Rank the Dream Theater Albums in Tiers

[TheOutlawXanadu]

Now that Dream Theater have such a large discography, it's easy to group certain albums together and say, "These two are about as good... These three are about as good..."

In this thread, rank the DT albums in tiers. What each tier constitutes is up to you. Rate the albums if you'd like!

Tier 1: Images and Words (4.5/5), Awake (4.5)

Tier 2: Falling into Infinity (4), Scenes from a Memory (4), Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (4)

Tier 3: When Dream and Day Unite (3.5), Train of Thought (3)

Tier 4: Octavarium (2.5), Systematic Chaos (2), Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2)

[TAC]

Tier 1: Images & Words (10/10), Scenes From A Memory (10)

Tier 2: Awake (9) Six Degrees (8.5  .. 9.5 for D1/7.5 for D2))

Tier 3: WDADU (8) Train Of Thought (8) Systematic Chaos (8)  

Tier 4: Octavarium (7) BC&SL (7) Falling Into Infinity (6.5)

[ElliottTamer]

Tier 1: Metropolis Pt. 2 (10/10)
Tier 2: Images and Words (9/10); Black Clouds and Silver Linings (9/10); Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (8.5/10); Systematic Chaos (8.5/10); Octavarium (8.5/10)
Tier 3: Train of Thought (7.5/10); Falling Into Infinity (7/10); Awake (7/10)
Tier 4: When Dream and Day Unite (?/10)

And I believe A Dramatic Turn of Events will go in Tier 2, though there's always hope it can be tier 1...

[Elite]

Now that Dream Theater have such a large discography, it's easy to group certain albums together and say, "These two are about as good... These three are about as good..."

In this thread, rank the DT albums in tiers. What each tier constitutes is up to you. Rate the albums if you'd like!

Tier 1: Images and Words (4.5/5), Awake (4.5)

Tier 2: Falling into Infinity (4), Scenes from a Memory (4), Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (4)

Tier 3: When Dream and Day Unite (3.5), Train of Thought (3)

Tier 4: Octavarium (2.5), Systematic Chaos (2), Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2)

This is ridiculously close to my album ranking, the only two I'd swap are Systematic Chaos and Octavarium.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Tier 1: Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (10)

Tier 2: Falling Into Infinity (9.5)  Scenes From A Memory (9.5)  Images & Words (9.5)

Tier 3: Train Of Thought (9)  Awake (9)

Tier 4: Black Clouds And Silver Linings (8.5)  Octavarium (8.5)  When Dream And Day Unite (8)  Systematic Chaos (8)

[senecadawg2]

Top Tier: I&W 10/10, SFAM 10/10, Awake 9.5/10, ADTOE (hopefully )
2nd Tier: SDOIT 8.5/10,
3rd Tier: FII 7.5/10, 8Varium 7/10, BC&SL 7/10, TOT 7/10, WDADU 6.5/10
4th Tier: SC 4.5/10

I think SDOIT is a really solid 2nd tier album and, honestly those beneath it don't deserve to be on the same level. So I lumped them on the 3rd Tier (Except for SC)

[jdprsaga]

I like the idea!

Tier 1: I&W, SDOIT, FII
Tier 2: Awake, SFAM, SC
Tier 3: TOT,  WD&DU
Tier 4: Octavarium, BC&SL

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

Tier 1: Scenes from a Memory (10/10), Awake (10/10), Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (9/10)
Tier 2: Systematic Chaos (8/10)
Tier 3: Images and Words (6/10), Black Clouds and Silver Linings (6/10), Octavarium (5/10), When Dream and Day Unite (5/10)
Tier 4: Falling into Infinity (3/10), Train of Thought (2/10)

[Cool Chris]

Tier 1: Classics; masterpieces...

* Images and Words, Awake

Tier 2a: Solid albums with a few weak spots

* Scenes from a Memory

Tier 2b: Solid songs, but nothing exceptional

* Train of Thought, Black Clouds & Silver Linings

Tier 3: Excellent first CD would be in tier one as a stand-alone

* Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

Tier 4: Uneven albums; Some great songs, some duds

* Octavarium, Systematic Chaos

Tier 5: Some good songs, some mediocre ones.

* When Dream and Day Unite

Tier 6: I own this just to be a DT completist.

Falling into Infinity

[Kotowboy]

Scenes From A Memory / Octavarium / Images and words

Awake / Six Degrees

Train Of Thought / Black Clouds

Falling Into Infinity

Systematic Chaos

When Dream And Day Unite

[Orthogonal]

My first post on the forum. Might as well be here.

