Originally published in Rolling Stone.com · March 2023
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91 ‘Pull Me Under,’ Dream Theater
In the wake of Eighties trailblazers like Queensrÿche and Fates Warning, Dream Theater became the leaders of American progressive metal in the Nineties. A year after Nirvana released ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ with all its crudely simple guitar riffs, Dream Theater held fast to the showy technicality of prog rock, improbably earning a hit with the dizzying showmanship of their debut single, ‘Pull Me Under.’ A slickly arranged epic built around Mike Portnoy’s massive-sounding drums and guitarist John Petrucci’s muscular-yet-intricate riffs and Yngwie Malmsteen-esque flourishes, the track effortlessly shifts from movement to movement, echoing Yes from two decades earlier. Singer James LaBrie passionately belts out verbose, philosophical lyrics inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet, keeping this seemingly arch composition accessible for eight exciting minutes. —A.B.