as "Pull Me Under" had been. The band's record label considered the album a commercial failure, which would lead to the band being pressured to write more radio-friendly songs on their next studio album, Falling into Infinity
.
. The lack of a leader within the band increased tensions in what were already tense sessions. Keyboardist Kevin Moore
noted at the time that "there are arguments that last forever because there's nobody to come in and draw the line". "When it came to the music, you had [guitarist] John Petrucci
and I playing the roles we still kind of play, and Kevin was also a forceful element," drummer Mike Portnoy
said. "In those days, [bassist] John Myung
was a little bit more out of his shell, so the bass was a bit more predominant in the band. The fighting never came to blows, but there was a lot of bickering over every single element, like the fine details of what the third note on the sixty-fourth bar should be."
The success of Dream Theater's previous album, Images and Words
, particularly the single "Pull Me Under
", put pressure on the band to produce a similarly successful follow-up album. "Somebody once said that you have your whole life to prepare for your first album and have about two months to prepare the follow-up, and that was very much the situation we faced in early 1994," Portnoy noted. The popularity of grunge
and heavy metal
meant that the band's record label, East West Records
, were keen for the band to create a heavier, darker album. Awake saw Petrucci use a seven-string guitar
for the first time, establishing a more riff-based writing style. "This style would further cement the fusion of metal and progressive
music, which is what Dream Theater are known for," Petrucci said. "I think it paved the way for many of our strongest and heaviest later songs like 'A Change of Seasons
', 'The Glass Prison' and 'The Dark Eternal Night'." Vocalist James LaBrie
described his vocals on Awake as "more varied and a lot more aggressive" than on Images and Words to the extent that people may think the band had a new singer for the album.
. John Purdell
and Duane Baron
, whose credits included Ozzy Osbourne
's No More Tears
, were hired to produce
the album. The band - who had a difficult relationship with David Prater, the producer on Images and Words - enjoyed working with Purdell and Baron. "I think everyone felt we were able to express ourselves a lot more genuinely," Petrucci said. "The experience from the road, learning more about our sound and what we like and don't like enabled us to be more prepared. The producers were totally into capturing that and being patient with us. So everybody walked away being completely satisfied with their performances and their sounds."
and said 'I'm moving away from Long Island,'" Dream Theater's co-manager Jim Pitulski recalled. "So I asked him where he was moving to, and he said, 'I'll let you know when I get there.' He really had no idea what he was doing and he just started driving across the country. I kind of admired that."
Moore stated that he decided to leave because his approach to writing music had changed. He had become more interested in writing and recording his own material. Myung said that Moore left the band out of "peace of mind and what he wanted to do musically that he couldn't do in the band". The band's business manager, Rob Shore, suggested that the idea of prolonged touring was a contributing factor in Moore's decision. Describing Moore as "a very private person", Portnoy thought that he might have left because "the whole machine of the music business just wasn't his cup of tea". When Moore announced his decision to leave, he was single, while LaBrie was married, Portnoy and Petrucci had girlfriends and Myung, according to Portnoy, "was kind of in his own world". Portnoy speculated that any resentment or jealousy Moore felt because of this may have influenced his decision. After leaving Dream Theater, Moore continued to release music, musically far-removed from his work with the band.
said. "Obviously each guy was focusing on his instrument, so it was like 'Wait, I want me up more!' So they were trying to please everyone and you just can't do that." The band had to be banned from the mixing sessions to allow Purdell and Baron to mix the album to a high enough standard. "The one great thing, though - even though we were out of the studio - was that they were aware of what we wanted and didn't want," LaBrie said. "When David Prater mixed Images and Words it was really unfortunate because he forgot to bring some sections out and he really didn't understand what we wanted from the final music. When Duane and John went in, they knew everything that needed to be there and how we wanted it to be represented."
"Erotomania", "Voices" and "The Silent Man" form a three-part suite
titled "A Mind Beside Itself". Portnoy stated that the instrumental "Erotomania" was written "off the cuff" as "a bit of a joke and parody". Petrucci penned the lyrics to "Voices", dealing with the subject of mental illness. He researched schizophrenia
and similar disorders and used religious terms "to make things more vivid". "When I was writing it, I saw these terms and medical things that were just brilliant," he said. "Like there was a guy who felt that his skin was inside out. I read that and was like 'Oh my God! That's unbelievable; I've got to write about that.'" Petrucci wrote the music and lyrics to the acoustic "The Silent Man". LaBrie described the lyrics as dealing with "communication breakdown, for instance between a father and a son. We feel that we have to play certain roles when around one of our parents, and we never really get to know the real person. I'm lucky that I behave with my own father like I would a friend. We can joke around and go for a beer."
Portnoy wrote the lyrics to "The Mirror", describing his battle with alcoholism
. He would return to the subject on later Dream Theater albums with his Twelve-step Suite
. "Lie" was originally part of "The Mirror", but LaBrie thought it was strong enough to be a song in itself. "I remember one of the first tapes [the band] sent me to start jamming with up in Canada was 'The Mirror'," LaBrie said. "We used to jam instrumentally to it on the last tour and then we built it into a song, with the lyrics and melodies but also within the song was 'Lie'. I heard this groove and I was going 'Oh my God, that's a song in itself!' So I called up the guys and said 'Man, I really feel strong about this song. Can't we take that groove and build a song?'" The Mirror is also the first Dream Theater song to feature lyrics by Portnoy.
"Lifting Shadows off a Dream" began as a poem and two chords brought to the band by Myung. "We worked on it, racked our brains, recorded the jam and by the end of the night we were like 'Ahh fuck it. This sucks,'" Petrucci recalled. "We came by the next day, listened to the recording and thought it could be really cool. All of a sudden it evolved into this song."
