Wither's Top 65 Dream Theater Songs and Explanation of Why.

[Wither]

Hello everyone. Welcome to my top 65 Dream Theater songs and I hope that you enjoy. Also, I will be excluding SFAM and TA from this list. Why? I'm sure you can figure it out <3
Anyways.......let us begin shall we? 

Just remember that this all my opinion and opinions are subjective. This is how I feel of these songs and I took my time organizing my list. Enjoy!

When Dream and Day Unite
1. The Killing Hand

Images and Words
1.
2.

Awake
1.
2.
3.
4.
5. Erotomania

A Change of Seasons
1.

Falling Into Infinity
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8. Peruvian Skies
9. Just Let Me Breathe
10. Hollow Years
11. Burning My Soul

Metropolis Part 2

Cleaning out the Closet
1.
2.


Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Train of Thought
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7. Vacant

Octavarium
1.
2.
3.
4.
5. Panic Attack

Systematic Chaos
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6. Prophets of War

Black Clouds and Silver Linings
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

A Dramatic Turn of Events
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. Far From Heaven

Dream Theater
1.
2.
3.

The Astonishing

Number 65: The Killing Hand

Alright, so, clocking at number sixty five is the only song from When Dream and Day Unite: The Killing Hand!

I laugh at what I've done. I am the Killing Hand

Ah, When Dream and Day Unite. The musician ship is awesome and I personally like Charlie, but the production is the only bone I have to pick with. This album has so much potential and I especially loved When Dream and Day Reunite. It's a nice science fiction type kind of song that even Petrucci says that it doesn't make much sense, but I loved it. The acoustic guitar introduction really brought the mood for me and after that, the band explodes. I also love the instrumental section and is a nice Petrucci solo.

Number 64: Burning My Soul

Using your words, controlling my life. Can't you see it's my words that gives you your life. So I hurt your feelings, well I'm really sorry, but I don't give a shit, no!
 
Burning My Soul clocks at number sixty five of my second favorite album. You know, every time I listen to this song, I try to imagine what Mike is going through. I am thinking of the record company and all the hell it is giving Portnoy. If I was him, I would feel the same way. I think this song is totally badass and you can really hear the anger in Labrie. I do not think this song was forced. The vocals are well done and the grittiness just adds to the heavy factor. Also, it has a really nice Sherinian solo. Is it just me or does his synth sound like a kettle? Anyways, a totally nice song and this album as a whole, is super strong. There are just songs that I like much better than Burning My Soul.

[chaossystem]

Why does your title say 50, but your intro says 65?

Also, did you know you have TWO 65s??

[Wither]

So sorry about that. I originally wanted to do a 50, but it was too hard so I changed it to 65. Fixed.
Silly mistake on my part.

[chaossystem]

No need to be sorry. I just wanted to make sure you knew about the errors, so you could have a chance to correct them. It will be interesting to see how many of my favorites are in your list, and what kind of reactions y6ou get from other people.

[Wither]

Thank you. 
How are the two songs for you?

[chaossystem]

You HAD to ask...

I like ALL of the songs from Dream and Day, but unlike half or more of the other DTF members, The killing Hand is not my favorite of those.

There eight tracks that I really like from FII, and Burning My Soul is ONE of them, but again, there are others that I think are better.

[SuperTaco]

TKH is a highlight from an album that contains great songs from start to finish (imo). The clean part at the beginning is absolutely beautiful, and the rest of the song.. I can't even put it into words, really. It has such a special unique quality that I can't explain.

Burning My Soul is a pretty average song by DT standards. It's rockin' but it isn't what I would call a stand-out track.

Looking forward to the rest of the reviews 

[Wither]

Definitely agreed 

Thank you!

Number 63: Prophets of War

A perverse request.....they continue the same rhetoric. These derelicts that profit, win or lose.

Here is Prophets of War coming off from my favorite album. What a pity. Musically, I think the instruments are at their near peak performance. This song has no solo by any band member. Heck, I think it might be the first, legit song in which there are no solo's from anyone (correct me if I'm wrong). I think Portnoy is the main player in this song. His drumming is super consistent and I do love Rudess in the background supporting the song. Although the fan chanting is done waaay better in ITPOE, it still works in this song! My favorite part would either have to be Portnoy's spoken part or the acoutric duet by Petrucci and Labrie. My heart goes out to this political song in this beautiful album.

Number 62: Hollow Years

Once the cloud that's raining over you head disappears. The noise that you'll hear is the crashing down of hollow years.

