Dream Theater's Best Epic

[Vajra]

1. ACOS - Octavarium - 6DOIT
2. In the Presence of Enemies
3. The Count of Tuscany

I just wish TCOT's lyrics were better... god that would be a dream come true. Oh, and maybe add another 5 miniutes to the song, I could use some more vocals in it.

[RuRoRul]

1. A Change Of Seasons
2. The Count Of Tuscany
3. Octavarium
4. In The Presence Of Enemies
5. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence

The top four would be in my top 10 DT songs (and pretty close together, too), all of them would be in my top 20 or 15. I don't dislike Six Degrees and honestly I enjoy the parts of it a huge amount, but it just doesn't feel like a song to me, more like a collection of songs ranging from Ok to very good. I think of it more like a mini concept album, but Octavarium (although it's similar with it's five different parts) feels much more like a complete song that comes together to be more than it's parts.

[DJay32]

1) "In the Presence of Enemies," which is quite simply one of the greatest songs I have ever heard. The six movements really work very well with each other, and the story is interesting at first.. and then you realize it's metaphorical. Oh my god, that has renewed my interest in the song, trying to think of what the story could possibly be trying to say. Oddly enough, I have a lot of fun mapping the story out to my own life, which is.. remarkably similar, in a metaphorical sense. And I dunno, I find the lyrics and the music to be some of Dream Theater's most powerful stuff. Period.

2) "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence," an epic that quite loosely follows the structure of Genesis' "Supper's Ready," contains some of the absolute... most.. classic melodies and lyrics and movements I've ever heard. But at the same time, when I take off the nostalgia glasses, it could use a lot more flow. But everything else makes up for the flow just enough to put it in the #2 spot.

3) "The Count of Tuscany," which is another one of the greatest songs I have ever heard. I like to say this song has four movements, as well. It has the overture/prelude, the "story" movement, the "pretty atmosphere" movement, and then the "I just don't understand" movement. The "story" movement has some of the quirkiest music I've ever heard, and they really work well with the lyrics. And.. and just.. yeah. You guys know why this song rocks.

4) "A Change of Seasons," another absolute classic, with a defined story that is also a classic and some excellent motifs and themes throughout the song, is hurt quite a bit by a big lack of flow. It gets good quite a lot, but at other times, it just... really doesn't seem to end or move on. The band was still starting out when they wrote this, so I'm not that surprised it's not perfect, but it's certainly a classic, nontheless.

5) "Octavarium." Intro's beautiful, first movement needs a lot of work. You can almost feel it dragging on. Then the second movement doesn't make much of an improvement on it. It's only once the keyboard solo after the second movement kicks in that the song picks up pace, and I gotta admit, when it gets good, it gets good. By the time the main chorus ("Trapped inside this Octavarium") finishes, you'll have no doubt experienced what I refer to so affectionately as a proggasm. Unfortunately, the final movement kinda kills the remaining buzz left in the song for me. I mean, I loved "Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres," I loved its ending, and I can respect their decision to make a reference to it like that, but.. musically, it was.. so.. slow. It dragged on. Really dragged on.

Of course, all of that is just my opinion. I realize I'm the only one here who thinks that highly of "In the Presence of Enemies." ...why wasn't the Twelve-Step Suite in here, though? That thing's a freaking hour long! And, when viewed not as five/six songs but twelve movements (plus optional prelude), it is, in my opinion, even better than my #1.

[IdoSC]

You're forgetting A Mind Behind Itself and a few others, but still...
1. Octavarium - possibly my favorite song ever, I love it's meaning and lyrics, I love it's structure, I love the kickass music. I love everything about it.
2. A Change of Seasons - a very close second, I love it almost as much as I love 8V, but 8V does a *little* more to me.
3. In the Presence of Enemies - a very good song that keeps me entertained, has some fun story behind it, and generally a song that I quite appreciate.
4. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - while I love the message and the lyrics behind this song, I don't like it as much as the other 3 as it's a little more inconsistent and a (very) few parts of it are a little forgettable to me.
5. The Count of Tuscany - a great song, but doesn't do much to me. Would probably be about a 3x-4x song in my top DT list.

