Rank the Dream Theater Albums in Tiers

[namgalsipsclar]

Tier 1: Images and Words (10/10) Awake (10/10)

Tier 2: Scenes from a memory (9.5/10) Six Degrees (9/10)

Tier 3: Octavarium (8/10) Black Clouds (8/10) Falling into Infinity (8/10)

Tier 4:When dream and day unite (6/10) Systematic Chaos (6/10)

Tier 5: Train of Thought (5/10)

[EuropaEndlos]

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.   

Six Degrees? 

[krands85]

Tier 1: Images & Words, Train of Thought
Tier 2: Octavarium, Scenes, Awake and a bit early but ATDOE too
Tier 3: Systematic Chaos, 6DOIT
Tier 4: BC&SL, Falling Into Infinity
Tier 5: WDADU

[Jaffa]

I've started typing my list for this thread like, seven times.  I keep getting halfway through it and then second-guessing myself and giving up.  So, this time I'm going to finish.  And it's not going to be perfect, but, my opinion is something like this:

Tier One: Images and Words
Tier Two: Train of Thought, Scenes from a Memory (and I know it's still early, but I'm tentatively putting ADTOE here)
Tier Three: Awake, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, Black Clouds and Silver Linings
Tier Four: Octavarium, Systematic Chaos, Falling Into Infinity
Tier Five: When Dream and Day Unite

And for the record, I still enjoy WDADU. 

[Jirpo]

Tier 1: Images and Words
Tier 2: Scenes from a Memory
Tier 3: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Tier 4: Awake, When Day and Dream Unite, Train of Thought, BC&SL
Tier 5: 8VM, FII
Tier 6: SC

[Laich21DT]

Tier 1 - Awake 10/10, Images & Words 10, Scenes from a Memory 9

Tier 2 - Falling into Infinity 8.5, Six Degrees 8.5

Tier 3 - Train of Thought 8, WDADU 7.5, Black Clouds & Silver Linings 7

Tier 4 - Octavarium 6.5, Systematic Chaos 6

BTW, based off what I've heard (OTBOA, and the snippets for both BITS and BAI), and the reactions so far, I expect ADTOE to be in Tier 1 or 2.

[InertSolo]

On an X/5 scale. A Change of Seasons is not an LP but it is definitely a definitive part of their discography I feel needs to be mentioned

Tier 1: Awake (5/5), Images and Words (5/5), A Change of Seasons (5/5)
Tier 2: Black Clouds & Silver Linings (4/5) , Metropolis II: Scenes From A Memory (4.5/5), Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (4/5)
Tier 3: When Dream And Day Unite (3.5/5), A Dramatic Turn of Events (3.5/5), Octavarium (3/5)
Tier 4: Falling Into Infinity (2.5/5), Train of Thought (2.5/5)
Tier 5: Systematic Chaos (1.5/5)

The only parts where it goes into territory that I really don't like is Systematic Chaos, all the other albums in tier 4 have a few that I really enjoy except that one which is why it is all alone lol.

[tri.ad]

Tier 1: Images And Words, Awake
Tier 2: SDOIT, BCASL
Tier 3: WDADU, FII, Octavarium
Tier 4: SC, SFAM, TOT

I'm not rating ADTOE yet, since I'd like to give it a few more listens.

[Implode]

Grouped by tiers:

SFAM
I&W
SDOIT

ADTOE
Awake
BC&SL
8VM

FII
TOT
WADADU
SC

[Zydar]

Tier 1:
Images & Words
Scenes From A Memory

Tier 2:
Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
A Dramatic Turn Of Events

Tier 3:
Awake
Falling Into Infinity

Tier 4:
Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Octavarium
Train Of Thought

Tier 5:
Systematic Chaos
When Dream And Day Unite

[Perpetual Change]

Tier One:

Images and Words

Tier Two:

Awake, Scenes from A Memory, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, A Dramatic Turn of Events

Tier Three:

When Dream and Day Unite, Train of Thought, Black Clouds and Silver Linings

Tier Four:

Falling Into Infinity, Octavarium, Systematic Chaos

[SjundeInseglet]

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

This... in a nutshell.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Tier One: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

Tier Two: Awake, Images and Words, Scenes from a Memory, A Dramatic Turn of Events

Tier Three: Falling into Infinity, Octavarium, Train of Thought, Black Clouds & Silver Linings

Tier Four: When Dream and Day Unite, Systematic Chaos

[duncan3dc]

Tier One: Scenes from a Memory

Tier Two: Images and Words, Train of Thought, A Dramatic Turn of Events

Tier Three: Awake, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, Systematic Chaos, Black Clouds & Silver Linings

Tier Four: Falling into Infinity, Octavarium

Tier Five: When Dream and Day Unite

[Syzzle]

Tier 1: Images and Words (10/10) Scenes From a Memory (10/10)

Tier 1.5: A Change of Seasons (9.5/10)

Tier 2: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (9/10) A Dramatic Turn of Events (8.5/10) Awake (8/10)

Tier 3: Black Clouds & Silver Linings (7.5/10) Octavarium (7.5/10) Train of Thought (7/10)

Tier 4: Falling into Infinity (6/10) Systematic Chaos (5/10) When Dream and Day Unite (3/10)

[Acideus]

Tier 1
Images & Words - 10
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - 9.5
Scenes From A Memory - 9.5
A Dramatic Turn Of Events - 9

Tier 2
Octavarium - 8
Awake - 8
Falling into Infinity - 7.5

Tier 3
ACOS - 7
Black Clouds & Silver Linings - 7
Train of Thought - 6
Systematic Chaos 5.5

