Official DT Top 50 Thread (Riceball Up Now - starting Page 66)

[i am fabio]

I also like Lines in the Sand more than Trial of Tears. Both top 20 for me though.

Ill admit that when I first heard the song I was like "Whats up with those backing vocals?" They didnt seem to fit AT ALL and seemed forced. Now while not in love with them I'm OK with em. The song is beautiful and F2 Infinity has been jumping lately in favorites. Actually right now I listen to it the most probably. Hells Kitchen may make LitS seem better then it is but thats OK with me!

[Ħ]

I approve of all your choices but Prophets of War.  It's not because of the Muse influence either -- These Walls has a strong Muse influence and it's a great song.

POW is terrible for the lyrics, the NES electronic Zelda dungeon intro, the slapped-on fuzz ending, and the lyrics.

[orcus116]

"These Walls"? No, it was "Never Enough".

[CrimsonE]

30 Erotomania:
This is a brilliant instrumental with some great stop-and-go riffing that blends all of the instruments into a seamless whole.  But the song truly excels when it shifts into the mid-tempo keyboard driven part at about the three minute mark, and it is combined with some of JP's most soaring solo work. 

29 Root of All Evil: 
Part 3 of the AA Suite, this opens with eerie keys combined with the drum riff, this song is a pretty solid, more or less straightforward rocker that is nicely tied to the previous parts of the Suite.  I really love the middle part of the song (Remove) which has a nice groove, before slamming into a heavy jam.  The one thing that keeps the song from being higher is the vocal effects, which detract from an otherwise strong JLB performance. 

28 A Nightmare to Remember:
This is yet another one of the DT songs that could have been better served if it had been trimmed by a few minutes.  Everything through the "Beautiful Agony" bit is amazing, with the quiet portion being among DT's best material.  I also And the closure is also pretty solid, even if the death metal vox are a bit off-putting to some.  However, the song does drag a bit between the two killer sections, which keeps it from being ranked higher. 

27 Constant Motion:
This gets quite a lot of flack, but I love this song.  It has such a cool aggressive groove that you don't often see from DT.  Plus, the breakdown after the second chorus is truly something special.  This is JP's song and he makes the most of it, but the keyboard solo is also something to behold. 

26 A Change of Seasons: 
I just don't get the absolute love for this song, because it wavers quite often between brilliant and mediocre.  Yes, the introduction ranks among their strongest material, the "Darkest Winter" jam (9:50-13:00) is pretty solid, and "Another World" has a wonderful sweeping epic feel to it.  However, the song would be ranked much higher if it had ended on that note, but then it goes into another (lesser) instrumental performance and another sweeping end with Crimson Sunset, which doesn't quite match up to what came before.   

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Why do people still refer at the DAY AFTER ROAR part as death-metal vox? 


Sad to see ACOS so low in your list.

[Mladen]

All good tracks. ACOS and Erotomania are much lower that I would rank them, though. 

[inoku]

seeing my top songs ranked quite low, i'm really interested to see your top 10 now.
cant wait 

[hefdaddy42]

The Crimson Sunset is the most epic of all epic sections of DT's catalogue.

[toro]

The Crimson Sunset is the most epic of all epic sections of DT's catalogue.

This. WTF MANG?

[jsem]

Constant Motion is MP's song, not JP. It's about his OCD.

[Tomislav95]

ACOS would be in top 5.I agree with everything except that you rang this song to #20

[CrimsonE]

Constant Motion is MP's song, not JP. It's about his OCD.

Good point, but I was suggesting that this is a very fun guitar-oriented song that is driven by JP's heavy riffing. 

[Ħ]

Nice to see CM love!

[CrimsonE]

My guess is that some will have a number (or even all) of these songs a bit higher, but I don't see controversies in their inclusion. 

25 Under a Glass Moon: 
Kicking off with a fantastic guitar riff, this song never lets up, but is also far from predictable.  I love how the chorus intermingles the heavy thrash guitar riff with the atmospheric keyboards.  The guitar solo from 4:36-5:27 is out of this world, but then again, so is the keyboard work that follows.

