What's the Best Modern Album? (Post-Six Degrees)

[darkshade]

The last one was dominated by votes for SFAM and SDoIT (and I voted SDoIT), so which album do you think is the best one of their most recent albums?

I can't wait for these polls after the new album is out.

[ResultsMayVary]

Octavarium, hands down.

THAT TITLE TRACK 

[metropofreak]

Octavarium, hands down.

[BlobVanDam]

This is really tough for me. I can look at each of these albums and instantly pick out a couple of top songs. It's between ToT and BCASL for me. Octavarium has some great songs, but also a few real clunkers, and is varied almost to a fault. Systematic Chaos has some of my very favourites, but it too has some songs I'm less interested in.

I think I'll go with ToT.....

[Jamesman42]

For a while I was thinking 8VM was my favorite DT album, but I think ToT really trumps it a bit. So TOT

[Tomislav95]

Octavarium is great track but all other songs are not as good as Train of Thought. Vote for ToT.

[Zydar]

BCSL

[Vajra]

I've never really been able to rank these past four albums, I always considered them all equally good.

[KevShmev]

BC&SL, with ToT in 2nd.

OV is the worst.  Aside from the title track, it is mostly forgettable.  None of those seven songs have had ANY staying power with me.  

[nikatapi]

Train Of Thought.
I think it is the only album out of these that i can listen to as a whole and not find something that i feel is unnecessary.

[TL]

Definitely Octavarium for me, probably followed by BC&SL.

[EpicCookie]

Octavarium for sure

[ShadowWalker]

I went with ToT because I thought the songs translated well live and when I reach for boots to listen to, 9 times out of 10, it is for shows from that tour. If the bonus covers disc from BC&SL was its own choice, I would have picked that over every original song recored from the four albums selected in this poll...

[Tipram]

It's between Octavarium and ToT, but based on listening to the album as a whole, my vote goes to Octavarium.
Although none of the songs (except the title track) are among my favourites, they're all solid/very listenable songs IMO. There's just something special about listening to the whole album which I can never get enough of.

[krands85]

ToT - same as in the last poll

The order of the albums in this poll is also the order I rank them against each other too (eg. ToT 1st, BC&SL 4th)

[wammabe]

Octavarium, the title track is really good, Root of All Evill/Never Enough/Panic Attack are very fun, and I really love Sacrificed Sons. At first, I thought that These Walls/The Answer Lies Within were very cliché and a bit stupid, but now I love the songs. I think Octavarium is the only modern Dream Theater album that retains a very nice consistent mood or feeling along the entire album.

[RuRoRul]

Train Of Thought. One of the best albums they've done, if not my favourite.

[Ħ]

That's hard.  TOT has the best collection of songs, but the flow is terrible.  I have to go with Octavarium, since it's the least draining on a single listen.

[Global Laziness]

Black Clouds
Train of Thought
Systematic Chaos
Octavarium

[darkshade]

Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Octavarium
Train of Thought
Systematic Chaos

BTW, Octavarium I enjoy the most in an album run through, and I think there's plenty of DT classics on there like TRoAE, PA, SS, and 8vm. The rest are solid songs and work in the album context.

[Mr. Beale]

I waffle between ToT and 8vm, right now I'd say the later.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

TOT
BCSL
8VM
SC

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

Systematic Chaos.

[tri.ad]

BCASL, with Octavarium coming in second.

[Mladen]

Systematic Chaos

[IdoSC]

8V, which to me is also better than SDOIT, but worse than SFAM.

[Liberation]

Apparently I'm in the minority, but Systematic Chaos. It was a very brave step for DT, managed to achieve a lot of things no one could even expect, and has some amazing songs for me. Repentance and The Ministry of Lost Souls would definitely make it into my top15 or even top10 because both are incredibly beautiful and atmospheric, while Constant Motion is not far behind because it's one of their most songs ever and it's just incredibly fun to listen and rock out to. It's probably the toughest DT album to get into as well, but I think it's very rewarding.

I'd really have a lot of trouble ordering the other three though.

Train of Thought is a very dark album, it's imo one of the most consistent - if I had to pick my least favourite here, that would be Stream of Consciousness which is STILL very good, while even Awake which is an absolutely amazing album for me has Erotomania which I find... uninteresting. The only possible weakness for me is that it's mostly very intense and I'm not always in the mood for that.

Octavarium... well, I'm quite sentimental about it because it's what got me into DT and I absolutely adored it back then. But well, its main weakness is its inconsistency I think - from absolute masterpieces (Octavarium, Sacrificed Sons, The Root of All Evil), to just "ok" songs (I Walk Beside You). But there's no truly weak songs on it either, and the high points are some of their best as well.

Black Clouds & Silver Linings... well, let's be honest, it's a very "safe" album. However, even though nothing on it really stands out in their discography for me, I just... don't really get tired of it for some reason. More than any other album I can just randomly feel like listening to it (on a trip or something) and enjoy it all the way, because it's also very, very consistent. This could be its main strength, too - it's simply a very solid album in every aspect.

So... it's a tough choice. All four are very good. (And I admit this poll makes more sense because it's less obvious)

[pogoowner]

Train of Thought. Which is kind of funny (in a sad sort of way), because when it came out, I considered it to be DT's worst album.

[Phoenix87x]

For me its definitely Train of Thought, as its the only one I can listen to from beginning to end and enjoy every moment.

[Millais]

either train of thought or octavarium.

at the moment, octavarium due to the type of mood i'm in 

[Dynia]

BC&SL, with Octavarium being close second.

[dbrooks22]

Train Of Thought.
I think it is the only album out of these that i can listen to as a whole and not find something that i feel is unnecessary.

For me its definitely Train of Thought, as its the only one I can listen to from beginning to end and enjoy every moment.

this

[BRGM]

I love all 4 of these, I can't choose one favorite, it's between BC&SL and Octavarium, although, now that I think about it...SC isn't that bad either...and ToT rocks tooO! Argh!   

[Sketchy]

I love Octavarium, it has some great stuff on it (TROOE, Title track, TALW), but ToT wins for two reasons.

Reason 1: As I Am (harmonics intro, epic riff, that bit halfway through the solo where it suddenly picks up)
Reason 2: Vacant, SOC, ITNOG

I personally think the best thing about the album is that flow. Vacant is really beautiful, SOC is brilliant and also bridges Vacant and ITNOG really well, and ITNOG is just ITNOG, epic riff and all.

SC is fun but can grate if I'm not in the right mood for it, and BCSL is good but doesn't excite me as much as the other three.

[abydos]

Vacant-SoC-ItnoG > all else. ToT easily.