"Space-Dye Vest" was written by Moore, who brought the piece into the studio as a completed song. "Kevin Moore saw this photograph in a fashion magazine of a beautiful model wearing a space-dye vest and he fell in love with her," LaBrie said. "He carried that magazine around with him for ages, but he realized that the only way the innocence could be kept, so that he could retain that love for her, was if she stayed on the page. If he'd met her, all that would have been lost." Portnoy recalled that when the rest of the band first heard the song "we thought it was so very, very different we didn't think we even wanted to fuck with it." He said that if they had known Moore was going to leave the band, they would not have included it on the album. Portnoy considered "Space-Dye Vest" "totally 100% [Moore's] song", and for that reason the band would never play the song live without Moore.
Awake is to date, the only Dream Theater album to have lyrical contributions from all five then-current members.
s himself. "It was done really quickly and I always felt frustrated with that sleeve as I lost too much time on it," Freemantle said. "I was always up against deadlines on certain things and it got away from me."
. LaBrie considered the album's title to be "the perfect word to describe the album's lyrics. What we're basically talking about is the awareness of your existence - becoming closer and more in touch with yourself and ultimately discovering what works best for you as an individual as you try to get through life." Portnoy dedicated the album to his biggest inspiration, Frank Zappa
, who died in 1993.
The album sold 36.160 copies the first week it was released. "Lie", the album's lead single, was released in late September. The accompanying music video featured the band, then a four-piece, playing the track at various locations in New York City, including the Brooklyn Bridge
, Tribeca
and a tunnel in Manhattan
(which had to be temporarily closed in order to complete the shoot). It was hoped that "Lie" would be as successful as "Pull Me Under
" had been, but the single failed to make an impact on the charts. "Caught in a Web" and "The Silent Man" were the album's second and third singles respectively. Portnoy was keen to direct the music video for "The Silent Man", but East West only offered him a co-directing credit with Pamela Birkhead. On the day of the shoot, Portnoy became violently ill, and when not needed to perform rested in his tour bus bunk.
in Burbank, California
. The album was to be unveiled in a live setting for the first time. Jordan Rudess
' audition impressed the band, with Portnoy claiming that it had "blown his mind" and that Rudess was the "best keyboard player we'd ever seen". Rudess accepted the band's offer to perform with them at the Burbank show, but decided against joining the band for the entire tour. At the same time, he had received an offer to perform with the Dixie Dregs
for shorter runs of shows and had a job with Kurzweil. Rudess also had a young family and was unsure if Dream Theater "was just going to be a flash in the pan". "I decided I would be better off going with the Dregs, continuing with Kurzweil and being around for my family as much as possible," Rudess said. The show was not a success: the band were nervous of playing without Moore and were out of practise from not having played live for some time. Rudess eventually joined Dream Theater as a full band member in 1999.
The band held another round of auditions and were impressed with Derek Sherinian
. Sherinian, who studied at Berklee College of Music
the year before Petrucci, Portnoy and Myung did, had previously played with Alice Cooper
and Kiss
and enjoyed similar music to the other members of Dream Theater. He was offered the position on a trial basis at the beginning of October 1994, giving him just two weeks to learn two hours of highly complex music. "It's one thing going in to play for an artist with hit songs that you've heard since you were a kid, and the songs are ingrained in your mind," Sherinian said. "It was another thing altogether going in with music you've never heard before that is totally off the charts as far as technical prowess... But it is amazing what one will do to ascend... when I was in New York at the rehearsals, I would play the songs at night over and over on a loop so that I would be subliminally programmed and it would ingrain it in my head." Sherinian was officially asked to join the band as a full member in February 1995.
The US leg of the Waking Up The World tour began on October 20, 1994 and finished on December 9. Over Christmas, LaBrie went on holiday to Cuba
with his wife, where he had violent food poisoning. Upon his return home he consulted an ears, nose and throat specialist, who told LaBrie that he had ruptured his vocal chords, advising him not to sing for six months to a year. "I was in total shock and devastated," LaBrie said. "On the US leg I had been so psyched and couldn't wait to blow everyone away around the rest of the world. We weren't in a position for me to take a six-month break so I had to keep touring." LaBrie was able to continue performing, but his voice became unpredictable. "It was absolutely miserable, and it was an extremely dark and depressing period for me," he recalled. "Literally every fucking night on the European leg, I wouldn't know if my voice would be there or if it would cooperate... I didn't feel that my voice really started to come back until maybe the Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
tour in 2002. That's when I started to feel my range and strength coming back."
The Great Hanshin earthquake
struck Japan while Dream Theater were touring there. Although none of the band was injured, they seriously considered calling off the tour, but only ended up canceling one show. The band held a minute's silence at every show in Japan in memory of those who had died. During the soundcheck
s for the Japanese shows, the band rehearsed a series of cover songs
. These were performed at a special covers-only show in Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club
, London
. The show, performed to an invitation-only audience of three hundred, featured guest musicians such as Barney Greenway, Steve Hogarth
, Steve Rothery
and Steve Howe
. A selection of covers and medleys performed by Dream Theater at this show were released on A Change of Seasons
.
, remaining in the charts for six weeks. This would remain the band's highest-charting release in the US until 2007's Systematic Chaos
. The album peaked in the top 20 in four countries. Derek Oliver, Dream Theater's label representative, considered the album to be a commercial failure. This led to the band once again working with David Prater on A Change of Seasons
and to the record label putting increasing pressure on the band to make songs on their next studio album, Falling into Infinity
, more commercial and radio-friendly.