What a really beautiful song from a beautiful album (I will be saying beautiful album a lot). The one thing I think this song lacks is the piano presence. I can barely Derek Sherinian and I thought it'd be pretty cool to have a nice Sherinian solo, but the song is still a really nice ballad. After all, I enjoy Sherinian's last piano bit in the end. Have you seen the Live in Budokan version with Petrucci's elec solo? That solo makes my jaw drop every time. It really is amazing and brings me to tears most of the time. I say it is up there as one of Petrucci's most emotional solo's ever, hugging The Best of Times and falling under The Bigger Picture. Really, really nice song. 

[jakepriest]

Not a single song I would consider top 80 worthy so far. 
Well, maybe Prophets.

[RoeDent]

Also, I will be excluding SFAM and TA from this list. Why? I'm sure you can figure it out

I assume it's too soon to rank songs from TA, but I can't figure out why you're excluding SFAM, one of their very best albums.

[jakepriest]

Also, I will be excluding SFAM and TA from this list. Why? I'm sure you can figure it out

I assume it's too soon to rank songs from TA, but I can't figure out why you're excluding SFAM

Yeah. The songs in SFAM can easily stand on their own, and there are two top 10 songs on the album.

[Wither]

I guess. If I include SFAM, it would be a top 68.Only BTL, Home, and FF would be there.

[Wither]

Number 62: Just Let Me Breathe

A daily dose of eMpTyV. Will flush your mind right down the drain

Here is another song from Falling Into Infinity written by Mike Portnoy. It is a nice 5:30 song that delivers. Another song regarding the annoyance of the record company and has one of the greatest piano/guitar duets. Though Lost Not Forgotten has the edge. I've heard so much complaints about this song and I guess I don't blame you. Only Portnoy's songs were about the label, record company, and change while the rest of the band members had no songs about their frustration. The lyrics are really nice and the song itself is really groovy. Sherinian's keyboard melody also makes this song really catchy. Now, going onto the instrumental section....the duet between Petrucci and Sherinian is so wow. They both get a chance to shine and shred as the song ends in a bang and Myung is extremely prominent too.

Number 61: Vacant

Head swayed. Eyes glazed. And mine teared

This song is really something. Honestly, it caught me off guard when I first listened to Train of Thought. I thought everything would be really badass and so heavy sound, yeah! It threw me off when I heard the cello and I expected the song to explode, but it didn't. I was pleasantly surprised. This song is the only song off of Train of Thought to have not shredding whatsoever. For people who say that Dream Theater is so technical and don't have an ounce of feel, listen to this song and many other ballads. This song saves Train of Thought from becoming only balls. Here's the reasons why I love this song. It's about Labrie's daughter who fell into a coma and if you the Score version of it, Labrie is holding back tears with each note. Kudos to him. When I realized the true meaning of the song, I couldn't help, but to be brought to tears. How hard it must be to witness that. Labrie's vocals are beautiful, and the tone of the keyboard and cello are so dark, it sounds really ominous. The progression of the chords are also extremely haunting.

Number 60: Panic Attack

A stifling surge, shooting through all my veins. Extreme apprehension, suddenly I'm insane.

When I first heard this song, I thought it was written by Mike Portnoy. It is extremely aggressive from start to finish and guess what? Myung has an introduction solo! His six string sounds amazing as usual and I think one of the strongest live performances is from the Chaos in Motion tour. As you might have guessed, this song is about a panic attack. This song is the fifth song from Octavarium and is played in the C chord. The lyrics are well written and the instrumental sections blows my mind. First is Rudess with an aggressive solo with his sick synth and then Petrucci comes in shredding like crazy. Those two have a duet and then Labrie comes in once more. He sings really well here as his operatic, frantic voice just adds meaning to the song.

[jakepriest]

Vacant and Panic Attack are awesome.  Just Let Me Breathe is well... something.

Also, would you mind maybe not putting the lyrics in bold? Makes it really annoying to tell the lyrics and song names apart for me.  But that might be just me nitpicking.

[Wither]

 
That's totally fine. Do you want me to remove it completely or should I just italicize it?

Thanks for the response though. What do you think Breathe?

[jakepriest]

That's totally fine. Do you want me to remove it completely or should I just italicize it?

Thanks for the response though. What do you think Breathe?

Just keeping it italicized would be great.

As for Just Let Me Breathe... it's pretty good instrumentally but it's probably the only DT song where I wish LaBrie would just shut up. The vocals are so incredibly bad I can't stand listening to the song.  The same thing applies to Lines In The Sand (but that's because of the guest singer).

