Octavarium

[Siddhartha]

With a song like Octavarium, the album would be a masterpiece even if the rest of the tracks were NOMAC noise.

[IdoSC]

It used to be "up there", but honestly the past 3 albums occupied my top 5 list along with I&W and SFAM. So I suppose 8VM is currently just in the "middle" for me, as the 6th album from the top?

I'll vote for "up there", just because benefit of the doubt. I really do love this album.

[Train of Naught]

Why did you change the poll option names after some of the people had already voted on it? 

[PixelDream]

I voted middle, but I really love the album and I return to it once every few months. What makes the album special is the increased focus on more conventional, sometimes poprock / Beatlesque songwriting. I dig that. Back in 2005 I was disappointed they weren't as heavy as Train of Thought anymore, but now I can appreciate DT not making the same record twice. That said, the album's still fairly heavy in places. It's also one of the last albums with what I consider to be good production. Love MP's natural-sounding drum kit on this album.

The Root of All Evil

Is one of my favorite rockers from the band and also my 2nd favorite AA-suite track. I wouldn't change a thing about it. 10/10

The Answer Lies Within

Has its place within the DT discography, including a pretty good performance on SCORE. The melody of the string quartet is very beautiful. JLB's vocal performance is sympathetic but also somewhat awkward in the beginning of the song. Not his strongest genre to sing I guess. 6.5/10

These Walls

DT emulating the Linkin Park nu-metal sound. On paper, that seems horrible, but what a great song. The chorus is excellent, I love the atmosphere in the verses and what an amazing drum performance by MP. The lyrics are pretty relatable for many people I guess, but maybe it could've been a bit less obvious here and there. Love the restrained, soulful JP solo, and the outro just rocks. 9/10

I Walk Beside You

Sounds like U2, and I'm not that big on U2. But still, pretty good song. I warmed up to it especially because of its prominent spot on the SCORE DVD. The bridge is really what drives the song home. Just classic songwriting. People often accuse DT of being virtuosic instrumental wankers, but this is just a very well-written and well-performed poprock song. Not what gets my blood pumping, but I don't see many things wrong with this track. 7.5/10

Panic Attack

Ballsy track, fast, energetic. Love how nasty MP's drums and JM's bass sound together here. Love JR's orchestrations on the track, great use of piano too. The Muse-inspired bridge is actually pretty good. Too bad the manic instrumental part just doesn't really deliver the goods, but the subsequent unison section makes things alright again. 8/10

Never Enough

Maybe one Muse-influenced track had been enough. The riff is rocking, but the chorus feels very drawn out for the sake of delivering the entire lyric. Not bad, but not very good either. 6/10.

Sacrificed Sons

Definitely not one of their most 'fun' tracks. It's a bit heavy on the heart and takes quite a lot of patience before it finally kicks into full gear. The vocal melodies work on my nerves a bit, but the instrumental section and especially that verse with Petrucci's staccato riff rock. 7.5/10

Octavarium

The best song on the record, and one of DT's greatest achievements overall. 24 minutes is a long time, but how the band builds up the intensity over these 24 minutes is pure musical and conceptual genius. It takes me somewhere, that's for sure. 10/10

[Bertielee]

Middle for me. First DT album I began to skip tracks on. The title track is awesome, but the rest is hit or miss for me. And I know I'm gonna be flamed for this, but I don't like These Walls at all.

B.Lee

[MirrorMask]

Wonderful album, among their very best.

The heavy songs are great, and in a style that suits them, not too exagerated on the chugga chugga grrrr side of things, the mellow songs are convincing as well, the instrumental wankery is kept to a minimum and Octavarium is a monster of a song and one of their absolute masterpieces.

It's not without faults, Never Enough is really too much Muse-ish to try to forget about it, and Sacrificed Sons has an instrumental section that goes on far too long and far too distant from the mood the music did set, but when you get to the end of the album and there's that majestically wonderful Petrucci solo... whoah, goosebumps. Which I actually had at the live shows, hearing the ending of Octavarium live was one of my most fulfilling experiences at a live show, I'll never forget those moments.

Also, hurray for These Walls (one of their best concise songs they've ever written!) and I Walk Beside You (Should have been a breakaway hit, this is the arena anthem Petrucci wanted The Looking Glass to be) !

[lovethedrake]

I've been shitting on octavarium the album since it came out.  However I just listened to it again and it's actually pretty good. It's still one of my least favorite dream theater albums but I don't think these guys are capable of making a bad album.   

Even dream theaters worst is better than most.   I still rank it at the bottom with sc and ADTOE but it provides an enjoyable listening experience nonetheless.