24 Fatal Tragedy: 
Beginning with a sweeping set of chords, the song is majestic at the beginning, but soon shifts into a heavy groove after at about the 3:40 mark.  I love how everything comes building into a crescendo at the end. 

23 Take the Time:
One of DT's more intriguing songs, this song almost never lets you settle in, as the time and tonal shifts are quite frequent.  The song also features some of JP's most interesting guitar work from 4:18-4:49 and is immediately followed by some crazy stop & go riffing and some killer keyboard work from Kevin Moore.  But where the song truly shines is in its final outro, which is simultaneously beautiful and heavy.

22 Voices: 
This is a fantastic song that some how comes across as continuously both heavy and building at the same time.  While the instruments are amazing, James is on an entirely different level, as he carries the song to its heights. 

21 The Glass Prison:  The opening song to the AA Suite, this starts with a grinding riff, but soon slams into a heavy thrash riff, with some gloriously galloping (which we don't see often from DT), then some intriguing solo work, this is as thrash as the band ever gets (as least in their original material).  In fact, much of "Reflection" can be positively compared to Metallica in their prime, with a great driving riff.  But just when you get comfortable, the song slides into a Pantera groove for "Restoration" that can't help but make you bang your head.  After this section, the band then moves into a funky instrumental bit that includes a nice alternation of a guitar and a keyboard solo before shifting into another sweeping riff to close the song.  This is fun song to listen to, and it never gets boring.   

[jsem]

Great choices.

[hefdaddy42]

All 5 of those are fantastic choices.

[Jirpo]

I would probably put all of them about 10 spots higher except maybe Fatal Tragedy.

[CrimsonE]

20 Endless Sacrifice: 
Another great building tune that ends up at a quite different place than the start.  I love the quiet verse, heavy chorus format that is reminiscent of Metallica's song structure in One, Fade to Black & Sanitarium.  And as usual, Petrucci's heavy riffing kicks the song into an uptempo gear at the about the 5:00 mark.  It nicely matches Jordan's keys.  Then the song goes into overdrive at about 8:00 into a true thrash bit that takes the song home. 

19 Just Let Me Breathe:
This song works a lot better as a live tune than on the album, but it's still a fantastic song that demonstrates DT doesn't have to do tempo and mood shifts to put together a brilliant song.   Plus, I can really appreciate the lyrical blast at the music industry, which is ironic considering the album it came from. 

18 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence: 
It would take forever to summarize this song, but suffice it to say, this is quite an intriguing piece of work, from the orchestral introduction to the reprise conclusion.  The best part of the song is The Test That Stumped Them All, which is pure fury in a bottle (especially on the instrumental bit).  Also of note is the acoustic work in Solitary Shell, concluding in a fine jam section (extended upon on the recent tour).  Then there is a passable uptempo reprise of About to Crash, which doesn't quite work as well as the earlier version, and a grandiose conclusion.  This song has a bunch of great segments, but as a whole, it doesn't quite hang together.

17 Blind Faith:
Another song I might have ranked lower, but I really got to see the brilliance of this song when I caught them on the Prog Nation 07 tour, and this was one of the highlights (no mean feat considering the show I caught also had Smedley Wilcox and the extended version of Surrounded).  As with many DT songs, it starts out beautiful, but ends up quite heavy, especially with the instrumental bit, which meanders, but always returns to the main riff.  Finally, the song wraps up with a heavier version of the main verse and chorus before closing. 

16 Hollow Years:
Although the live versions of this song are superior (thanks to the electric guitar solo), this is indeed a fantastic song with an emotional delivery and wonderfully poignant lyrics.  If I were doing the live version found on OIAL, this would easily be in the top ten. 

[Ħ]

Great choices...I've never understood JLMB though.

[Tomislav95]

Endless Sacrifice is great, it mustn't be on #20.Hollow Years is great on Live at Budokan, studio version is not very good

[jsem]

Great choices...I've never understood JLMB though.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Great choices...I've never understood JLMB though.

