From the very first opening drum maelstrom, followed by the odd guitar melody of the opener 6:00, it's quite obvious that this is a darker, heavier Dream Theater. The album doesn't really hit it's stride until the 3^rd song, Innocence Faded however, though the first two songs are not to be discounted as weak. Many fans of Dream Theater's older work call this their best album, and for a good reason, it's their perfect blenting of Metal and Prog, going to both extremes with a 20 minute epic "A Mind Beside Itself" and a riff-heavy radio-friendly Metal song, Lie.

This marked Kevin Moore's last contribution to Dream Theater, and by far his best, the highlight being the somber and depressing album closer, Space-Dye Vest. There really isn't a weak point on this album as Dream Theater creates some of the heaviest, most emotional and introspective work of their career. Awake is a must-have for fans of Dream Theater, Heavy Metal, prog or any kind of emotional music.