Upon release, Awake received mixed reviews. Q
wrote that "fans of Marillion
may well love this, and even the sceptical listener can enjoy the crunching, radio-friendly choruses of 'Scarred' and 'Caught in a Web'." Guitar World
ranked the album as one of the top ten releases of the year, stating that "this shred
party left me punch drunk and, for once in my life, fully Awake." Metal Hammer
dismissed Awake as "musical masturbation": "Progressive rock is basically a very adolescent notion of what 'grown up' music might sound like - more notes, longer solos and, best/worst of all, convulated concepts... Their propensity for pomposity extends to the ballad 'Silent Man', which would probably like to be Queensrÿche
's 'Silent Lucidity
' but in fact sounds like Stryper
on a particularly pious day". The album has since sold nearly 400,000.
More recent reviews have been more favorable. Reviewers praised the album's production, noting the album is darker and heavier than previous Dream Theater releases. The musicianship of the band has been praised. Phil Carter of Allmusic highlighted Petrucci and Portnoy's performances; Metal Storm praised LaBrie and Portnoy; Murat Batmaz of Sea of Tranquility praised all the performances, but singled out Moore's contribution as "immense" and complimented him on "a lucid layer of atmosphere around [the album] built by none other than Kevin Moore." Carter ranked "Lie", "Scarred", "Caught in a Web" and "Space-Dye Vest" as the best tracks. Metal Storm praised "6:00" and the "A Mind Beside Itself" suite.
In a 1995 Guitar World interview, Chuck Schuldiner
praised Awake and the band Dream Theater in general, claiming that "their music is very complex, but they definitely have hooks, which is crucial to making music listenable", citing them as an influence on the more progressive nature of his band Death
's later material as opposed to the stagnant death metal
scene at the time http://www.emptywords.org/GuitarWorld04-95Profile.htm.
Production
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by American progressive metal
Progressive metal
Progressive metal is a subgenre of heavy metal originating in the United Kingdom and North America in the late 1980s...
band Dream Theater
Dream Theater
Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to further concentrate on the band that would...
, released on October 4, 1994 by East West Records
East West Records
East West Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group, and operates under WMG's Independent Label Group.-History:...
. It was the last Dream Theater album to feature keyboardist Kevin Moore
Kevin Moore
For the blues singer, see Keb' Mo'.Kevin Moore is a keyboardist, vocalist and composer and founder of the Chroma Key music project. He is also a former member of the American progressive metal band Dream Theater, co-founder of the progressive rock supergroup O.S.I. and has composed film soundtracks...
, who announced his decision to leave the band during the recording of the album.
Much of the material for Awake was written in writing sessions between February and April 1994, during which Dream Theater were under pressure from their record label to produce an album as successful as Images and Words
Images and Words
Images and Words is currently ranked #2 on Digital Dream Door's list of the top 100 progressive metal albums of all time. Music critic Piero Scaruffi includes the album at number 8, just after Fear Factory's Demanufacture and before Sepultura's Roots, in his classification of the best metal albums...
with a single similar to "Pull Me Under
Pull Me Under
-Personnel:*James LaBrie - vocals*John Petrucci - guitar, backing vocals*Kevin Moore - keyboards*John Myung - bass, chapman stick*Mike Portnoy - drums, backing vocals-External links:* http://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/dream_theater/pull_me_under/...
". The label wanted the band to produce a more metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
-oriented album, hoping it would be easier to market. John Purdell
John Purdell
John Purdell was a musician and record producer who is credited on such albums as the 1991 Ozzy Osbourne's heavy metal No More Tears and Dream Theater's Awake. He was born in San Diego and raised in Los Angeles...
and Duane Baron
Duane Baron
Duane Baron is a record producer who is credited on albums such as the 1991 Ozzy Osbourne heavy metal album No More Tears and Dream Theater's Awake.-References:...
produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, engineered and mixed the album. The album's cover, designed by the band, features numerous references to the album's lyrics.
Dream Theater auditioned for keyboardists to replace Moore for the upcoming world tour and eventually hired Derek Sherinian
Derek Sherinian
Derek Sherinian is a rock keyboardist who has toured and recorded for Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, Yngwie Malmsteen, Kiss, and Alice In Chains. He was also a member of Dream Theater and is the founder of the instrumental metal-fusion band Planet X...
. He had just two weeks to learn two hours of complex music before the tour started. Sherinian initially took up the position on a trial basis and was asked to become a full member during the tour. After the first leg of the tour, vocalist James LaBrie
James LaBrie
Kevin James LaBrie is a Canadian vocalist who is best known as the lead singer of the American progressive metal band Dream Theater.-Early life:...
suffered a violent case of food poisoning, severely damaging his vocal cords. His singing became unpredictable, leading LaBrie to become depressed for much of the tour. His voice only started recovering on the tour for Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence is the sixth full-length studio album by progressive metal band Dream Theater. It was released as a double-disc album on January 29, 2002 by Elektra Records...
in 2002. The Great Hanshin earthquake
Great Hanshin earthquake
The Great Hanshin earthquake, or Kobe earthquake, was an earthquake that occurred on Tuesday, January 17, 1995, at 05:46 JST in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. It measured 6.8 on the moment magnitude scale , and Mj7.3 on JMA magnitude scale. The tremors lasted for approximately 20...
hit while the band was touring in Japan.
Released at the height of the popularity of grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
music, Awake received mixed reviews; more recent reviews regard the album as one of the band's finest. The album peaked at 32 on the US Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, the highest position a Dream Theater album would reach on that chart until 2007's Systematic Chaos
Systematic Chaos
Systematic Chaos is the ninth studio album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater. Released on June 4, 2007 in the United Kingdom and June 5, 2007 in the United States, Systematic Chaos was the band's first release through Roadrunner Records, which was sold to their previous label...
