I heard a lot of bad things about this album, such as "Everything Dream Theater do is amazing, apart from that horror show first album" and many in a similar line. I wasn't planning on buying it as only my 2nd Dream Theater purchase, but I got so tied up deciding what to buy I have just decided to get them all in chronological order (of course I missed the Majesty Demos, a rare private release 3 years before this, but then that is rare.) I kind of had an image of this album as a kind of Pre-Dream Theater. Maybe it is the very un-Dream Theater cover with what I am sure is not their normal wordmark. Maybe it is the fact that this is the only studio album of theirs that was released in the 80s, and maybe it is that the singer, Charlie Domonics, is different from the singer (James LaBrie) in all other Dream Theater albums, or maybe that their 2nd album, my 1st purchase, Images and Words, was their breakout and still is their best seller, this album was a little bit of a false start… more »

I heard a lot of bad things about this album, such as "Everything Dream Theater do is amazing, apart from that horror show first album" and many in a similar line. I wasn't planning on buying it as only my 2nd Dream Theater purchase, but I got so tied up deciding what to buy I have just decided to get them all in chronological order (of course I missed the Majesty Demos, a rare private release 3 years before this, but then that is rare.) I kind of had an image of this album as a kind of Pre-Dream Theater. Maybe it is the very un-Dream Theater cover with what I am sure is not their normal wordmark. Maybe it is the fact that this is the only studio album of theirs that was released in the 80s, and maybe it is that the singer, Charlie Domonics, is different from the singer (James LaBrie) in all other Dream Theater albums, or maybe that their 2nd album, my 1st purchase, Images and Words, was their breakout and still is their best seller, this album was a little bit of a false start commercially. Dream Theater were originally called Majesty, and I had almost considered this album part of Majesty, not Dream Theater. How Wrong I was.

Of course it is different from Images and Words. But Images and Words is as differnet from Awake, and Awake is very removed from Falling into Infinity, and so on. Every album is a different feeling, as this is a progressive band.

And as for the style, I think this is progressive rock not progressive metal as now played by Dream Theater. This is because, despite having a lot of metal influence, it seems to be ProgRock influenced by metal, not metal made progressive, like Opeth. And, at times, it is clearly not metal at all, wheras it never steps outside of ProgRock.

I loved this album, but I wouldn't recommend it as a first Dream Theater purchase, immerse yourself in Images and Words first, and maybe Awake or Scenes from a Memory as well before plunging head-first into this. You really need to know the band to cope with some of this, especially the more progressive stuff such as Light Fuse and Get Away (Track 5, my favourite.) Maybe that is why it made little commercial impact. I lent this to a friend along with Images and Words, and he had heard very little Dream Theater before. He likes I&W but described this album as so rubbish it was beyond belief. This is for Dream Theater fans only, I think, no new converts will be won.

The album has a driving, intense, dark, and brooding mood above a very 80s style.
1: A Fortune in Lies grabs your attention with an epic start and never dissapoints with full-tilt ProgMetal throughout.
2: Status Seeker is so 80s that it would have sounded too 80s in the 80s I think. Little metal here but very nice.
3: The Ytse Jam is an instrumental that begins to show what these musicians can really do.
4: The Killing Hand is Dream Theater's first epic, and watch out for the high notes in the voice, they are wild.
5: Light Fuse and Get away is by the Keyboardist, Moore, my favourite DT composer, but these lyrics are dark and bitter, unlike most of his works. A very progressive track with a metal feel.
6: Afterlife is the ultimate cheesy rock song, very uplifting.
7: The Ones who helped to set the sun is only as long as it is because of the nearly 3 minute keyboard intro, compliments of Kevin Moore. The rest of the song is the heaviest the album gets.
8: Only a Matter of Time sounds nearly as 80s as Status Seeker, and provides an epic and uplifting end to the album. But there isn't enough blank space at the end of the track, so watch out when using media player, you get a really epic finale that is immediately replaced by anything you have on your computer. Kse's Numbered Days rather ruined the effect.