In your opinion, what are Dream Theater's 'untouchable' albums?

[Jaffa]

This is kind of a weird poll.  I don't want it to be just another 'rank the DT albums' thread.  I'm looking specifically for the opinions of people who believe that some Dream Theater albums are 'untouchable.'  If your favorite is Images and Words, and there's a significant drop between that and your second favorite album, then Images and Words is the only one I want you to vote for here.

I've seen a lot of people refer to I&W, Awake, and SFAM as the 'Holy Trinity' of DT albums.  But I've also seen quite a few who would replace one of those with SDOIT, and others still whose lists of the 'untouchables' include Falling Into Infinity or Octavarium or whatever else.

This has been especially noticeable since the release of ADTOE, where tons of people have been saying it's 'the best album since ______.'

So again, I'm not just looking for your favorite albums.  I'm looking for the albums you feel are basically unsurpassable. 

If you don't think ANY albums have this magical quality, I've given you the option to vote for that. 

[Zydar]

Images & Words
Scenes From a Memory

[lumpy33]

images and words and train of thought

[Juular]

Images And Words, Awake, SFAM

[The Letter M]

I voted for 5: IAW, Awake, SFAM, SDOIT and ADTOE. All pretty untouchable albums, they're all graded A (90/100) or higher, and in my mind, are their best.

-Marc.

[kirksnosehair]

Images & Words
Scenes From a Memory

Wurd 

[serrano]

I&W, SFAM.

Maybe ADTOE time will tell...

[Syzzle]

Images & Words
Scenes From a Memory

[3xodus]

I&W, Awake, SFAM, and SDOIT.

I like ADTOE very much but it is just about tied with FII, 8VM, and ToT in that second tier of DT albums for me.

[The Letter M]

As of this post, both Awake and ADTOE both have 8/20 votes each. Oddly enough, this mirrors the ADTOE v. Awake poll going on, where it's been neck-and-neck and tied or within 5 votes of each for pretty much the whole poll!

Glad to see 16/20 people agree IAW is untouchable!

-Marc.

[KevShmev]

Awake
Images and Words

I would say Scenes as well, but I think, that if they were to ever do another concept album, they could possibly equal it.

[Tis BOOLsheet]

images is the only one im 100% on. that album is my favorite album period; not just of DT but of ANY band.

[DreamerTV]

I&W and SDOIT. Then there are those with only few things to complain about, and those are AWAKE, SFAM and ADTOE.

[pogoowner]

Images and Words
Awake

Those two have essentially no flaws. I can't say the same thing about any of their other albums.

[toro]

Images and Words
Awake

Those two have essentially no flaws. I can't say the same thing about any of their other albums.

[Jaffa]

As of now, everything except WDADU and SC have at least one vote.

Can't say I'm shocked.

[Nekov]

Images & Words
Scenes From a Memory

Even though I prefer 6DOIT over I&W, I'm not including it in the list because of Disappear.

[Jarzombek]

Images and Words
Awake
Metropolis Part 2: Scenes from a Memory

[DetonationSequence]

Images and SDOIT. And to be honest SDOIT's second disc is an even greater order of magnitude above Images than Images is above the other discs. SDOIT is an impossibly good album. 100% per cent, flawless, invincible - there's literally nothing in it that I don't find amazing.

Awake, ADTOE and SFAM are very strong runners up, and still miles ahead of any other bands out there, but I&W and SDOIT are the only DT full-length albums with top 5 songs on them (2 each, in fact, SDOIT's title track being number 1 and ACOS being number 2), and 'top 5 DT song' is an obscenely huge statement in my book. 

[tjanuranus]

Images and SDOIT. And to be honest SDOIT's second disc is an even greater order of magnitude above Images than Images is above the other discs. SDOIT is an impossibly good album. 100% per cent, flawless, invincible - there's literally nothing in it that I don't find amazing.