[fischermasamune]

Only two songs from I&W? All songs from ADTOE, FII, BCASL, TOT and SDOIT? Wow!

[Wither]

Yeah. XD
There are only two songs I appreciate in that album.

[chaossystem]

Definitely agreed 

Thank you!

Number 63: Prophets of War

A perverse request.....they continue the same rhetoric. These derelicts that profit, win or lose.

Here is Prophets of War coming off from my favorite album. What a pity. Musically, I think the instruments are at their near peak performance. This song has no solo by any band member. Heck, I think it might be the first, legit song in which there are no solo's from anyone (correct me if I'm wrong). I think Portnoy is the main player in this song. His drumming is super consistent and I do love Rudess in the background supporting the song. Although the fan chanting is done waaay better in ITPOE, it still works in this song! My favorite part would either have to be Portnoy's spoken part or the acoutric duet by Petrucci and Labrie. My heart goes out to this political song in this beautiful album.

Number 62: Hollow Years

Once the cloud that's raining over you head disappears. The noise that you'll hear is the crashing down of hollow years.

What a really beautiful song from a beautiful album (I will be saying beautiful album a lot). The one thing I think this song lacks is the piano presence. I can barely Derek Sherinian and I thought it'd be pretty cool to have a nice Sherinian solo, but the song is still a really nice ballad. After all, I enjoy Sherinian's last piano bit in the end. Have you seen the Live in Budokan version with Petrucci's elec solo? That solo makes my jaw drop every time. It really is amazing and brings me to tears most of the time. I say it is up there as one of Petrucci's most emotional solo's ever, hugging The Best of Times and falling under The Bigger Picture. Really, really nice song. 

A lot of people don't like PoW, but I think it's good enough, and listenable enough to at least be called average.

I loved Hollow Years from the moment I first heard it. It would easily be at LEAST top 65 for me, as well. Unfortunately, too many people on here don't think it's "cool" unless you say the Budokan version is better.

[Wither]

Number 59: Far From Heaven

Nothing you can do to change me, but accept me as I am.

Here is another nice ballad by James Labrie and it is just stunning. Words can't describe how I feel towards this song. James' lyrics are beautiful, and the arrangement with the violins along with the piano is simply perfect. You can hear the pain in his voice when he says, "You can't imagine, the hell I'm going through. Not asking you save me...." This has to be the longest Dream Theater ballad with only the piano, violin, and James. I feel like this is a step above Vacant. Vacant still tears me up, and this song doesn't, but there is something about this song that I'm just addicted to. This plays right before Breaking All Illusions and I have to say that it sets the mood for BAI. I kind of consider BAI to be part two of Far From Heaven. Those criticizing James should stop, as he is the perfect singer for Dream Theater.

Number 58:Peruvian Skies

Terror by night, liar by day, telling her secrets, won't take them away!

Songs keep on coming from Falling into Infinity. Don't worry though, there will be an extremely huge gap after the next song from FII. This song starts of really mellow with James' agonizing voice. Something about his voice puts me in a hypnotic trance until this song explodes. I hear common abuse is and if you think hard enough, you might actually be able to feel what this song is trying to say. James delivers the line, "Vanessa regretfully waits," perfectly, if I do say so myself. I also love Myung in this very much. His bass sounds so.....whats the word....sexy? 
Anyways, after the second chorus, James belts out, "Terror by night.....take it away." After this, all the instruments pick up and it transitions into  . Petrucci has an epic solo then the chorus is played with full force. Then the song ends also with a BANG! Not bad at all.

Number 57: Erotomania

............................................

What's that sound? It's a Kevin Moore synth! After his synth, the rest of the band comes in while Petrucci beings riffing. This is the start to the "A Mind Beside Itself" trilogy. Erotomania is in the middle of the suite. Unfortunately, The Silent Man couldn't make it. The three part that I enjoy the MOST in this song is 1. Petrucci riff/Moore's piano, 2. Moore's playing of the Silent Man, 3. Petrucci going all Beethoven. I find this to be his third best solo in this album. Not really much to say about this instrumental, besides that it is fantastic!

[SebastianPratesi]

I like the format you are writing these posts: Name of the song, lyric excerpt, and detailed explanation. I'm assuming you read (or have read) lots of magazines, books, or at least liner notes to compilation albums?

[Bolsters]

Are you OnTheBacksOfAngela/ASacrificedSon by any chance?

[Wither]

I like the format you are writing these posts: Name of the song, lyric excerpt, and detailed explanation. I'm assuming you read (or have read) lots of magazines, books, or at least liner notes to compilation albums?