What this proves to me is that dream theater is just amazing.  The astonishing continues to floor me and is a definite dt Classic, the first since sdoit in my opinion

[hefdaddy42]

I find Octavarium to be mediocre.  If not for the title track, it would definitely rank near the bottom of their discography for me.

[MirrorMask]

Even dream theaters worst is better than most.   I still rank it at the bottom with sc and ADTOE but it provides an enjoyable listening experience nonetheless.

Just for curiosity, why do you dislike Octavarium AND Systematic Chaos? one is very melodic and light, the other is very dark and heavy, one would assume that two albums so different would not be rated the same, be it good or, in your case, bad.

[lovethedrake]

Honestly Octavarium rubbed me the wrong way immeditately.  I don't like the production, its not typical slicked up DT production although I am not an engineer so I will struggle to explain why I don't like the production.   I honestly even went back to the record store to see if I had a broken copy!   This is not a joke, sounds pathetic in hindsight haha.

While songs like "I walk beside you" and "Never Enough" are decent tracks, they are just so derivative (U2, Muse) and I don't like those bands

While it may be lighter than TOT or SC it does not sound like progressive rock to me at all.   The bands that influenced them on albums like I&W, SFAM, SDOIT were early 70's prog bands combined with 80's metal.   Octavarium all sounds very modern to me so its just not my thing.

The title track is good and I listen to that quite a bit but even the first half just kind of plods along and doesn't seem to have the power or vision of a song like Change of Seasons.

Anyways, I hope that at least provides some reasons as to why I don't like it.    I don't think its a bad album and like I said I actually just enjoyed it today.  Its just not my style and personally doesn't represent the things I love about the band.

[MirrorMask]

Yeah, I can see why someone would not like Octavarium... I'm just glad I totally do! 

About the "derivative" songs I can enjoy I Walk Beside You for what it is, as I said it's kinda hard instead to forget about Muse when listening to Never Enough. A pity 'cause it's a song I actually enjoy, but imagine that Muse start doing bad albums and fade out of relevance, going back to Octavarium people will listen to this song and think "Meh, they copied a band that lasted 10 years or less".

[WebRaider]

Definitely one of their best for me probably top 3 and at least top 4. The only song I ever had any issue with was "I Walk Beside You" and I've kind of grown to that one over time. Among their best IMO.

[Prog Snob]

Besides the great music on this CD, except for Never Enough, everything that went into the making of it was brilliant. The way everything lines up, including the multitude of nuggets hidden throughout the music and lyrics, really makes this an unbelievable piece of work. There are probably a few nuggets we've yet to discover.

[King Postwhore]

I'm in love with the mix of this album and the last 2 songs blow me away.

[rovel07]

Itīs not my favorite album, but its a great one, TROAE rocks

[Architeuthis]

Besides the great music on this CD, except for Never Enough, everything that went into the making of it was brilliant. The way everything lines up, including the multitude of nuggets hidden throughout the music and lyrics, really makes this an unbelievable piece of work. There are probably a few nuggets we've yet to discover.

I actually really dig Never Enough. The riff is drop D tough!   Sacrificed Son's is the weak point on the album for me..

[Kotowboy]

Sacrificed Son's is the weak point on the album for me..

 

[RoadTrain_of Thought]

Every time I start listening to  I Walk Beside You, I think to myself "Hey this sounds good" then the chorus comes and I nope out of there.
Strangely those are pretty much the same feelings I have for Our New World.

[Prog Snob]

Besides the great music on this CD, except for Never Enough, everything that went into the making of it was brilliant. The way everything lines up, including the multitude of nuggets hidden throughout the music and lyrics, really makes this an unbelievable piece of work. There are probably a few nuggets we've yet to discover.

I actually really dig Never Enough. The riff is drop D tough!   Sacrificed Son's is the weak point on the album for me..

The beginning of Sacrificed Sons drags for a bit, but once the riffs come in it becomes one of the best songs on the album.

[SebastianPratesi]

The beginning of Sacrificed Sons drags for a bit, but once the riffs come in it becomes one of the best songs on the album.

This. I don't quite enjoy the slow section, but it's my favourite song from the album, and I have fun playing the guitar riffs after the 2nd chorus and up to the end.

Besides the great music on this CD, except for Never Enough, everything that went into the making of it was brilliant. The way everything lines up, including the multitude of nuggets hidden throughout the music and lyrics, really makes this an unbelievable piece of work. There are probably a few nuggets we've yet to discover.

Also this.