. "Lie", "Caught in a Web" and "The Silent Man" were released as singles but failed to be as successful as "Pull Me Under" had been. The band's record label considered the album a commercial failure, which would lead to the band being pressured to write more radio-friendly songs on their next studio album, Falling into Infinity
Falling into Infinity
-Personnel:* James LaBrie – vocals* John Myung – bass, Chapman Stick* John Petrucci – guitars, backing vocals* Mike Portnoy – drums, backing vocals* Derek Sherinian – keyboards, backing vocals-Chart performance:Billboard 200:* Falling Into Infinity - #52...
.
Background
After a month-long break, Dream Theater started working on their third studio album in February 1994. The band's two-month writing sessions were located at Prince Studios, New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The lack of a leader within the band increased tensions in what were already tense sessions. Keyboardist Kevin Moore
Kevin Moore
For the blues singer, see Keb' Mo'.Kevin Moore is a keyboardist, vocalist and composer and founder of the Chroma Key music project. He is also a former member of the American progressive metal band Dream Theater, co-founder of the progressive rock supergroup O.S.I. and has composed film soundtracks...
noted at the time that "there are arguments that last forever because there's nobody to come in and draw the line". "When it came to the music, you had [guitarist] John Petrucci
John Petrucci
John Peter Petrucci is an American guitarist and songwriter best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. Along with his former bandmate Mike Portnoy, he has produced all Dream Theater albums since their 1999 release, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory...
and I playing the roles we still kind of play, and Kevin was also a forceful element," drummer Mike Portnoy
Mike Portnoy
Michael Stephen "Mike" Portnoy is an American drummer primarily known as the former drummer, backing vocalist, and a co-founder of the progressive metal band Dream Theater, as well as the temporary drummer for the hard rock band Avenged Sevenfold. Known for his drumming prowess and technical...
said. "In those days, [bassist] John Myung
John Myung
John Ro Myung is an American bassist, Chapman Stick player and a founding member of the progressive metal group Dream Theater. He is considered a virtuoso player who is widely recognized for his technical proficiency....
was a little bit more out of his shell, so the bass was a bit more predominant in the band. The fighting never came to blows, but there was a lot of bickering over every single element, like the fine details of what the third note on the sixty-fourth bar should be."
The success of Dream Theater's previous album, Images and Words
Images and Words
Images and Words is currently ranked #2 on Digital Dream Door's list of the top 100 progressive metal albums of all time. Music critic Piero Scaruffi includes the album at number 8, just after Fear Factory's Demanufacture and before Sepultura's Roots, in his classification of the best metal albums...
, particularly the single "Pull Me Under
Pull Me Under
-Personnel:*James LaBrie - vocals*John Petrucci - guitar, backing vocals*Kevin Moore - keyboards*John Myung - bass, chapman stick*Mike Portnoy - drums, backing vocals-External links:* http://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/dream_theater/pull_me_under/...
", put pressure on the band to produce a similarly successful follow-up album. "Somebody once said that you have your whole life to prepare for your first album and have about two months to prepare the follow-up, and that was very much the situation we faced in early 1994," Portnoy noted. The popularity of grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
and heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
meant that the band's record label, East West Records
East West Records
East West Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group, and operates under WMG's Independent Label Group.-History:...
, were keen for the band to create a heavier, darker album. Awake saw Petrucci use a seven-string guitar
Seven-string guitar
A seven-string guitar is a guitar with seven strings instead of the usual six. Some types of seven-string guitars are specific to certain cultures . The standard 7-string guitar tuning is BEADGbe...
for the first time, establishing a more riff-based writing style. "This style would further cement the fusion of metal and progressive
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
music, which is what Dream Theater are known for," Petrucci said. "I think it paved the way for many of our strongest and heaviest later songs like 'A Change of Seasons
A Change of Seasons
-Credits:* James LaBrie – Vocals* John Myung – bass* John Petrucci – guitars* Mike Portnoy – drums* Derek Sherinian – keyboards-Chart performance:Billboard 200:* A Change of Seasons – #58UK Albums Chart...
', 'The Glass Prison' and 'The Dark Eternal Night'." Vocalist James LaBrie
James LaBrie
Kevin James LaBrie is a Canadian vocalist who is best known as the lead singer of the American progressive metal band Dream Theater.-Early life:...
described his vocals on Awake as "more varied and a lot more aggressive" than on Images and Words to the extent that people may think the band had a new singer for the album.
Recording
The recording sessions for the album began in May 1994 at One On One Studios in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, with overdub work done at Devonshire Studios in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. John Purdell
John Purdell
John Purdell was a musician and record producer who is credited on such albums as the 1991 Ozzy Osbourne's heavy metal No More Tears and Dream Theater's Awake. He was born in San Diego and raised in Los Angeles...
and Duane Baron
Duane Baron
Duane Baron is a record producer who is credited on albums such as the 1991 Ozzy Osbourne heavy metal album No More Tears and Dream Theater's Awake.-References:...
, whose credits included Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...
's No More Tears
No More Tears
- 2002 Reissue :- Personnel :Musicians* Ozzy Osbourne – vocals* Zakk Wylde – guitar* Bob Daisley – bass* Randy Castillo – drums* John Sinclair – keyboards, pianoAdditional personnel* Mike Inez – inspiration, musical direction...
, were hired to produce
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
the album. The band - who had a difficult relationship with David Prater, the producer on Images and Words - enjoyed working with Purdell and Baron. "I think everyone felt we were able to express ourselves a lot more genuinely," Petrucci said. "The experience from the road, learning more about our sound and what we like and don't like enabled us to be more prepared. The producers were totally into capturing that and being patient with us. So everybody walked away being completely satisfied with their performances and their sounds."