[obscure]

Top Tier - SFAM   SDOIT  TOT   

Tier 2 -  Octavarium  BC&SL SC   Awake 

Tier 3 -   FII   IaW 

Tier 4 -  WDADU

[MetalJens]

Tier 1:  SFAM, I&W - Legendary
Tier 2:  Awake, SDOIT, ADTOE, (ACoS) - Great
Tier 3:  FII, BC&SL, 8VM - Very Good
Tier 4:  SC, TOT, WDADU - Average

[GuineaPig]

Tier 1 (Excellent): Awake, Images & Words
Tier 2 (Good): Falling into Infinity, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Tier 3 (Okay): Scenes from a Memory, A Dramatic Turn of Events
Tier 4 (Mediocre): Where Dream and Day Unite, Octavarium, Train of Thought
Tier 5 (Bad): Black Clouds and Silver Linings, Systematic Chaos

[berrege]

Tier 1: SFAM, I&W
Tier 2: Awake, SDOIT
Tier 3: TOT, SC, 8VM, WDADU
Tier 4: BC&SL
Tier 5: FII

[Pinga]

Great: Awake. A Dramatic Turn of Events. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. Images & Words

Very Good: Scenes from a Memory

Good: Train of Thought

Okay: Falling into Infinity. Octavarium

Meh: When Dream and Day Unite

Hall of Shame: Systematic Chaos. Black Clouds & Silver Linings

[ytserush]

Tier 1: When Dream and Day Unite,  Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, Octavarium                                 

Tier 2: Images and Words, Awake,  Falling into Infinity,  Black Clouds & Silver Linings

Tier 3: Scenes From A Memory

Tier 4: Train Of Thought, Systematic Chaos


Not qualified to rank A Dramatic turn of Events after six listens but for the most part it sounds like slightly modified Black Clouds part two.

[ivorydroid]

Tier 1:  -  Scenes from a Memory, Images & Words, Awake

Tier 2:    - Six Degrees, A Dramatic Turn of Events, Train of Thought

Tier 3:    - Octavarium

Tier 4:  - Systematic Chaos, Black Clouds & Silver Linings

Tier 5:  - Falling Into Infinity, When Dream and Day Unite

[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.   

Six Degrees?

Yeah, I forgot that album for reasons unknown,
It'd be in Tier 2 for me. Thanks for reminding me!! 

[Slain]

(Fucking Great) Tier 1: Images and Words, Scenes From a Memory, Awake
(Great) Tier 2: A Change of Seasons, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, A Dramatic Turn of Events
(Solid) Tier 3: Train of Thought, Falling Into Infinity, Octavarium
(Decent) Tier 4: Black Clouds and Silver Linings, Systematic Chaos, When Dream and Day Unite

[missedthepoint]

So this is the Trial of Tiers?

[3xodus]

Tier 1: Masterpiece city
----------------
SFAM     (10)

I&W       (10)

6DOIT    (10)       

ACOS     (10)   - If we're gonna count the EP

Awake   (9.7)  - Lie has such terrible lyrics but I can't keep it out of tier 1 just because of that

Tier 2: Great albums
----------------

FII          (9)

8VM        (8.7)

ADTOE    (8.5)

TOT        (8.5)

BC&SL    (8.3)

Tier 3: Meh/Wtf happened? albums
----------------

WD&DU  (7.5)

SC          (7.0)

[RuRoRul]

My tiers with ADTOE (tentatively) placed in them:

Tier 1
Train Of Thought
Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
Images And Words

Tier 2
Black Clouds And Silver Linings
Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory
A Dramatic Turn Of Events

Tier 3
Systematic Chaos
Awake
Octavarium
Falling Into Infinity

Tier 4
When Dream And Day Unite

[Bolsters]

Tier 1
SFAM, I&W, 6DOIT
Tier 2
ToT, Awake, FII, Octavarium
Tier 3
BC&SL, SC, (ADTOE)
Tier 4
WDADU

ADTOE is bracketed since it will likely move in the near future. I just don't feel comfortable putting it in Tier 2.

[Dynia]

Tier 1 (excellent): I&W, SDOIT, SFAM, ADTOE, Awake.
Tier 2 (very good): 8V, FII, BC&SL
Tier 3 (good): TOT, SC
Tier 4 (average): WDADU

[chaotic_ripper]

Tier 1: Awesome
Images & Words
Scenes From A Memory
Awake
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

Tier 2: Great
Falling Into Infinity
Train of Thought
When Dream and Day Unite
Black Clouds & Silver Linings

Tier 3: Not so much
Octavarium
Systematic Chaos

[aXygnus]

Tier 1:
Images & Words
Scenes from a Memory
A Dramatic Turn of Events

Tier 2:
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
A Change of Seasons
When Dream and Day Unite

Tier 3:
Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Octavarium
Awake (eek don't shoot me)
Train of Thought

Tier 4:
Systematic Chaos
Falling Into Infinity

[MK_Ultra]

Tier 1

SFAM, BC&SL, I&W

Tier 2

ADTOE, SDOIT, Octavarium

Tier 3

TOT, Awake, ACOS

Tier 4

FII, WDADU, SC

[Priest of Syrinx]

Hi guys!  I figure that my first post on DTF would be to join in this Trial of Tiers...

Tier 1 - I&W, SFAM, SDOIT, ADTOE (ACOS)
Tier 2 - Awake, FII, 8VM
Tier 3 - ToT, BC&SL
Tier 4 - SC, WDADU

[TheGoodDoctor]

Just out of curiosity, what is it about Awake that is making such high tiers? I honestly think it's one of their worst albums.