Rank the Dream Theater Albums in Tiers

[Chrissalix]

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

This.

[Priest of Syrinx]

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.

Some folks like it because it's the first real "heavy" DT album.  I  A Mind Beside Itself and the other songs are all good.  It's a consistent album.

[FsF]

Tier 1: Awake (9.5)   Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (9)    Images & Words (8.5)

Tier 2: Metropolis Part 2 (8)    Black Clouds & Silver Linings (8)   A Dramatic Turn Of Events (8)

Tier 3: Octavarium (7.5)   Train Of Thought (7.5)    Falling Into Infinity (7)   When Dream & Day Unite (7)

Tier 4: Systematic Chaos (6)

I am grading on a curve of course, since I still prefer SC to most other bands albums...

[Obfuscation]

Tier 1: Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence        Scenes From A Memory      Images and Words

Tier 2: Train of Thought      A Dramatic Turn of Events      Octavarium

Tier 3: Systematic Chaos      Black Clouds & Silver Linings

Tier 4: When Dream & Day Unite      Fallin Into Infinity

BOO-YAH!!!

[Jaffa]

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

Welcome to the forum, by the way! 

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Mines a little different now:

Tier 1: SDOIT

Tier 2: FII, ADTOE, SFAM, I&W

Tier 3: TOT, AWAKE, WDADU

Tier 4: BCSL, 8VM

Tier 5: SC

[Cruithne]

Tier 1: Classics
Images & Words
Scenes From A Memory
Awake
-----------------------------
Tier 2: Greats
6DoIT
Octavarium
-----------------------------
Tier 3: Thanks For Competing
Falling Into Infinity
WDaDU
-----------------------------
Tier 4: Ignominious
Systematic Chaos
Train Of Thought
BC&SL

[Infinite Cactus]

Tier 1 (Excellent):Awake, Images and Words,ADTOE
Tier 2 (Very Good):WDADU,Falling Into Infinity, 8VM, BCSL
Tier 3 (Good):BCSL,SFAM
Tier 4 (Decent):TOT,6Doit
Tier 5 (Mediocre):SC

[Implode]

So this is the Trial of Tiers?

Pun appreciation.

[obscure]

So this is the Trial of Tiers?

Pun appreciation.

I'll join... good one... 

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.

as you said, that's what YOU think....

[The Letter M]

King And Queen:
Images And Words
A Dramatic Turn Of Events

Bishops:
Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
Octavarium

Knights:
Awake
Scenes From A Memory

Rooks:
Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Train Of Thought

Pawns:
When Dream And Day Unite
Systematic Chaos
Falling Into Infinity

-Marc.

[deslock]

With release years and current ranking within tier.

Tier 1. ADTOE 2011, IAW 1992

Tier 2. Oct 2005, Met2 1999

Tier 3. TOT 2003, BCASL 2009 (instrumental version = Tier 2), SDOIT 2002

Tier 4. SC 2007, Awake 1994

TIER 5. WDADU 1989, FII 1997

Sometimes albums jump between tiers 2 and 3, or between 3 and 4, but before a week ago IAW had occupied tier 1 alone.

[Jamesman42]

Tier 1: (Excellent): SDOIT, TOT, 8VM

Tier 2: (Really great): IaW, Awake, ADTOE

Tier 3: (OK, inconsistent): FII, BC&SL

Tier 4: (Good is good, bad is really bad): SFAM, SC

Tier 5: (Almost unlistenable save for 2/3 songs): WDADU

[?]

Tier 1 (masterpieces): Awake, I&W, ADTOE
Tier 2 (great): Scenes, Degrees
Tier 3 (very consistent): 8V, WD&DU, TOT
Tier 4 (inconsistent): BC&SL, FII
Tier 5 (average): SC

[RG93]

T1: Flawless - I&W, Awake

T2: One song that's bad/meh: ADTOE, SFAM,SDOIT

T3: A mixed bag with some gems thrown in: FII, BC&SL, TOT

T4: Worth an occasional listen: WDADU

T5: May this album burn in the fiery depths of hell: SC

[vetuaki]

Tier 1 (amazing albums):
1.Images and Words / 2.Awake / 3.Scenes from a Memory

Tier 2 (great albums):
4.Black Clouds & Silver Linings / 5.Train of Thought / 6.Octavarium / 7.Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence / 8.A Dramatic Turn of Events

Tier 3 (good albums):
9.Falling into Infinity / 10.Systematic Chaos

Tier 4 (ok albums):
11.When Dream and Day Unite

[Nekov]

Tier 1 (Godly): SFAM
Tier 2 (Great): I&W, SDOIT, Awake
Tier 3 (Good): WDADU, FII, ADTOE, BC&SL
Tier 4 (Not so good): SC, TOT
Tier 5 (Should not exist except for one song): Octavarium

[bss4life15]

Tier 1 Godlike: SDOIT
Tier 2 Amazing: ADTOE, Falling Into Infinity, Systematic Chaos
Tier 3 Great: Images And Words, Awake, Train Of Thought
Tier 4 Good: Scenes From A Memory, Octavarium, Black Clouds And Silver Linings
Tier 5 Meh: WDADU

[ZKX-2099]

God Tier: Scenes, 6 Degrees, Train
Top Tier: Images, Black Clouds, Octavarium
Pretty Good Tier: Dramatic Turn, Chaos
Good Enough Tier: Infinity, Awake
Hey It's Still Dream Theater Tier: Dream and Day