The departure of Moore
Towards the end of the recording sessions, Kevin Moore announced to his bandmates that he was leaving the band. Petrucci, who was childhood friends with the keyboardist, found the news particularly hard to take. Myung noted that the announcement "didn't come out of the blue". LaBrie noticed changes in Moore at the end of the Images and Words tour. "He seemed to be more distant and wrapped up in himself... It wasn't that he was rude or unpleasant with anyone," he said. "But when Mike, John Petrucci and John Myung were in the rehearsal studio putting together the music for Awake, he wasn't there as he had been in the past. And when he was there, the guys told me he'd be sitting reading a magazine when they were trying to work out riffs." "After the record was recorded in Los Angeles, he returned to New York, sold his belongings, packed everything into his station wagonStation wagon
A station wagon is a body style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door , instead of a trunk lid...
and said 'I'm moving away from Long Island,'" Dream Theater's co-manager Jim Pitulski recalled. "So I asked him where he was moving to, and he said, 'I'll let you know when I get there.' He really had no idea what he was doing and he just started driving across the country. I kind of admired that."
Moore stated that he decided to leave because his approach to writing music had changed. He had become more interested in writing and recording his own material. Myung said that Moore left the band out of "peace of mind and what he wanted to do musically that he couldn't do in the band". The band's business manager, Rob Shore, suggested that the idea of prolonged touring was a contributing factor in Moore's decision. Describing Moore as "a very private person", Portnoy thought that he might have left because "the whole machine of the music business just wasn't his cup of tea". When Moore announced his decision to leave, he was single, while LaBrie was married, Portnoy and Petrucci had girlfriends and Myung, according to Portnoy, "was kind of in his own world". Portnoy speculated that any resentment or jealousy Moore felt because of this may have influenced his decision. After leaving Dream Theater, Moore continued to release music, musically far-removed from his work with the band.
Mixing
Awake was mixed at Unique Studios, New York City. When mixing, Purdell and Baron were initially joined by the remaining members of the band. "We were all in the studio when it first started and it was just unfair to the producers," vocalist James LaBrieJames LaBrie
Kevin James LaBrie is a Canadian vocalist who is best known as the lead singer of the American progressive metal band Dream Theater.-Early life:...
said. "Obviously each guy was focusing on his instrument, so it was like 'Wait, I want me up more!' So they were trying to please everyone and you just can't do that." The band had to be banned from the mixing sessions to allow Purdell and Baron to mix the album to a high enough standard. "The one great thing, though - even though we were out of the studio - was that they were aware of what we wanted and didn't want," LaBrie said. "When David Prater mixed Images and Words it was really unfortunate because he forgot to bring some sections out and he really didn't understand what we wanted from the final music. When Duane and John went in, they knew everything that needed to be there and how we wanted it to be represented."
Songs
The album's opening track, "6:00", features lyrics written by Moore, hinting at the growing distance between him and the rest of the band. Petrucci wrote the lyrics of "Innocence Faded", inspired by his deteriorating friendship with Moore. "The way I wrote lyrics a lot of the time is that I'll take an initial spark of an idea... But then I'll kind of generalize and add in other situations," Petrucci said. "So I couldn't say it was solely about that, but it was definitely inspired by that. There was a feeling of it not being the same way it had been, and the realization that things were not always going to remain the same.""Erotomania", "Voices" and "The Silent Man" form a three-part suite
Suite
In music, a suite is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral pieces normally performed in a concert setting rather than as accompaniment; they may be extracts from an opera, ballet , or incidental music to a play or film , or they may be entirely original movements .In the...
titled "A Mind Beside Itself". Portnoy stated that the instrumental "Erotomania" was written "off the cuff" as "a bit of a joke and parody". Petrucci penned the lyrics to "Voices", dealing with the subject of mental illness. He researched schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
and similar disorders and used religious terms "to make things more vivid". "When I was writing it, I saw these terms and medical things that were just brilliant," he said. "Like there was a guy who felt that his skin was inside out. I read that and was like 'Oh my God! That's unbelievable; I've got to write about that.'" Petrucci wrote the music and lyrics to the acoustic "The Silent Man". LaBrie described the lyrics as dealing with "communication breakdown, for instance between a father and a son. We feel that we have to play certain roles when around one of our parents, and we never really get to know the real person. I'm lucky that I behave with my own father like I would a friend. We can joke around and go for a beer."
Portnoy wrote the lyrics to "The Mirror", describing his battle with alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
. He would return to the subject on later Dream Theater albums with his Twelve-step Suite
Twelve-step Suite
The Twelve-step Suite , is a series of five songs by progressive metal band Dream Theater...
. "Lie" was originally part of "The Mirror", but LaBrie thought it was strong enough to be a song in itself. "I remember one of the first tapes [the band] sent me to start jamming with up in Canada was 'The Mirror'," LaBrie said. "We used to jam instrumentally to it on the last tour and then we built it into a song, with the lyrics and melodies but also within the song was 'Lie'. I heard this groove and I was going 'Oh my God, that's a song in itself!' So I called up the guys and said 'Man, I really feel strong about this song. Can't we take that groove and build a song?'" The Mirror is also the first Dream Theater song to feature lyrics by Portnoy.
"Lifting Shadows off a Dream" began as a poem and two chords brought to the band by Myung. "We worked on it, racked our brains, recorded the jam and by the end of the night we were like 'Ahh fuck it. This sucks,'" Petrucci recalled. "We came by the next day, listened to the recording and thought it could be really cool. All of a sudden it evolved into this song."