Tier 1, Perfection:

Images and Words (10/10)

Tier 2, Exceptional:

Scenes From a Memory (9.5/10)
Awake (9/10)
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (9/10)

Tier 3, Good:

Falling Into Infinity (8/10)
Octavarium (8/10)
Black Clouds and Silver Linings (7/10)
Train of Thought (7/10)
When Dream and Day Unite (7/10)

Tier 4, Mediocre:

Systematic Chaos (6/10)

[RuRoRul]

Tier 1: Train Of Thought, Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence, Images And Words
(the best DT albums, for different reasons)

Tier 2: Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory, Black Clouds And Silver Linings
(very solid DT albums with just enough going for them to separate them from the pack - BC&SL it's overall decent quality with a few incredible songs, SFAM it's the overall very high quality)

Tier 3: Systematic Chaos, Awake, Octavarium, Falling Into Infinity (great albums, but without enough going for them to rank in a tier above. Systematic Chaos and Octavarium's quality is concentrated too much in a few tracks while the rest feel a rather mediocre, Awake is great overall but doesn't ever reach the heights of the other albums, Falling Into Infinity has some amazing peaks but some very low spots compared to any other DT album)

Tier 4: When Dream And Day Unite
(Not a big fan. Not a very original opinion, but whatever. The songs are not bad by any means but lacking compared to every other DT album, and the vocals and poorer production really just mean there's an incredible gap between this album and even my least favourite of the other 9 albums (I'm not even sure which one that would be - maybe Falling Into Infinity but it's hard to say))

[Pirate]

Tier 1: I&W, Awake, ADTOE

Tier 2: The rest

[KevShmev]

Tier 1: Awake, I&W and Scenes

Tier 2: 6DOIT and FII

Tier 3: Train of Thought, BC&SL and WDADU

Tier 4: SC and Octavarium

[EuropaEndlos]

The Best 1's Images and Words (5/5), Scenes From a Memory (5/5), Awake (4.5/5)

The 2 not so bads Falling Into Infinity (4/5), Octavarium (4/5)

Not bad, but I may skip a few songs... Six Degrees (3.5/5), Train of Thought (3.5/5), Black Clouds (3.5/5), When Dream and Day Unite (3/5)

Could have done without! Systematic Chaos (2.5/5)

[j]

Tier 1: I&W, Awake - Excellent albums that have very little wrong with them.
Tier 2: SDOIT, FII, SFAM, WDADU - Good albums with significant flaws.
Tier 3: Octavarium, BC&SL, SC, ToT - Average or worse albums with a few great highlights.

-J

[Dream Team]

Tier 1: Images & Words (10/10), Scenes From A Memory (10)

Tier 2: Awake (9) Six Degrees (8.5  .. 9.5 for D1/7.5 for D2))

Tier 3: WDADU (8) Train Of Thought (8) Systematic Chaos (8)  

Tier 4: Octavarium (7) BC&SL (7) Falling Into Infinity (6.5)

Wow, pretty close to mine.

Tier 1: I&W (11/10)
Tier 2: SFAM (9.5/10) 6DOIT (9.5/10) and hopefully ADTOE
Tier 3: Awake (8.5/10) WDADU (8/10) TOT (7.5/10)
Tier 4: BC&SL (7/10) SC (6.5/10) OV (6/10) FII (5/10)

[As I Am]

Tier 1: Scenes from a Memory (5/5), Images and Words (4.9/5), Awake (4.5/5)

Tier 2: Falling into Infinity (4.2/5), Train of Thought (4/5)

Tier 3: A Dramatic Turn of Events (3.9/5), Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (3.8/5), Black Clouds & Silver Linings (3.5/5), Octavarium (3.2/5), Systematic Chaos (3/5)

Tier 4: When Dream and Day Unite (2.5/5) *only because of terrible production & non-LaBrie vocals - could have been a tier 3 (3.6/5)  

[senecadawg2]

The Best 1's Images and Words (5/5), Scenes From a Memory (5/5), Awake (4.5/5)

The 2 not so bads Falling Into Infinity (4/5), Octavarium (4/5)

Not bad, but I may skip a few songs... Six Degrees (3.5/5), Train of Thought (3.5/5), Black Clouds (3.5/5), When Dream and Day Unite (3/5)

Could have done without! Systematic Chaos (2.5/5)

This pretty much sums it up for me. Sort of...

[Ħ]

Tier 1: SFAM, SDOIT

Tier 2: IAW, FII

Tier 3: TOT, Octavarium, SC, BCSL

Tier 4: Awake, WDADU

[Accelerando]

Tier 1: Images and Words (5/5), Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes From A Memory (5/5), Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (5/5)

Tier 2: Octavarium (4.5/5), Awake (4/5)

Tier 3: Black Clouds and Silver Linings (4/5), Train of Thought (3.5/5), Systematic Chaos (3/5)

Tier 4: When Dream and Day Unite (2/5), Falling Into Infinity (1.5/5)

[Metrovarium]

Tier 1: I&W (Unmatched by any other DT album)

Tier 2: Octavarium, Awake, Scenes from a Memory (All incredible)

Tier 3: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, Black Clouds, When Dream and Day Unite (All great)

Tier 4: Train of Thought, Systematic Chaos (Both good)

Tier 5: Falling Into Infinity (Too many terrible songs, though there are exceptions (LITS, TOT, AL)

[Pols Voice]

