Dream Theater Sacrilege

[wolfandwolfandwolf]

What things about Dream Theater do you really dislike that most people widely regard as awesome/sacred?

I don't like Scenes From A Memory.  At all.  I can't get into it, I don't know why, it just doesn't do anything for me like the other records do.  I get that it's their opus, but I just miss out on it every time I try to listen to it.  Weird right?

[Ħ]

No, that seems normal. Your opinion will correct itself over time.

I'm not a big fan of Scarred or Lines in the Sand. People will fight to the death over those songs.

[theseoafs]

So this the the "Controversial opinions about DT thread", then?

I don't know. I'm not a fan of In the Name of God or The Count of Tuscany, but those opinions aren't really that controversial.

Oh, I know. Awake is only an alright album, because a few songs are dragging it down. Lifting Shadows Off a Dream, 6:00, and especially Caught in a Web should have been removed.

[Frost134]

Systematic Chaos is my favorite album.

[TheGreatPretender]

Systematic Chaos is my favorite album.

Not my favorite, but definitely up there. So 

[theseoafs]

Systematic Chaos is my favorite album.

Try again.

[Frost134]

Systematic Chaos is my favorite album.

Try again.

Insert more credits to continue.

[theseoafs]

But I'm all out of tokens.

[Frost134]

But I'm all out of tokens.

GAME OVER.

[ResultsMayVary]

I don't like Scenes From A Memory.  At all. 

Dear God, man. 

[wolven74]

Systematic Chaos is my favorite album.

Try again.

This. So much this.

[senecadawg2]

I don't fancy TGP all that much, and that seems to be a popular top 10 choice among many DTFers

[nattmorker]

I love Systematic Chaos and I don't like Scarred, LSOAD.

[PROGdrummer]

Raw Dog is one of my favorite Dream Theater songs of all time...

*flame shield activate!*

[TheGreatPretender]

Raw Dog is one of my favorite Dream Theater songs of all time...

*flame shield activate!*

Well... At least it's better than New Millennium.


*flame shield activate!*

[iamtheeviltwin]

I've already taken a lot of flak for the fact that I don't rate Metropolis as one of their top songs.  As for other "blasphemous" opinions, I like all of the FII versions better than their demo versions.  Also, I really like You not Me.

[DebraKadabra]

ACOS is WAY overrated.

*flame shields up!*










I completely realize that the red font action is kinda copyrighted by _floyd.  Sorry, brah.

[TheGreatPretender]

Everyone here's hiding behind their flame shields, so nobody's doing any actual flaming. ... You dumb asses.

[black_biff_stadler]

I'm probably about as atypical a DT fan as you'll find in these parts. Without further ado, a look at my application for DTF pariah-hood:

When Dream and Day Unite:

Only a Matter of Time is my least favorite track from it and I very much like Status Seeker. I actually like the entire album very much and find it to be their most consistent overall effort.

Images and Words:

-I barely like Surrounded.

-Pull Me Under is in my top half of songs after being familiar with it for 13 years.

-I hated Another Day for a very long time.

Awake:

-Voices is in my lower half.

-Lie and Space-Dye Vest are in my top half.

-I hardly like Lifting Shadows at all.

Falling Into Infinity:

-I'd rank New Millenium and Burning My Soul higher than Anna Lee and Hell's Kitchen.

Scenes From a Memory:

-I have zero desire to listen to half of the album: Regression, Through My Words, Through Her Eyes, and The Spirit Carries On.

-I would rank The Dance of Eternity no lower than #4 on any occasion.

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence:

-I love the Great Debate for everything it is.

-I only listen to Disappear once every couple years to see if I can stomach it (still got my fingers crossed for the next listening.)

-The title track is probably in my bottom third of DT tracks. Solitary Shell is the only part I really, really like about it and there are some parts I kinda enjoy.

-Misunderstood's harmonizer sections are pretty awesome.

Train of Thought:

-Thoroughly uninterested in In the Name of God.

-I Hate Vacant.

-I feel like Stream of Consciousness is mostly boring for much of the remainder of the song as soon as the slow John Myung groove section kicks in.

-The shred unison/harmony outro in This Dying Soul makes my pants fit more tightly.

Octavarium:

-The Root of All Evil may be my least favorite part of the AA saga.