"Space-Dye Vest" was written by Moore, who brought the piece into the studio as a completed song. "Kevin Moore saw this photograph in a fashion magazine of a beautiful model wearing a space-dye vest and he fell in love with her," LaBrie said. "He carried that magazine around with him for ages, but he realized that the only way the innocence could be kept, so that he could retain that love for her, was if she stayed on the page. If he'd met her, all that would have been lost." Portnoy recalled that when the rest of the band first heard the song "we thought it was so very, very different we didn't think we even wanted to fuck with it." He said that if they had known Moore was going to leave the band, they would not have included it on the album. Portnoy considered "Space-Dye Vest" "totally 100% [Moore's] song", and for that reason the band would never play the song live without Moore.
Awake is to date, the only Dream Theater album to have lyrical contributions from all five then-current members.
Artwork
Larry Freemantle, who had designed the cover of Images and Words, provided the artwork for Awake. As with Images and Words, the band instructed Freemantle to include several lyrical references in the cover, such as a clock showing the time 6:00, a mirror and a spider in the middle of a web. "The band were very definite about what they wanted, and where they wanted it," Freemantle said. "The mirror was to be buried in the sand with a factory in the background, so it was just a case of putting it together." Access Images, the company Freemantle had used for Images and Words, had broken up, meaning that he had to put the cover together using stock imageStock image
Stock image can mean the following:* A stock image in publishing is an image that is commercially available .* A stock image in finance is a stock valuation coefficient based on the "stock profile" , as it is really or as investors perceive it...
s himself. "It was done really quickly and I always felt frustrated with that sleeve as I lost too much time on it," Freemantle said. "I was always up against deadlines on certain things and it got away from me."
Release and promotion
Awake was released on October 4, 1994 by East West RecordsEast West Records
East West Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group, and operates under WMG's Independent Label Group.-History:...
. LaBrie considered the album's title to be "the perfect word to describe the album's lyrics. What we're basically talking about is the awareness of your existence - becoming closer and more in touch with yourself and ultimately discovering what works best for you as an individual as you try to get through life." Portnoy dedicated the album to his biggest inspiration, Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
, who died in 1993.
The album sold 36.160 copies the first week it was released. "Lie", the album's lead single, was released in late September. The accompanying music video featured the band, then a four-piece, playing the track at various locations in New York City, including the Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River...
, Tribeca
TriBeCa
Tribeca is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York in the United States. Its name is an acronym based on the words "Triangle below Canal Street", and is properly bounded by Canal Street, West Street, Broadway, and Vesey Street...
and a tunnel in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
(which had to be temporarily closed in order to complete the shoot). It was hoped that "Lie" would be as successful as "Pull Me Under
Pull Me Under
-Personnel:*James LaBrie - vocals*John Petrucci - guitar, backing vocals*Kevin Moore - keyboards*John Myung - bass, chapman stick*Mike Portnoy - drums, backing vocals-External links:* http://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/dream_theater/pull_me_under/...
" had been, but the single failed to make an impact on the charts. "Caught in a Web" and "The Silent Man" were the album's second and third singles respectively. Portnoy was keen to direct the music video for "The Silent Man", but East West only offered him a co-directing credit with Pamela Birkhead. On the day of the shoot, Portnoy became violently ill, and when not needed to perform rested in his tour bus bunk.
Touring
With Moore no longer a member of Dream Theater, the band needed to find a replacement keyboardist for the forthcoming world tour in support of Awake. Before the tour started, the band had a headlining concert on September 9, 1994 at the Foundations ForumFoundations Forum
Foundations Forum was the first exclusively heavy metal music industry convention, held annually from 1988 - 1997 in Los Angeles. The convention was set up by Concrete Marketing who had in January 1988 created the first industry trade magazine for the heavy metal world - Foundations...
in Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
. The album was to be unveiled in a live setting for the first time. Jordan Rudess
Jordan Rudess
Jordan Rudess is an American keyboardist best known as a member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater and the progressive rock supergroup Liquid Tension Experiment.-Biography:...
' audition impressed the band, with Portnoy claiming that it had "blown his mind" and that Rudess was the "best keyboard player we'd ever seen". Rudess accepted the band's offer to perform with them at the Burbank show, but decided against joining the band for the entire tour. At the same time, he had received an offer to perform with the Dixie Dregs
Dixie Dregs
The Dixie Dregs are an American band formed in the 1970s. Their mostly instrumental music fuses jazz, southern rock, bluegrass and classical forms in an often unique style.-Formation and early years:...
for shorter runs of shows and had a job with Kurzweil. Rudess also had a young family and was unsure if Dream Theater "was just going to be a flash in the pan". "I decided I would be better off going with the Dregs, continuing with Kurzweil and being around for my family as much as possible," Rudess said. The show was not a success: the band were nervous of playing without Moore and were out of practise from not having played live for some time. Rudess eventually joined Dream Theater as a full band member in 1999.
The band held another round of auditions and were impressed with Derek Sherinian
Derek Sherinian
Derek Sherinian is a rock keyboardist who has toured and recorded for Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, Yngwie Malmsteen, Kiss, and Alice In Chains. He was also a member of Dream Theater and is the founder of the instrumental metal-fusion band Planet X...
. Sherinian, who studied at Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
the year before Petrucci, Portnoy and Myung did, had previously played with Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
and Kiss
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...
and enjoyed similar music to the other members of Dream Theater. He was offered the position on a trial basis at the beginning of October 1994, giving him just two weeks to learn two hours of highly complex music. "It's one thing going in to play for an artist with hit songs that you've heard since you were a kid, and the songs are ingrained in your mind," Sherinian said. "It was another thing altogether going in with music you've never heard before that is totally off the charts as far as technical prowess... But it is amazing what one will do to ascend... when I was in New York at the rehearsals, I would play the songs at night over and over on a loop so that I would be subliminally programmed and it would ingrain it in my head." Sherinian was officially asked to join the band as a full member in February 1995.
