The album is slowly growing on me. I'm getting more familiar with it and am trying to get more and more what they wanted to convey with it. I feel that I was maybe wrong in the beginning to say that they tried to create something dark and failed - they did not try to create something THAT dark in the first place I think. Sure, there are dark moments but no song feels completely this way, except for SDV and maybe the mirror. Instead, I find it has a lot of energetic stuff going on and is a very sing-along album. My new thoughts with a quick ranking (which will most probably change soon anyway):
10. Caught in a web: the intro is still really awkward, the chorus slowly feels more and more natural even though not really impressive, but the angry bits are really great now, the singing really serves them.
9. The Silent Man: the verses are really great and I would have loved the whole song to be that way, the chorus should still have appeared only once in my opinion. But I am no longer absolutely angry after this song; it could have been pulled off better but it sounds nice.
8. 6'00: a great opener, I still think the vocals aren't the best for this one, especially the chorus where the way "melody" is sung feels weird compared to how "window" is sung but it has a great vibe - the energetic stuff I was mentioning earlier. The instrumental bits are really cool.
7. Innocence Faded: man, I really, really wish the chorus was better, because I'm starting to think it could be phenomenal. The atmosphere here is incredible, the best being the pre-chorus, what an amazing arrangement. Also, I now like the instrumental ending.
6. Erotomania: remains their worst instrumental, but no longer a bad one per any means. I could definitely do without the ACOS-driven sections but the rest is really inspired and the way other themes are re-used works well. I still have not memorized it perfectly and could not tell what my favorite section is.
5. Lifting shadows off a dream: a kind of Innocence Faded that turned out great, it's not their best ballad but it's definitely beautiful and has great lyrics.
4. The Mirror/Lie: I have to count them as one song, because I REALLY cannot listen to The Mirror on its own. It just stops. It's not even like those songs where the ending transitions into the next one, here there is like no transition. Anyway, this duo is really great, I have a preference for The Mirror that I now consider to be the beginning and the end of the huge track that it creates, kind of like Lie is a song within the song. And I believe it was not intended to be a song originally but just a part of TM until JLB pointed out it was great enough to be expanded upon - so yeah it's really like a song within the song. So The Mirror parts, beginning and ending, are really, really great, with a kind of Halloween vibe, I could almost picture a vampire roaming inside an eerie mansion late at night... okay the lyrics deal with Portnoy's alcoholism but hey. One of the most unique thing of their discography. Lie, while not as great, does not take away from The Mirror and feels natural in between. This time it is the more angry and energetic stuff brought forward, a bit of a mix between CIAW and 6'00 bests parts. I still don't understand what the lyrics are supposed to be about on this one though, they are a bit weird.
3. Scarred: Hearing it right now. Love the intro, the most unexpected drum intro of their catalogue I think, it feels so smooth, almost jazzy. From their it evolves into several interesting sections, they are not mind-blowing but are great altogether, even though the transitions are kind of unexistant and the riffs kinda bland for DT. The "How come" section is still the greatest and one of the finest moment of the album. The chorus is also really smooth, the instrumental section is great, starting with a bit that reminds me Metropolis Pt.1 I think, and then the solos are really enjoyable. The outro is not as epic as LtL but is a great way to end it on an unexpected note just like the progression has been strange throughout the whole song.
2. Voices: I knew it would grow on me, and now all I can say is I love it. Has all the elements included in Scarred but is more coherent and the guitar solo is just so tasteful... might become number 1 soon, but for now it is still...
1. Space-Dye Vest: the perfect closer, the point where the album finally settles on this really dark mood, I can't help but love it. It is such a personal song for KM I guess, you can hardly judge it, it comes straight from the heart. But the band as a whole is doing a great job on it. I really can't say much about it, you all know the feelings this one evokes, it's really moving stuff. I know it's not a universally loved DT song though, but I guess either we completely love or hate it. I also find that the final lyrics just hit so hard.
I am noticing that Awake is almost a complete opposite from Black Clouds - BC&SL I started a bit underwhelmed because it felt a bit like the most "classic" DT album and then I started liking it more and more because it showcases some of the best aspects of the band. You can tell it was written following a routine that had settled in but still this same routine is kind of what allowed them to write material that would satisfy you if you liked all their different aspects. Awake is completely different because you can tell they are still searching their sound, and thus the songs are flawed, balancing between really creative moments and more awkward ones; but at the same time it gives to those songs a completely unique taste, it is flawed but feels fresh. In the end, what surprises me the most now I guess, is how I&W feels so well-balanced that I thought they had already found their sound from that album, hence why I was not expecting something like Awake to come after. So I guess it is more of a great coincidence that I&W works so well, I swear if I did not know the order of their discography I would believe Awake came before, because to me that would be the logical evolution of their musical identity. Anyway, the opposite way I started liking BC&SL more and more, I am now liking Awake more and more, because it is this flawed record with a unique flavour. Now, I don't even want to begin to think about how hard it will be to rank them when I will finally be familiar will all of their material...