[Dellers]

1. Octavarium
2. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
3. A Change Of Seasons
4. In The Presence Of Enemies
5. The Count Of Tuscany

[darkshade]

For those wondering why I left out a lot of songs, please refer to this thread https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=20689.0

[Infinite Cactus]

1.Octavarium
2.A Change of Seasons
3.The Count Of Tuscany
4.In the Presence of Enemies
5.Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence

[BanksD]

1. A Change Of Seasons
2. Octavarium
3. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
4. In The Preasence Of Enimes

[Pols Voice]

1. A Change of Seasons (easily the best)
2. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
3. The Count of Tuscany
4. In the Presence of Enemies
5. Octavarium

[j]

Lol, lots of people not reading the OP.

-J

[PS Head]

1/Six Degrees of Inner Turbulance
2/Octavarium
3/A Change of Seasons
4/The Count of Tuscany
5/In the Presence of Enemies

All five are classic epics in true DT splender.

[CrimsonSunrise]

1. Change of Seasons

2. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

3. Octavarium







4. In the Presence of Enemies
5. The Count of Tuscany

[Unimatrix]

1. A Change Of Seasons
2. Octavarium
3. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
4. In The Preasence Of Enimes

I like this approach 

[Vajra]

1) "In the Presence of Enemies," which is quite simply one of the greatest songs I have ever heard. The six movements really work very well with each other, and the story is interesting at first.. and then you realize it's metaphorical. Oh my god, that has renewed my interest in the song, trying to think of what the story could possibly be trying to say. Oddly enough, I have a lot of fun mapping the story out to my own life, which is.. remarkably similar, in a metaphorical sense. And I dunno, I find the lyrics and the music to be some of Dream Theater's most powerful stuff. Period.

I agree, looking at ITPOE as a metaphor, it really becomes a beautiful song. You can really suit it so that it matches your own life, since the lyrics are so fantasy-based.

[ubit]

I believe the OP has declared that epics are 18+ minute song(s) essentially.  Deal with it, haha.  If you don't like the thread title, just pretend it is "dream theater's best long ass song" instead of "epic".

Oh, and as someone who joined the DT bandwagon WAY after Awake came out, I can honestly say that the AMBI suite doesn't feel like one song to me AT ALL, and was shocked when I found out it was a suite of songs.  To me, it is Voices sandwiched by mediocrity.  Either way, that trio does not feel epic to me at all. 

As for my list:

1. Octavarium
2. In The Presence Of Enemies
3. The Count of Tuscany
4. A Change of Seasons
5. 6 Degrees of Inner Turbulence

I'm going to say that I ranked these with frequency of listening in mind.  If I have a 25 minute drive somewhere, I'm putting on Octavarium!  :-) 

2-4 could change around pretty easily, but 1 and 5 aren't moving anytime soon.  6DOIT has been listened to like 5 times for me, and I just can't spend 42 minutes on that.  I'd rather listen to 8vm + TCOT for 42 minutes.   

[Metropolispt5000]

1. In the Presence of Enemies
2. A Change of Seasons
3. The Count of Tuscany
4.Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
5. Octavarium

[KevShmev]

Oh, and as someone who joined the DT bandwagon WAY after Awake came out, I can honestly say that the AMBI suite doesn't feel like one song to me AT ALL, and was shocked when I found out it was a suite of songs.  To me, it is Voices sandwiched by mediocrity.  Either way, that trio does not feel epic to me at all. 

DOES NOT COMPUTE.

[Heaven Outcry Angel]

1. A Change of Seasons
2. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

3. The Count of Tuscany

4. Octavarium







5. In The Presence Of Enemies.

And the lyrics aren't metaphorical, they're lifted from a bad Japanese manga John Petrucci read.

[The Letter M]

Hmmm, okay, I'll play...

1. SDOIT
2. ACOS
3. TCOT
4. ITPOE
5. 8VM

...and it's not that I don't like "Octavarium", I like it but not as much as I used to back when it came out. Since then, ITPOE and TCOT have aged better to me, and they get a LOT more replay value out of me. I really have to get into the 8VM mood to listen to the whole intro. Usually if I want to listen to 8VM, I'll listen to the whole damn album, but if I'm looking for single epics, songs like ACOS and TCOT just top 8VM for me now. Also, SDOIT is my favorite song from my favorite DT album, so it'll always rank high, and ACOS is just their classic epic, DT's "Close To The Edge" or "Supper's Ready" or "Tarkus" or "2112" or "Shine On You Crazy Diamond".