The US leg of the Waking Up The World tour began on October 20, 1994 and finished on December 9. Over Christmas, LaBrie went on holiday to Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
with his wife, where he had violent food poisoning. Upon his return home he consulted an ears, nose and throat specialist, who told LaBrie that he had ruptured his vocal chords, advising him not to sing for six months to a year. "I was in total shock and devastated," LaBrie said. "On the US leg I had been so psyched and couldn't wait to blow everyone away around the rest of the world. We weren't in a position for me to take a six-month break so I had to keep touring." LaBrie was able to continue performing, but his voice became unpredictable. "It was absolutely miserable, and it was an extremely dark and depressing period for me," he recalled. "Literally every fucking night on the European leg, I wouldn't know if my voice would be there or if it would cooperate... I didn't feel that my voice really started to come back until maybe the Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence is the sixth full-length studio album by progressive metal band Dream Theater. It was released as a double-disc album on January 29, 2002 by Elektra Records...
tour in 2002. That's when I started to feel my range and strength coming back."
The Great Hanshin earthquake
Great Hanshin earthquake
The Great Hanshin earthquake, or Kobe earthquake, was an earthquake that occurred on Tuesday, January 17, 1995, at 05:46 JST in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. It measured 6.8 on the moment magnitude scale , and Mj7.3 on JMA magnitude scale. The tremors lasted for approximately 20...
struck Japan while Dream Theater were touring there. Although none of the band was injured, they seriously considered calling off the tour, but only ended up canceling one show. The band held a minute's silence at every show in Japan in memory of those who had died. During the soundcheck
Soundcheck
A soundcheck is the preparation that takes place before a concert, speech, or similar performance, when the performer and the sound crew run through a small portion of the upcoming show on the venue's sound system to make sure that the sound in the venue's "Front Of House" and stage monitor sound...
s for the Japanese shows, the band rehearsed a series of cover songs
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
. These were performed at a special covers-only show in Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club
Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club
Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club is a jazz club which has operated in London since 1959.The club opened on 30 October 1959 in a basement at 39 Gerrard Street in London's Soho district. It was managed by musicians Ronnie Scott and Pete King. In 1965 it moved to a larger venue nearby at 47 Frith Street...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The show, performed to an invitation-only audience of three hundred, featured guest musicians such as Barney Greenway, Steve Hogarth
Steve Hogarth
Steve Hogarth also known as "h", is the lead vocalist and occasional keyboardist/guitarist with the British rock band Marillion. Hogarth was formerly a keyboard player and co-lead vocalist with The Europeans and vocalist with How We Live...
, Steve Rothery
Steve Rothery
Steve Rothery is the guitarist of the English rock band Marillion. He was born in Brampton, South Yorkshire, England. From the age of six he lived in Whitby, North Yorkshire.-Biography:...
and Steve Howe
Steve Howe (guitarist)
Stephen James "Steve" Howe is an English guitarist, known for his work with the progressive rock group Yes...
. A selection of covers and medleys performed by Dream Theater at this show were released on A Change of Seasons
A Change of Seasons
-Credits:* James LaBrie – Vocals* John Myung – bass* John Petrucci – guitars* Mike Portnoy – drums* Derek Sherinian – keyboards-Chart performance:Billboard 200:* A Change of Seasons – #58UK Albums Chart...
.
Reception
Awake peaked at 32 on the Billboard 200Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, remaining in the charts for six weeks. This would remain the band's highest-charting release in the US until 2007's Systematic Chaos
Systematic Chaos
Systematic Chaos is the ninth studio album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater. Released on June 4, 2007 in the United Kingdom and June 5, 2007 in the United States, Systematic Chaos was the band's first release through Roadrunner Records, which was sold to their previous label...
. The album peaked in the top 20 in four countries. Derek Oliver, Dream Theater's label representative, considered the album to be a commercial failure. This led to the band once again working with David Prater on A Change of Seasons
A Change of Seasons
-Credits:* James LaBrie – Vocals* John Myung – bass* John Petrucci – guitars* Mike Portnoy – drums* Derek Sherinian – keyboards-Chart performance:Billboard 200:* A Change of Seasons – #58UK Albums Chart...
and to the record label putting increasing pressure on the band to make songs on their next studio album, Falling into Infinity
Falling into Infinity
-Personnel:* James LaBrie – vocals* John Myung – bass, Chapman Stick* John Petrucci – guitars, backing vocals* Mike Portnoy – drums, backing vocals* Derek Sherinian – keyboards, backing vocals-Chart performance:Billboard 200:* Falling Into Infinity - #52...
, more commercial and radio-friendly.