Thank you so much and yes I have

Are you OnTheBacksOfAngela/ASacrificedSon by any chance?

Who's that? 

[jakepriest]

Far From Heaven is my least favourite DT ballad. Really nothing positive I have to say about it.
Peruvian Skies is 
Erotomania is okay I guess, my least favourite instrumental probably but still a good song.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

I like the format you are writing these posts: Name of the song, lyric excerpt, and detailed explanation. I'm assuming you read (or have read) lots of magazines, books, or at least liner notes to compilation albums?

Thank you so much and yes I have

Are you OnTheBacksOfAngela/ASacrificedSon by any chance?

Who's that? 

Great question.

[Wither]

Far From Heaven is my least favourite DT ballad. Really nothing positive I have to say about it.
Peruvian Skies is 
Erotomania is okay I guess, my least favourite instrumental probably but still a good song.

Interesting to read
Why is FFH your least fav?
I agree about the rest.

I like the format you are writing these posts: Name of the song, lyric excerpt, and detailed explanation. I'm assuming you read (or have read) lots of magazines, books, or at least liner notes to compilation albums?

Thank you so much and yes I have

Are you OnTheBacksOfAngela/ASacrificedSon by any chance?

Who's that? 

Great question.

I'm sorry, I'm confused right now.

[SebastianPratesi]

I'm sorry, I'm confused right now.

OnTheBacksOfAngela is a fellow forum member, (according to her profile) a 14 year old girl. A few months ago she started an interesting thread on an experiment she was making with some of her girl friends, in which she made them listen to DT songs, and transcribed their reactions/conversations. Some people thought she wasn't really a 14 year old girl, or that she was inventing the whole thing up (hence why Destiny said "Great question"), so Angela confessed feeling disturbed by the accusations and hasn't updated the thread in more than a month.

This is it - "The Dream Theater Experiment": https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=45520.msg2072188. The 'drama' starts in page 3. Interesting read, though!

I'm not sure what's the story on ASacrificedSon, though, so I can't help you there.

[Wither]

Ah, thanks.
Then to answer your question. No, I have no idea who they are.

[pcs90]

Are you OnTheBacksOfAngela/ASacrificedSon by any chance?

OK, glad I'm not the only one that was thinking this!

[Train of Naught]

Whoever he/she is, they sure love making lists and polls!

[Wither]

Whoever he/she is, they sure love making lists and polls!

I'll have you know, I've hosted tons of hurt or heal's on other forums I've joined such as Reddit, NinSheet, Writingforums, among others.

And as I said before, I'm a really list oriented person. I love lists because you can compare it with other people and you can hear their opinion on why something is that high or that low. 

I'd appreciate it if we could get on topic now. 

[Crow]

i mean, it's pretty obvious you are but irdc

[pcs90]

[IDontNotDoThings]

I'm sorry, I'm confused right now.

OnTheBacksOfAngela is a fellow forum member, (according to her profile) a 14 year old girl. A few months ago she started an interesting thread on an experiment she was making with some of her girl friends, in which she made them listen to DT songs, and transcribed their reactions/conversations. Some people thought she wasn't really a 14 year old girl, or that she was inventing the whole thing up (hence why Destiny said "Great question"), so Angela confessed feeling disturbed by the accusations and hasn't updated the thread in more than a month.

This is it - "The Dream Theater Experiment": https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=45520.msg2072188. The 'drama' starts in page 3. Interesting read, though!

I'm not sure what's the story on ASacrificedSon, though, so I can't help you there.

Allegedly, ASacrificedSon responded to someone as if it was coming from OnTheBacksOfAngela, & neither of the accounts have posted anything since, leading many to believe they were the same person. (This was brought up in ASacrificedSon's thread 'Name Change?', which I don't have the link for atm).

Matter of fact, ASacrificedSon had a Top X Dream Theater Songs thread too, & many of the responses being similar to yours, which is probably why Bolsters, pcs90 & Parama think you'd be a third account.

Not saying anything on either side of the argument until we get more suspicion than that, but I wouldn't consider the comparison completely irrational.

[IDontNotDoThings]

Whoever he/she is, they sure love making lists and polls!

I'll have you know, I graduated top of my class in the Navy Seals, and I’ve been involved in numerous secret raids on Al-Quaeda, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in gorilla warfare and I’m the top sniper in the entire US armed forces. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of spies across the USA and your IP is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You’re fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that’s just with my bare hands. Not only am I extensively trained in unarmed combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the United States Marine Corps and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little “clever” comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn’t, you didn’t, and now you’re paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You’re fucking dead, kiddo.

FTFY