DT album ranking

[Disciple_Kickstand]

My first lost here. Seems like the appropriate thread to do it.
Man how do I rank the albums, if I tell you the order it is currently it'll change when you ask me tomorrow and again the day after. Most of the albums have such varied moods or feels to them that they each scratch a different kind of itch that I may be feeling and in that moment it is my favorite record. Lol.  What follows is based more on sentiment than objective thought or analysis.

So ill do this, favorite and least favorite:  Sentimentally my favorite Dream Theater album is Train of Thought.  I'm a dyed in the woods thrash metal fan. If that record was released between 89-91 it would be recognized foday as a monument and classic album of the genre in the same breath as Megadeths's Rust in peace. On top of that and my natural proclivity to the more intense side of Dream theater, this was my first exposure to the band, my best friend and I devoured that album for our entire senior year of highschool and that summer as well. To this day we are both massive DT fans.

My least favorite is Systematic Chaos.  While I dig the overall heavy vibe it sits at the bottom of the pack for me.  It has some awesome moments on that platter as well as great memories of seeing my first DT show on that tour, but it just comes up short on songwriting and performance.  I feel like on this record more than any other they needed a really good producer to keep them in check.

[RaasMah]

Oh, so you dislike ALL of them? Then that makes sense. 

Why don't you like Scarred? Don't you think Scarred is kind of like Voices, only a stronger?
And Lifting Shadows and Space Dye Vest?

There is an awesome signature of a member here somewhere that quate Blob opinion of Scarred, when you'll see it, you will understand the amount of his dislike toward the song

[BlobVanDam]

That would be my pal JayOctavarium.

[Train of Naught]

Awake's lower ranking is simply lack of consistency. It's excellent up to and including The Mirror, but then for me it takes a sudden nosedive into a long stretch of many of my most disliked DT tracks. If it ended with The Mirror, the album would move up to the second tier somewhere.

For me it's almost the exact opposite  I love SDV and The Mirror, also like Scarred and Lie a lot, but the first 6 tracks minus Voices completely kill the album for me.

[Tony From Long Island]

This is my first Post, but I have been a DT fan since 1992. I saw them for the first time at a hole in the wall called Sparks in Deer Park. Unfortunately, I never got to see them at Sundance!  Here is now I rank their studio albums:

1. Awake (by a wide margin)
2. Train of Thought
3. Images and Words
4. Octavarium
5. Scenes From a Memory
6. Dream Theater (2013)
7. Falling Into Infinity
8. When Dream and Day Unite
9. Systematic Chaos
10. Dramatic Turn of Events
11, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
12. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
13. The Astonishing (by a wide margin)

Maybe some of you agree, but most probably don't. That's the fun of it!

[PixelDream]

SFAM recently climbed up for me again. I was totally sick of it for a couple of years, but now that I'm returning it feels like an old friend I never should've left in the first place. Brilliant album from start to finish.

1. Awake
2. Scenes from a Memory
3. Images & Words
4. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
5. Train of Thought
6. Octavarium
7. Falling Into Infinity
8. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
9. Systematic Chaos
10. A Dramatic Turn of Events
11. Dream Theater
12. When Dream and Day Unite
13. The Astonishing

[Dream Team]

Currently:

1. The Astonishng (still new album smell I know)
2. I&W (was #1 for 13 years)

3. SDoIT
4. ADTOE
5. SFAM

6. Awake
7. DT
8. WDaDU

9. ToT
10. BCaSL
11. SC
12. OV


13. FII

[genome]

1) SFAM
2) 6DOIT
3) 8V
4) TA
5) SC
6) I&W
7) BC&SL
8) ADTOE
9) TOT
10) Awake
11) DT12
12) FII
13) WDADU

[snapple]

1.) Awake
2.) FII
3.) I&W
4.) WDADU
5.) ADTOE













The rest.

[wasteland]

Let's go with this. At this stage TA is still relatively free floating.

1. IAW
2. Awake
3. TA
4. SFAM
5. SDOIT
6. DT12
7. ADTOE
8. FII
9. 8VM
10. BCSL
11. SC
12. TOT
13. WDADU

[Enigmachine]

Rough ranking.

13. WDaDU
12. BCaSL
11. SC
10. FII
9. ToT
8. 8vm
7. ADToE
6. DT12
5. SfaM
4. Awake
3. SDoIT
2. TA
1. IaW

I like everything and love 1-9 though.