Awake, ADTOE and SFAM are very strong runners up, and still miles ahead of any other bands out there, but I&W and SDOIT are the only DT full-length albums with top 5 songs on them (2 each, in fact, SDOIT's title track being number 1 and ACOS being number 2), and 'top 5 DT song' is an obscenely huge statement in my book.

Except SDOIT has maybe my least favorite DT song or in the bottom 5 for sure (the great debate), so in no way can that album even be close to IW to me because IW is perfect. Also I hate that they are playing it on this tour and not subbing it with other songs because i am going to 3 shows in a couple weeks!

[smegolas]

Im not sure what untouchable means.  But how can any album be considered "unsurpassable"?  Does that mean that you think DT or any other band will never be able to do better?  And if so, then how can you have more then one album that is unsurpassable?  By definition, if you list 2 of them, then one must have surpassed the other, no?  Its impossible to like two albums EXACTLY the same.  So one of the two has been surpassed already!

For the record, the answer is SFAM, but its possible they may do better.  I hope they do!

[ResultsMayVary]

My five 'untouchable' albums:

Images and Words
Awake
Scenes From A Memory
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
A Dramatic Turn of Events

[Jaffa]

Im not sure what untouchable means.  But how can any album be considered "unsurpassable"?  Does that mean that you think DT or any other band will never be able to do better?  And if so, then how can you have more then one album that is unsurpassable?  By definition, if you list 2 of them, then one must have surpassed the other, no?  Its impossible to like two albums EXACTLY the same.  So one of the two has been surpassed already!

You're technically correct.  But the idea is that there's a 'top tier' of albums that nothing will ever climb higher than.  For instance, if I were to rank the DT albums in tiers, Images and Words would be alone on tier 1.  So when I say it's 'unsurpassable', I mean that it will never move down to tier 2.  There will never be something so much better than I&W that I'll feel the need to redefine my 'top tier'.

For some people, there are three or four albums of similar quality that rank in the 'top tier'. 

Hope that makes sense.

[GasparXR]

I voted Awake, SFAM, and ADTOE.

[Cranky]

I voted Images & Words, Awake, Scenes From A Memory, Black Clouds & Silver Linings, and A Dramatic Turn of Events.
These are not only my favourite Dream Theater albums, but some of my favourite albums of all time.
It is my firm belief that all these albums are Dream Theater's strongest and most 'untouchable' albums to date.

And, hopefully I can put their next studio record in this category as well!

[tjanuranus]

Awe poor WDADU and SC! 

[krands85]

images and words and train of thought

[lonestar]

I&W, SFAM, and SDOIT are the ones that do it for me.  ADTOE is still too new, but definatly has the potential to be added.

[snapple]

Images & Words
Scenes From a Memory

Wurd 

I have no idea why you don't put Awake in there, Barry.

[bss4life15]

SDOIT
ADTOE

[snapple]

ADTOE is still too new, but definatly has the potential to be added.

This. I understand enjoying the album now; but it needs to be revisited to see if it has staying power. I don't understand why so many people are saying it's top 3 DT material yet. It totally has potential, but it shouldn't be judged so soon. But what do I know?

[Jaffa]

Awe poor WDADU and SC! 

I know, right?  By now everything else has at least two votes, and those two still have none.

[nikostheater]

For me the untouchables are I&W,Metropolis Pt2:Scenes From A Memory,Awake.
ADTOE is still new so i left it out though it's non-stop on my iPhone,iPod,Computer from day one.
SDOIT is also flawless,but for me,the "holy trinity" is by far the best triad of albums from any band ever.

[Jarlaxle]

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. By far Dream Theater's greatest album, IMO of course. I'm going to go ahead and say Images and Words as well as A Dramatic Turn of Events, as both albums are also fantastic.

[j]

I would only consider I&W and Awake "untouchable."

SDOIT is the next runner up, but I rate it significantly lower.  Great album though.

-J