2. Wait for Sleep + Learning to Live (I&W)
To me these two songs are one piece and what an amazing piece they are. The Wait for Sleep piano theme is absolutely beautiful and Labrie sings beautifully and the lyrics are fantastic.
"God give me the power to take breath from a breeze
And call life from a cold metal frame"
Now Learning to Live is the real star here as amazing as Wait for Sleep is this is what makes it so great. The intro is just awesome. The keyboards, the drums, the riffing. The keyboards right before it slows down for the first verse are just amazing. The bass line there is fantastic and the vocals are some of Labrie's best ever throughout. The F# and the ending being the best vocal parts of course. The riff once it gets to 3:10 is just awesome and one of the best on I&W's. I absolutely love the whole acoustic section. I just get lost in it every single time. It's majestic and the drums during it are perfect. Then the electric guitar kicks back in and it builds up to the all important F# and preceding guitar solo which just blows me away every single time I listen to this song and i've listened to it a lot. The keyboard after it perfect and then the whole wait for sleep theme section is just brilliant the way each member contributes to it is just flawless. The guitar part is fantastic and then the amazing little guitar and keyboard solos during it. Then finally the amazing end vocals and the bass that follows and the outro and the ooh's during it make it perfect. I don't know what more I can say but this is a master piece of prog metal other than how amazing Myung's lyrics are.. Though there is one song that tops it and that will be my number one tomorrow.