[Wolfpacker96]

Tier 1 Godlike: SDOIT
Tier 2 Amazing: ADTOE, Falling Into Infinity, Systematic Chaos
Tier 3 Great: Images And Words, Awake, Train Of Thought
Tier 4 Good: Scenes From A Memory, Octavarium, Black Clouds And Silver Linings
Tier 5 Meh: WDADU

I can agree with a lot of this one.  Don't understand the Systematic Chaos bashing on others posts. I love that album.  Don't know if I'd put Six Degrees on this pedestal though.  Maybe I need to give it a few more spins. Here's my thoughts:

Tier 1:  Images and Words, Dramatic Turn, Systematic Chaos, Train of Thought
Tier 2:  Awake, Scenes, Six Degrees, Octavarium
Tier 3:  Black Clouds, Falling Into Infinity
Tier 4:  When Days

[7thHanyou]

Tier 1 (Desert island):

Images and Words
Scenes from a Memory

Tier 2 (Pretty damn good):

Awake
Octavarium
Falling into Infinity
When Dream and Day Unite
A Dramatic Turn of Events

Tier 3 (Not the worst):

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Train of Thought

Tier 4: (Why?):

Systematic Chaos
Black Clouds and Silver Linings

Tiers 1 and 2 are quite fantastic, but there's a huge gap between 2 and 3.  3 sounds like they were on autopilot, but there's some good material there.  As for 4...I have no idea how such talented musicians could release so much embarrassing material.

[Kotowboy]

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

Pretty Much this. I think i'd swap Train Of Thought and Octavarium around though.

[ResultsMayVary]

Tier 1:  Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (5), Images and Words (4.5)

Tier 2:  A Dramatic Turn of Events (4.5), Scenes From A Memory (4.5), Awake (4.5)

Tier 3:  Octavarium (4), Train of Thought (4)

Tier 4:  Falling Into Infinity (3.5), When Dream and Day Unite (3) (3.5 w/o Charlie vocals)

Tier 5:  Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2.5), Systematic Chaos (2)

[jsem]

Tier 1: I&W, SFAM
Tier 2: SDOIT
Tier 3: ADTOE, FII
Tier 4: BCSL, TOT, Awake
Tier 5: 8VM, WDADU
Tier 6: SC

[Ruba]

Tier 1: Awake
Tier 2: Images & Words, Metropolis pt.2: Scenes from a Memory, Falling into Infinity, When Dream and Day Unite
Tier 3: Train of Thought, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, A Dramatic Turn of Events
Tier 4: Black Clouds & Silver Linings, Octavarium, Systematic Chaos

[Ħ]

Tier 1: Scenes, SDOIT
Tier 2: FII, IAW, ADTOE
Tier 3: Octavarium, BCSL, TOT
Tier 4: SC, Awake
Tier 5: WDADU

[Estiui]

Tier 1: I&W (10)
Tier 2: Awake (9), SFAM (9), ADTOE (9), SDOIT (9)
Tier 3: SC (7.5), TOT (8.5), BCASL (8), 8M (8), FII (8)
Tier 4: WDADU (6)

[Mind Trail]

Tier 1: Scenes from a Memory, Images and Words
Tier 2: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, A Dramatic Turn of Events
Tier 3: Awake, Black Clouds and Silver Linings
Tier 4: Octavarium, Systematic Chaos
Tier 5: Falling into Infinity, Train of Thought
Tier 6: When Dream and Day Unite

[GalacticGuitarist87]

Tier 1.
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Octavarium

Tier 2.
Train of Thought
Black Clouds and Silver Linings

Tier 3.
Images and Words
Awake
Scenes from a Memory

Tier 4.
Systematic Chaos
Falling Into Infinity
When Dream and Day Unite

[GasparXR]

Tier 1: A Dramatic Turn of Events | Scenes from a Memory
Tier 2: Awake | Images and Words | Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Tier 3: Train of Thought | Octavarium | Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Tier 4: Black Clouds & Silver Linings | When Dream and Day Unite
Tier 5: Falling into Infinity | Systematic Chaos

[Metal]

Tier 1: Black Clouds and Silver Linings, Train of Thought, Awake
Tier 2: Images and Words, Systematic Chaos, Octavarium, Scenes from a Memory
Tier 3: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, Falling into Infinity, When Dream and Day Unite,
Tier 4: A Dramatic Turn of Events

[Crow]

Tier 1: Godly albums: Awake, SFAM, I&W

Tier 2: Great albums: ADTOE, 6DOIT, FII

Tier 3: Decent albums: BC&SL, ToT, 8vm

Tier 4: "I will never listen to these start-to-finish again" albums: WDADU, SC

WDADU is only in tier 4 because while I like half of WDADU, the other half is subpar, and the production ruins everything.

[jammindude]

Tier 1:  The Absolutely Untouchable slabs of non-stop perfection and brilliance.

Octavarium
Scenes from a Memory
Awake
Images and Words

Tier 2:  The really good

A Dramatic Turn of Events
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulance
Train of Thought

Tier 3: Pretty good...OK...decent.  I like em.

Falling Into Infinity
Black Clouds and Silver Linings
When Dream and Day Unite


Tier 10,000,000:  The so god awful I can't even believe it's a Dream Theater album:

Systematic Chaos