It's a great, rocking song. It's quite excellent live 

[Ħ]

I would support JLMB, but Dream Theater totally stole their ideas from Yu-Gi-Oh.

"...will flush your mind right down the d-d-d-d-d-d-d-drain"

"It's time to d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-duel!"

[bloop]

 

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

 

[hefdaddy42]

Endless Sacrifice, Just Let Me Breathe, and Hollow Years would be nowhere near this high on my list, and probably not in my Top 50 at all.

[RG93]

Endless Sacrifice, Just Let Me Breathe, and Hollow Years would be nowhere near this high on my list, and probably not in my Top 50 at all.

The first two I can understand why, but Hollow Years? It's a great song...

[Jirpo]

Great choices! Six Degrees, Endless Sacrifice and maybe Blind Faith would be slightly higher but hollow years would be slightly lower. Good choices though.

[hefdaddy42]

Endless Sacrifice, Just Let Me Breathe, and Hollow Years would be nowhere near this high on my list, and probably not in my Top 50 at all.

The first two I can understand why, but Hollow Years? It's a great song...

Opinions vary.  I honestly think that if they hadn't done the "electrified" version on the TOT tour (featured on the Budokan DVD), that it wouldn't be talked about at all right now.

[Mladen]

None of these five would make my top 50.

[Tomislav95]

None of these five would make my top 50.

Really?All those are grat songs

[Mladen]

They're pretty great, but there's more than 50 better ones. Yeah, I love DT. 

[contest_sanity]

I agree on the "Lie" solo and the song in general. It's odd how that and "The Mirror" are so different yet almost feel like they're cut from the same cloth.

Because they were.  See discussion here: https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=10161.0

[CrimsonE]

15 Trial of Tears: 
Another in a series of fantastic album closers, this song really epitomizes the "epic" feeling of DT tracks.  From the "Xanadu" type opening (tributed on the Chaos in Motion tour), to the silky smooth guitar riff of "It's Raining," to the killer instrumental work in "Deep in Heaven" this song works on just about every level for the first two parts.  However, I feel that the closing part is not as strong as the rest of the song, which keeps it from being ranked higher. 

14 Surrounded: 
Admittedly, my feelings towards this song are shaded by the killer extended version they did during the SC tour, but even the album version is awesome.  The opening piano/keys serves as a nice background to JL's vocals, leading into a gentle JP riff and then the signature riff of the song.  But where the song really shines is in the instrumental bit, which features some furious, all-too-brief shredding (expended upon in the live versions).  And I love how the song comes full circle to the piano at the end.     

13 As I Am: 
This song is as good of a way to open an album, or concert as any band can come up with.  Opening with a grinding Sabbath (or even Type O) type riff, then it shifts into a uptempo version of the riff for the first verse.  Then the pre-chorus and the chorus kick in and you hear something special. But, as usual for DT, the true beauty of the song is in the instrumental, which is highlighted by one of Petrucci's most identifiable solos.  Actually, this is about as close to a traditional song structure as DT ever gets, and it really works here. 

12 This Dying Soul: 
This is my favorite part of the AA Suite, perhaps because this is the most overtly aggressive song of the five in the Suite.  Even the keyboards are aggressive, from the opening instrumental to the haunting first verse.  The vocal effects are amazing, and I really love the lyrics here.  "I wanna feel your body breaking/Wanna feel your body breaking and shaking and left in the cold/ I want to heal your conscience making a change to fix this dying soul."  With James' singing, the lyrics come across as aggressive, yet poignant.  But what really brings the song so high is the blistering outro, which may come across as wankery to some, but really highlights Rudess' and Petrucci's playing. 

11 The Spirit Carries On:
One of the more popular ballads from the SFAM album, this is a very passionate song, and in fact could have easily been the album closer.  It features some of the band's most epic music, and JP is really in his glory here.  Furthermore, the chorus on the studio version really sends chills down the spine. 

[Ħ]

Perfect choices except that I don't understand why TDS is above TGP.