With the new line-up, "the results are quite pleasing" with the band displaying greater vitality and strength than their more recent albums, with "generally superb" material. The review picked "Machine Messiah", "Does It Really Happen?" and "Tempus Fugit" as highlight tracks. George Kanzler in Tallahassee Democrat wrote that Yes still retained their "patented group sound" despite Anderson and Wakeman's departure, with high tenor vocals, "rhapsodic" solos, and "brisk" tempo changes. He picked out Howe's guitar work as the band's "invaluable asset" but said the lyrics "are pretentious as always" which focuses mostly on a mixture of light and dark imagery. Rolling Stone picked out "Machine Messiah", "Tempus Fugit", and "Into the Lens" as stand out tracks. It noted the addition of Horn and Downes in the band "has not substantially altered the Yes sound, image or presentation. The high vocals, symphonic arrangements, and quasi-mystical lyrics are still there". It pointed out the "fresh new spirit" of the group's playing, though commented that the Buggles' hit single "Video Killed the Radio Star" is more memorable than the album itself. Joe Konz, in The Indianapolis Star, wrote Downes is an "adequate" replacement for Wakeman but pointed out that Horn's voice does not work as well in certain sections, such as "Into the Lens". He picked out that track with "Machine Messiah" and "Tempus Fugit" as highlights, the latter containing what Yes "does best" with harmony singing, playing their instruments "rampantly", and making "vigorous rock and roll". On "Machine Messiah", the band "assembles every kind of artillery that it can unload" with its heavy metal opening and duel between guitar and vocoder which Konz compared to "Dueling Banjos" from the film Deliverance. He concluded with Drama being Yes's best in years. In a review written in the Fort Lauderdale News, Cameron Cohick thought Drama "sounds exactly like Yes has always sounded. Frighteningly so". The opening to "Machine Messiah" is compared to Black Sabbath fashion with its "ponderous, droning riff" and keyboard lines from Downes that he compared to Wakeman. He compared the overall mood of Drama to Fragile and Close to the Edge (1972) with "relatively simple" song structures, most with at least one good riff. Though he considered the lyrics are "the usual quasi-cosmic tripe", Cohick picked "Run Through the Light" as the album's best track which he compared to "The Battle of Evermore" by Led Zeppelin. Music critic Rick Johnson thought