[KevShmev]

I'm still not sure exactly where I'll slot the new album, but it'll be in the 5-8 range with FII, ADTOE and DT12.

Top 4 are:

1. Awake
2. I&W
3. Scenes
4. 6DOIT

and 9-13 are:

9. Train of Thought
10. Octavarium
11. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
12. When Dream and Day Unite
13. Systematic Chaos

[bl5150]

I haven't listened to the back catalogue much of late,  but assuming there hasn't been a dramatic turn of events with my ratings/tastes in the meantime ..........

1. I&W

1.5 daylight

2 DT12
3 ADTOE
4 Awake
5 WDADU


6 The Astonishing
7 FII
8  8VM
9 SDOIT
10 SFAM
11 BCSL

12 ToT
13 SC

[TAC]

1. I&W
2. Scenes
3. ADTOE
4. The Astonishing (likely to land here)
5. Awake
6. WDADRu
7. Train Of Thought
8. 6 D's
9. BC&SL
10. Systematic Chaos
11. DT12
12. 8V
13. FII

[Mladen]

I'll split them like this:

Absolutely amazing:
Scenes from a memory
Images and words
Awake
A Dramatic turn of events

Great:
The Astonishing
Six degrees of inner turbulence
Systematic chaos
Black clouds and silver linings

Very good:
Train of thought
Octavarium
Dream Theater

Good:
When dream and day unite

Average:
Falling into infinity

[Zook]

After more listens to The Astonishing, it has moved up 2 more spots.

1. Images and Words
2. Awake
3. Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory
4. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
5. Train of Thought
6. The Astonishing
7. Octavarium
8. Falling Into Infinity
9. Dream Theater
10. When Dream And Day Unite
11. A Dramatic Turn of Events
12. Systematic Chaos
13. Black Clouds and Silver Linings

[ASacrificedSon]

Black Clouds will be first and will never change. Last connection I have with Portnoy.

[jsbru]

1. Awake
2. I&W










3. DT
4. SDOIT
5. ADTOE
6. TOT

7. ACOS
8. WDADU
9. 8VM





10. SFAM





11. BC&SL
12. SC

I think after 2.5 years, I have to update this a little bit.

1. Awake

2. I&W




3. ADTOE
4. TA (for now, could move higher)


5. FII
6. TOT
7. WDADU
8. 6DOIT
9. DT12
10. ACoS
11. SFAM
12. 8VM




13. BC&SL




14. SC

[Freeze]

After several listenings to "The Astonishing" and seeing the album performed live last weekend I now rank the DT albums like this:

1.Images And Words
2.Awake
3.Metropolis pt. 2 : Scenes From A Memory
4.The Astonishing
5.When Dream And Day Unite
6.Octavarium
7.Falling Into Infinity
8.Dream Theater
9.Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
10.A Dramatic Turn of Events
11.Train of Thought
12.Black Clouds and Silver Linings
13.Systematic Chaos

[Polarbear]

Updated album ranking with The Astonishing...

1. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
2. Awake
3. Images and Words
4. Scenes From a Memory
(A Change of Seasons EP)


5. Octavarium
6. Train of Thought
7. Systematic Chaos
8. Falling Into Infinity
9. A Dramatic Turn of Events
10. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
11. The Astonishing
12. When Dream and Day Unite
13. Dream Theater

[7enderbender]

I'm new here and here goes my ranking. Mostly as a way to vent my continued disappointment with the new album. I can't even listen to it and I really hope DT hasn't jumped the shark (it's the faux symphonic keyboards, even worse than on Six Degrees that are like fingernails on a chalkboard) - I may add that I've been a fan from the early days and When Day and Dream Unite was one of those defining moments in my life as a listener and musician.

Images and Words
When Day and Dream Unite
Falling into Infinity
Awake
Octavarium
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Change of Season
Black Clouds
Systematic Chaos
Train of Thought
----------------
Failures:

Six Degrees
Scenes from a Memory
Dream Theater


So why those last three? Like I said above - the faux symphonies on Six Degrees and DT are intolerable for me. Scenes is just a bad scene for me all around. The story, people, the story! I remember actually when that movie came out and laughing hysterically because it was just so bad. Anyone remember the scissors scene? I wasn't honestly sure if that was some kind of spoof or if that was serious. I still can't believe that one of my favorite bands, who seems to be comprised of reasonable and smart people, actually took that material and turned it into a concept album of all things. Plus I'm just allergic to religious/spiritual/superstitious themes (and I would include Freudian "therapy" with that). Hair raising - in a bad way.