-I have virtually zero love or interest in the title track and not one part of it has any "wow" factor for me. I was nearly angry on 06.07.05 as I got home from going out with friends eager to finally finish listening to the album since I'd listened to roughly the first half in a friend's car while driving around right after I bought it. For 24 agonizing minutes I kept waiting for this song to prove to me why it needed to be more than 20 minutes long. The lyrics sure as hell didn't help.

-Panic Attack is head and shoulders more enjoyable than anything else on it for me.

-Sacrificed Sons bores me to tears.

Systematic Chaos:

-Constant Motion and The Dark Eternal Night are my top 2 tracks on it by a very wide margin.

-I have no problems with The Ministry of Lost Souls going on the way it does.

-Repentance is good.

Black Clouds & Silver Linings:

-A Nightmare to Remember is a nonstop thrill ride and I was sincerely hoping MP's poor attempt at growling would at least open the door for a cameo by a real growler on future releases (Mikael Åkerfeldt please!!!!!)

-The Shattered Fortress is fun and energetic. I dig it.

-The Best of Times doesn't do much for me.

A Dramatic Turn of Events:

-Beneath the Surface is the only ballad I care much for as of now and "care" would be a strong way to put it. I like that first pretty synth solo JR does and that may be about it for me.

-Lost Not Forgotten and Outcry are excellent.

Raw Dog:

-VERY easily in my top third of DT songs.

[Fourth Horseman]

I get you on the SFAM thing, most people have it ranked 1 or 2, but I've never liked it as much as others.

Also, I love Panic Attack and Honor Thy Father.

[DebraKadabra]

Looks like _floyd and I have a lot of similar opinions.  Except for the Space-Dye Vest one.  YECK.

[TheGreatPretender]

-I would rank The Dance of Eternity no lower than #4 on any occasion.

Not gonna focus on the negative. But it's good to see someone recognize The Dance of Eternity for all the awesomeness it is.

Actually, it was bugging me that the track didn't have a proper outro, without One Last Time, so what I did was I took the outro that Mike Mangini did on his audition and I spliced that in, and it actually really fits in with the original mix of TDOE, so now it's complete.

[black_biff_stadler]

Looks like _floyd and I have a lot of similar opinions.  Except for the Space-Dye Vest one.  YECK.

Shit, thanks for reading it. I spent like 20-30 minutes on that post.

-I would rank The Dance of Eternity no lower than #4 on any occasion.

Not gonna focus on the negative. But it's good to see someone recognize The Dance of Eternity for all the awesomeness it is.

Yeah. Too many folks probably refuse to judge it on its own merits simply because EVERY FACET OF SFAM MUST BE PERTINENT TO THE ALBUM'S FLOW!!!

[TheGreatPretender]

Yeah. Too many folks probably refuse to judge it on its own merits simply because EVERY FACET OF SFAM MUST BE PERTINENT TO THE ALBUM'S FLOW!!!

Hey, I worship SFAM. And to me, it fits into the album just fine. Especially after Home. I mean, Metropolis Pt. 1 established that Love is the Dance of Eternity. Hence Dance of Eternity represents the crazy hot sex that Victoria was having with Edward. And I say that without a hint of sarcasm.

[black_biff_stadler]

So the dude earned his red wings during the ragtime section?

[DebraKadabra]

Looks like _floyd and I have a lot of similar opinions.  Except for the Space-Dye Vest one.  YECK.

Shit, thanks for reading it. I spent like 20-30 minutes on that post.

No problem!  I especially agree about 6DOIT the song - Solitary Shell is about the only redeeming quality of it.

I simply can't listen to Sacrificed Sons because of the subject matter, not because it's a bad song.  It's REALLY hard for me to listen to it.  Panic Attack is fucking awesome - it's also great to play on Audiosurf, such a fun ride.

REPENTANCE!  Song is beyond awesome, I don't care who knows it.  While I can't stand Constant Motion, I looooooooooove TDEN.

I dare say that Lost Not Forgotten is my favorite off of ADToE, but I do love the choral section at the beginning of BITS - gives me SUCH a good feeling in my lady parts.

[TheGreatPretender]

Evidently. Or it's just a kick ass instrumental that should be enjoyed by all.