And if I had to choose more "epics" for this ranking, I'd definitely throw in "A Mind Beside Itself" (controversy aside), "Scarred", "Lines In The Sand", "Trial Of Tears", "In The Name Of God", "Learning To Live" and "The Ministry Of Lost Souls", "A Nightmare To Remember", "Metropolis Part 1", and "The Twelve Step Suite"...but that's just me.

-Marc.

[Metropolis Pt. II]

1. The Count of Tuscany

2. A Change of Seasons

3. Octavarium

4. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

5. In the Presence of Enemies

[Obfuscation]

1. Octavarium
2. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
3. A Change of Seasons
4. The Count of Tuscany
5. In The Presence of Enemies

Positions 3 and 4 may sometimes change.

[Addy]

1. A Change of Seasons
2. Octavarium
3. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
4. In The Presence of Enemies
5. The Count of Tuscany

[Mosh]

Octavarium. Nuff said.

[Tomislav95]

1. A Change of Seasons
2. Octavarium
3. The Count of Tuscany
4. 6DOIT
5. In the Presence of Enemies

[Bolsters]

1. Six Degrees of Innter Turbulence
2. Octavarium
3. A Change of Seasons
4. The Count of Tuscany
5. In The Presence of Enemies

[hefdaddy42]

Lol, lots of people not reading the OP.

-J

This, WTF people.

1. ACOS
2. 8VM
3. 6DOIT
4. TCOT
5. ITPOE

[m0hawk]

1. Octavarium

2. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

3. The Count of Tuscany

4. ITPOE = ACOS (I like different parts of both songs, but as complete entities, they both pale in comparison to the aforementioned epics)

[edu]

It´s hard to choose...

1- Octavarium
2- A Change of Seasons
3- The Count of Tuscany
4- Six Degrees
5- In the Presence of the Enemies

...but they keep changing order everyday.

By the way, i´m Edu from Spain!

[Blackfield]

So, I consider ACOS, Octavarium and TCOT as DT epics. Sinse ITPOE is divided into two parts I don't count it as ONE song. I'm not counting SDOIT as one song either. If you count SDOIT, then why not SFAM? What is the difference?

1. A change of seasons
2. The count of tuscany
3. Octavarium

[jonny108]

So, I consider ACOS, Octavarium and TCOT as DT epics. Sinse ITPOE is divided into two parts I don't count it as ONE song. I'm not counting SDOIT as one song either. If you count SDOIT, then why not SFAM? What is the difference?

1. A change of seasons
2. The count of tuscany
3. Octavarium

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence is a song broke down into movements but it is one song.  Scenes From a Memory is a concept album with different songs all telling a story.

[TheGreatPretender]

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence is a song broke down into movements but it is one song.  Scenes From a Memory is a concept album with different songs all telling a story.

To be honest though, and I do agree with you, if Six Degrees should be considered one song, I don't see why the Mind Beside Itself suite isn't. Certain parts of Six Degrees transition similarly, so "It doesn't transition well from Voices to The Silent Man" isn't really a reason.
Point is, I'd consider a Mind Beside Itself another 20 minute DT Epic.

[KevShmev]

A Mind Beside Itself is definitely a cohesive whole (and is presented as a single song on the LSFNY DVD) and just as much one song as Six Degrees, but some disagree, and it pretty much isn't a battle worth fighting most of the time, so I usually let it slide.  But you can't listen to the whole thing and tell me that it all doesn't go together wonderfully.

[TheGreatPretender]

A Mind Beside Itself is definitely a cohesive whole (and is presented as a single song on the LSFNY DVD) and just as much one song as Six Degrees, but some disagree, and it pretty much isn't a battle worth fighting most of the time, so I usually let it slide.  But you can't listen to the whole thing and tell me that it all doesn't go together wonderfully.

Sometimes I listen to The Silent Man by itself. But if I listen to Erotomania, I'll listen to the whole damn thing. And if I want to listen to Voices, first I'll listen to Erotomania, and after I get my fix of Voices, I'll listen to The Silent Man. In other words, Together is pretty much the only way I DO listen to it.

And considering that Erotomania introduces the chorus melody from The Silent Man, I'd say that wraps the suite up rather nicely.

[Heretic]

Guys, guys, can we all just agree that Octavarium is the greatest thing ever and move on with our lives?

[Adami]

Guys, guys, can we all just agree that A Change of Seasons is the greatest thing ever and move on with our lives?

Yes we can.