I guess it’s song ranking time!
1: Afterlife
2: Only a Matter of Time
3: Ytse Jam
4: The Killing Hand
5: The Ones Who Help to Set the Sun
6: A Fortune in Lies
7: Status Seeker
8: Light Fuse and Getaway
This is a great album (I mean Dream Theater doesn’t really have a bad album) but there are definitely some glaring flaws, which is to be expected from a band’s first studio effort. The production is the most glaring flaw, but honestly it doesn’t sound bad: just cheap. Terry Date did a great job with the limited budget, and there’s breathing room in the sound that certain more modern Dream Theater releases could benefit from (looking at you Systematic Chaos and self titled).
Next issue: the vocals. Now this isn’t meant to be a knock on Charlie as he is a great singer, he just wasn’t the right fit for the band. He did a great job on this album all things considered, but you can hear him straining on some notes that James hits effortlessly live. Both the band and Charlie agreed that them parting ways was for the best, and I’m glad that the limitations of Charlie’s voice didn’t hamper this album.
Final issue and maybe the least talked about one: the songwriting. Dream Theater hadn’t quite refined their arrangement style yet, and there are some questionable transitions throughout this record. A Fortune in Lies, The Killing Hand, and Light Fuse and Getaway are the biggest offenders of this, but I still enjoy two of those three. There are songs like Afterlife, which benefits from sticking to a simpler structure, and Only a Matter of Time, which hints at what Dream Theater would be capable of in the near future (actually the next album). As a whole though, When Dream and Day Unite is the record of a band still finding their sound and style.
I know I talked about some of the problems the album has, but as I said I still think it’s great and in the last paragraph I hinted at what I think it’s biggest strength is. When Dream and Day Unite has a youthful energy to it. The band had just signed a record deal. They were excited to have their opportunity and naive to the flaws in the industry. This album reflects that perfectly. The energy in each song screams through the speakers. You can truly hear the sound of a band ready and excited for the future, but the world wasn’t ready for them. Dream Theater invented a new subgenre and changed the prog scene forever. Sure most people didn’t take notice until the next album, but the entire sound of progressive metal started here. And that’s where this album’s legacy lies: in bands like Haken, Periphery, Animals as Leaders, Between the Buried and Me, Opeth, and so many more modern progressive metal bands. The entire world of progressive rock as we know it today was shaped by the forgotten first album of one of the genres biggest bands. So let’s celebrate When Dream and Day Unite, the launching point for the modern progressive world.