Upon release, Awake received mixed reviews. Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
wrote that "fans of Marillion
Marillion
Marillion are a British rock band, formed in Aylesbury, England in 1979. Their recorded studio output comprises sixteen albums generally regarded in two distinct eras, delineated by the departure of original vocalist & frontman Fish in late 1988, and the subsequent arrival of replacement Steve...
may well love this, and even the sceptical listener can enjoy the crunching, radio-friendly choruses of 'Scarred' and 'Caught in a Web'." Guitar World
Guitar World
Guitar World is a monthly music magazine devoted to guitarists. It contains original interviews, album and gear reviews and guitar and bass tablature of approximately five songs each month. The magazine is published 13 times per year...
ranked the album as one of the top ten releases of the year, stating that "this shred
Shred guitar
Shred guitar or shredding is lead electric guitar playing that relies heavily on fast guitar solos. While some critics argue that shred guitar is associated with "... sweep-picked arpeggios, diminished and harmonic minor scales, finger-tapping and ... whammy-bar abuse", several guitar...
party left me punch drunk and, for once in my life, fully Awake." Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer is a monthly heavy metal music magazine published in the United Kingdom by Future Publishing, and in several other countries by different publishers. Metal Hammer articles feature both mainstream bands and more unusual acts from the whole spectrum of heavy metal music...
dismissed Awake as "musical masturbation": "Progressive rock is basically a very adolescent notion of what 'grown up' music might sound like - more notes, longer solos and, best/worst of all, convulated concepts... Their propensity for pomposity extends to the ballad 'Silent Man', which would probably like to be Queensrÿche
Queensrÿche
thumb|250px|right|Queensrÿche's classic line-up performing at the [[Sauna Open Air Metal Festival]] 2011 in [[Tampere]], [[Finland]]. Left to right: bass Eddie Jackson, lead vocals Geoff Tate, drums Scott Rockenfield and guitars Michael Wilton....
's 'Silent Lucidity
Silent Lucidity
"Silent Lucidity" is a single by the American progressive metal band Queensrÿche from the 1990 album Empire. The song peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at #1 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart. The song was composed by lead guitarist Chris DeGarmo...
' but in fact sounds like Stryper
Stryper
Stryper is a Christian glam metal band from Orange County, California. The group's lineup consists of Michael Sweet , Oz Fox , Tim Gaines , and Robert Sweet...
on a particularly pious day". The album has since sold nearly 400,000.
More recent reviews have been more favorable. Reviewers praised the album's production, noting the album is darker and heavier than previous Dream Theater releases. The musicianship of the band has been praised. Phil Carter of Allmusic highlighted Petrucci and Portnoy's performances; Metal Storm praised LaBrie and Portnoy; Murat Batmaz of Sea of Tranquility praised all the performances, but singled out Moore's contribution as "immense" and complimented him on "a lucid layer of atmosphere around [the album] built by none other than Kevin Moore." Carter ranked "Lie", "Scarred", "Caught in a Web" and "Space-Dye Vest" as the best tracks. Metal Storm praised "6:00" and the "A Mind Beside Itself" suite.
In a 1995 Guitar World interview, Chuck Schuldiner
Chuck Schuldiner
Charles Michael "Chuck" Schuldiner was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist.Schuldiner was the singer, songwriter, and guitarist of the band Death, which he founded in 1983, initially under the name Mantas. He also recorded as guitarist and songwriter with his other band, Control Denied...
praised Awake and the band Dream Theater in general, claiming that "their music is very complex, but they definitely have hooks, which is crucial to making music listenable", citing them as an influence on the more progressive nature of his band Death
Death (band)
Death was an American metal band founded in 1983. The band's founder, Chuck Schuldiner, is considered "a pioneering force in death metal and grindcore". The band ceased to exist after Schuldiner died of brain cancer in 2001, though remains an enduring heavy metal brand.Death is considered one of...
's later material as opposed to the stagnant death metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
scene at the time http://www.emptywords.org/GuitarWorld04-95Profile.htm.
Track listing
Chart positions
| Chart (1994) | Position |
|---|---|
| German Albums Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
15 |
| Japanese Albums Chart Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc... |
7 |
| Dutch Albums Chart MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top... |
33 |
| Swedish Albums Chart Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association .... |
5 |
| Swiss Albums Chart Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
12 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
65 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
32 |
| Single | Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Lie" | 1994 | Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... Mainstream Rock Tracks |
38 |
Personnel
Dream Theater- James LaBrieJames LaBrieKevin James LaBrie is a Canadian vocalist who is best known as the lead singer of the American progressive metal band Dream Theater.-Early life:...
– vocals - John PetrucciJohn PetrucciJohn Peter Petrucci is an American guitarist and songwriter best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. Along with his former bandmate Mike Portnoy, he has produced all Dream Theater albums since their 1999 release, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - John MyungJohn MyungJohn Ro Myung is an American bassist, Chapman Stick player and a founding member of the progressive metal group Dream Theater. He is considered a virtuoso player who is widely recognized for his technical proficiency....
– bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Kevin MooreKevin MooreFor the blues singer, see Keb' Mo'.Kevin Moore is a keyboardist, vocalist and composer and founder of the Chroma Key music project. He is also a former member of the American progressive metal band Dream Theater, co-founder of the progressive rock supergroup O.S.I. and has composed film soundtracks...
– keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, co-lead vocals on "Space-Dye Vest" - Mike PortnoyMike PortnoyMichael Stephen "Mike" Portnoy is an American drummer primarily known as the former drummer, backing vocalist, and a co-founder of the progressive metal band Dream Theater, as well as the temporary drummer for the hard rock band Avenged Sevenfold. Known for his drumming prowess and technical...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, percussion
Production
- John PurdellJohn PurdellJohn Purdell was a musician and record producer who is credited on such albums as the 1991 Ozzy Osbourne's heavy metal No More Tears and Dream Theater's Awake. He was born in San Diego and raised in Los Angeles...
and Duane BaronDuane BaronDuane Baron is a record producer who is credited on albums such as the 1991 Ozzy Osbourne heavy metal album No More Tears and Dream Theater's Awake.-References:...
– producersRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, engineers, mixers - Ted Jensen – masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
- Rick Kern – programming on "Space-Dye Vest"
- Larry Freemantle and Donald May – art direction
- Dream Theater and Dan Muro – cover concept
- Dennis Keeley – photography