Tier 1: Awake (10), Images and Words (10), Scenes from a Memory (10)
Tier 2: Falling into Infinity (9)
Tier 3: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (8), Train of Thought (8)
Tier 4: When Dream and Day Unite (7), Black Clouds & Silver Linings (7)
Tier 5: Systematic Chaos (6), Octavarium (6)

[skydivingninja]

Tier 1: Images, 6DoiT, Scenes
Tier 2: Black Clouds, Octavarium, Falling Into Infinity, Awake
Tier 3: When Day and Dream Unite, Train of Thought
Tier 9999: Systematic Chaos

[yorost]

T1(No significant complaints): Awake,  Scenes From a Memory, Train of Thought

T2(Have some issues but mostly great listens): Images and Words, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

T3(Listenable, but a few too many spots): When Dream and Day Unite, Falling Into Infinity, Systematic Chaos, Black Clouds and Silver Linings

T4(Tough to sit through a listen): Octavarium

[MasterShakezula]

Tire 1 (Near perfect): Awake (9.5), 6 (9.5), 8 (9.5)
Tire 2: (More great than good): I&W (9.0), FII (8.5)
Tire 3: (Good with some great): TOT (8.0), BC&SL (7.5), SC (7.0)
Tire 4: (I skip a lot on these): WD&DU (6.5), SFAM (6.5)

[serrano]

T1 I&W(10/10), SFAM (11/10) Masterpieces (with placeholder for ADTOE)
T2 Awake(9,5/10), SDOIT(9/10) Almost perfect
T3 8V (7/10), BC&SL(7,5/10), SC(7,5/10) Good ones (8V song should be T1)
T4 TOT (6,5/10), WDADU(6/10), FII(6/10) Enjoyable from time to time (Some of the songs would make it to T2)

This is based on DT discography, if ranked beside other bands none would go below 8/10

[The Dark Master]

Tier 1:  Images and Words (one of the greatest albums ever made)

Tier 2: Awake, Scenes From a Memory, Train of Thought, When Dream and Day Unite (yeah, you read right, WDADU =  )

Tier 3: Falling Into Infinity, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, Octavarium, Systematic Chaos, Black Clouds and Silver Linings

[BlobVanDam]

Top Tier - untouchable perfection
SFAM
IaW
SDOIT

Tier 2 - excellent, but not as consistent
FII
ToT
Octavarium
BCASL

Tier 3 - some amazing stuff, but more skippable
SC
Awake

Tier Last - bad
WDADU

[Cranky]

Tier 1: Awake (9.6) Black Clouds & Silver Linings (9.5) Images & Words (9.2) Scenes From a Memory (8.9)

^
These are the albums that I could listen to the whole way through without skipping a single track.. Very consistent and near perfection. 

Tier 2: Train of Thought (8.5), Octavarium (8.4, though the title track is one of my favourites)

^
These are the albums that are great, but get brought down by a few average songs/ moments, nothing bad or un-listenable, though. Just a little less consistent. 

Tier 3: Systematic Chaos (7.1)

^
IMO, Systematic Chaos is just an average album, by Dream Theater's standards.
Even though I really enjoy TDEN, CM, POW, and Forsaken, which comprises more than half the album, it still just has a really average vibe about it. 

Tier 4: When Dream and Day Unite (5.2) Falling Into Infinity (4.8)

^
My two least favourite albums, When Dream and Day Unite has a couple songs I will listen to sometimes, (Ytse Jam and Afterlife) but I don't ever listen to any songs off of Falling Into Infinity.. It is by far their weakest album in my opinion. None of the songs are bad on FII, per se, but they just do not do anything for me.   

[hefdaddy42]

Tier 1: Images & Words and Awake
Tier 2: Scenes From A Memory and Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Tier 3: Train of Thought and Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Tier 4: Falling Into Infinity and Octavarium
Tier 5: Systematic Chaos and When Dream & Day Unite

[Metropolis Pt. II]

Tier 1: SFAM (5)

Tier 2: I&W (4.5), Awake (4.5)

Tier 3: FII (4), SDOIT (4), TOT (4), 8VM (4), BC&SL (4)

Tier 4: WDADU (3), SC (3)

[Phoenix87x]

Tier 1 (The Holy Trinity)   I&W, Awake, SFAM

Tier 2 (Fantastic Albums)  WDADU, ADTOE, FII, TOT

Tier 3 (Pretty Good) SDOIT

Tier 4 (Albums I haven't listened to in over 2 years) Octavarium, SC, BCSL

[Icebear]

Ok, here it is (fully expecting ADTOE to end up in tier 1...):

Tier 1: IAW, Awake, SFAM
Tier 2: Octavarium, SDOIT, BCSL
Tier 3: SC, TOT, FII
Tier 4: WDADU

[BanksD]

Tier 1 (godly): Images & Words, SDOIT, Awake, SFAM
Teir 2 (great): FII, 8VM
Tier 3 (good): SC, TOT
Teir 4 (more than okay): WDADU, BC&SL