[Elite]

Okay:

- I really dislike Train of Thought
- In the Name of God is not a good song
- The Dance of Eternity is technically nice but sucks as a song, it doesn't have flow
- The last 3-4 minutes of This Dying Soul are laughable
- The Count of Tuscany is very uninteresting
- Petrucci's guitar solo is The Best of Times isn't even close to his best
- Aside from the first and the last track, Octavarium is a pretty bland/boring album to listen to

Even though stated as facts, keep in mind these are all my opinions.

[Kwyjibo]

Stream Of Consciousness is the only instrumental that I actually enjoy, the rest of them didn't need to be on any albums.

[Scorpion]

Mhhh, controversy.

- I like A Vision.
- Light Fuse and Get Away is the second best song off WDADU.
- Arrangement-wise, the Chaos in Motion version of Surrounded is superior to the studio version.
- The first three songs on Awake drag the whole thing down a little and should have been cut.
- Burning My Soul is a good song.
- New Millenium and Just Let Me Breathe are not.
- I don't like Finally Free that much.
- Six Degrees is not one song in my opinion.
- As I Am is the second worst song on Train of Though, after Honor Thy Father.
- Both I Walk Beside You and The Answer Lies Within are worse than Never Enough.
- I enjoy The Ministry of Lost Souls as it is, and it is the best song from SC.
- Prophets of War is a good song.
- A Nightmare to Remember is great, even with the Portnoy growls.
- Recently, I have been enjoying The Shattered Fortress more than The Glass Prison.

[TheGreatPretender]

I think Erotomania drags Awake down. It should have been significantly shortened (with most of the beginning part cut out) and attached to the beginning of Voices.

[JayOctavarium]

Mhhh, controversy.

- I like A Vision.
- Light Fuse and Get Away is the second best song off WDADU.
- Arrangement-wise, the Chaos in Motion version of Surrounded is superior to the studio version.
- The first three songs on Awake drag the whole thing down a little and should have been cut.
- Burning My Soul is a good song.
- New Millenium and Just Let Me Breathe are not.
- I don't like Finally Free that much.
- Six Degrees is not one song in my opinion.
- As I Am is the second worst song on Train of Though, after Honor Thy Father.
- Both I Walk Beside You and The Answer Lies Within are worse than Never Enough.
- I enjoy The Ministry of Lost Souls as it is, and it is the best song from SC.
- Prophets of War is a good song.
- A Nightmare to Remember is great, even with the Portnoy growls.
- Recently, I have been enjoying The Shattered Fortress more than The Glass Prison.

Some of these I agree with 10000%

[BlobVanDam]

Ok, let me just get my will in order first, then I'll get to it-

-ACOS is wildly overrated, and not that amazing. It is good, but everything on IaW is better imo (including LTL). Aside from being an old song and being the first "mega epic", I don't know why it's so highly regarded. Octavarium is the far superior epic imo.

-Speaking of which, I find LTL overrated too. I still think it's a great song overall and maybe 8/10, but the verse/chorus melodies are too weak for it to be one of the better ones imo. The melodies suffer for the sake of the lyrics. I consider everything else on IaW better, though keep in mind that everything else on IaW is at least a 9/10 song for me.

-Awake is one of DT's lesser albums, thanks to the awful run of Lie > LSOAD > Scarred > SDV dragging it down, and I consider Scarred one of DT's most poorly written songs by a fair margin.

-Octavarium, SC and BCASL all have some far better songs than ADTOE, even though I consider ADTOE the more consistent as an album. So I guess that counts as sacrilege, because I rank all 3 of those albums higher than ADTOE, and rank ADTOE at the bottom with Awake and WDADU.

And if we're including all controversial opinions, and not just sacrilege of things considered great-

-WDADU is by far DT's worst album, and isn't good enough to be considered a real album. I consider it a demo (actually that's not controversial at all, but everyone else is using this as an opportunity to trash stuff that's not highly regarded anyway, so what the hell)

-ANTR is awesome as is.

-TDEN is amazing (top 20 or top 10), and SC is very underrated.



Obvious disclaimer that shouldn't need to be said but if I don't someone will no doubt bitch to me about semantics-
These are opinions.

If anyone needs me, I'll be hiding in my fridge.

[SystematicThought]

You would love the cassette version of Awake in which Scarred is absent from

[nikatapi]

I like WDADU songs with Charlie and not with James.