I recently revisited all albums. I'd now move up Awake a slot or two. I'll continue to leave off the astonishing "The Astonishing" since I only made it half way through before giving up on the band in its current state.

[arkdtmp]

1. Octavarium
2. Train of Thought
3. SDOIT
4. Systematic Chaos
5. Black Clouds
6. Scenes
7. Images And Words
8. Awake
9. Falling Into Infinity
10. ADTOE
11. The Astonishing
12. Dream Theater
13. WDADU

[Dublagent66]

Considering what we've gotten in the last 2 releases, look what just moved into the 11th spot.  Congrats WDADU.  You're no longer rock bottom. 

1.  SDOIT
2.  I&W
3.  SFAM
4.  Awake
5.  FII
6.  ToT
7.  ADTOE
8.  8VM
9.  SC
10.  BC&SL
11.  WDADU
12.  DT12
13.  TA

[Outcrier]

Updating my rankings, TA dropped more...

1. Six Degrees
2. Scenes from a Memory
3. Images and Words
4. Awake
5. Train of Thought
6. Octavarium
7. A Dramatic Turn of Events
8. Falling into Infinity
9. Dream Theater
10. Systematic Chaos
11. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
12.  The Astonishing
13.  When a Day and Dream Unite

The first four are great, 5-8 range from good to decent, 9-12 are mediocre and WDADU is bad.

Considering what we've gotten in the last 2 releases, look what just moved into the 11th spot.  Congrats WDADU.  You're no longer rock bottom. 

As i whole, i still prefer TA over WDADU but Disc 2 alone is near as bad as it 

[Dublagent66]

The only thing I've ever disliked about WDADU is mostly the production.  The songs themselves are pretty good for the most part.

[SebastianPratesi]

Recently I've been giving a few more listens to the RoadRunner albums (the ones I grew up with after I discovered the band). I think I rank them like this right now:

1 Dream Theater - still my favourite album (by any band), but at any moment it could be defeated by...
2 The Astonishing - I can't get enough of it. The longest album I've ever listened to, but it still feels short. So much fun here.
3 Systematic Chaos - I'm surprised at how much I've enjoyed it recently, after years of ignoring it.
4 Black Clouds & Silver Linings - only thing that bugs me about this one is the lack of JM, both mix-wise and the fact that he only gets one spotlight moment in the whole album.
5 A Dramatic Turn Of Events - great album, which for some reason I didn't care about when it was released (I was still in my 'no MP no DT' phase)

As for the others, I think this would be it:

1 Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence - the one with which I fell in love with the band in 2006.
2 Images & Words
3 Falling Into Infinity
4 Scenes From A Memory
5 Train Of Thought
6 Awake
7 Octavarium

I can't rank the debut, since I've never listened to it (it was never released in my country).

[Outcrier]

The only thing I've ever disliked about WDADU is mostly the production.  The songs themselves are pretty good for the most part.

I agree. If it was for the songs alone, it would be in my "good/decent" section (as Reunite is) and TA would be rock bottom.

[fischermasamune]

My ranking as of today:

1. Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory
2. Images and Words
3. The Astonishing

4. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
5. Awake
6. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
7. Train Of Thought
8. Dream Theater
9. Falling Into Infinity

10. A Dramatic Turn of Events
11. Octavarium
12. Systematic Chaos
13. When Day and Dream Unite

[Infinite Cactus]

1.Awake A+
2.Images And Words A+
3.Falling Into Infinity A
4.Octavarium A
5.When Dream And Day Unite A-
6.Black Clouds And Silver Linings B+
7.Scenes From A Memory B+
8.A Dramatic Turn Of Events B
9.Train of Thought B
10.Dream Theater B-
11.Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence  C+
12.Systematic Chaos C
13.The Astonishing D

[PwnsomeWin]

Alright, after a few months of The Astonishing I'm finally ready to rank it.

1. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
2. Scenes from a Memory
3. Falling into Infinity
4. Train of Thought
5. The Astonishing
6. Systematic Chaos
7. Octavarium
8. Awake
9. A Dramatic Turn of Events
10. Dream Theater
11. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
12. Images and Words
13. When Dream and Day Unite

I'm probably going to get a ton of hate for the placing of IaW.

[fadetoblackdude7]

1. SFAM
2. SDOIT
3. 8VM
4. TA
5. IAW
6. Awake
7. ADTOE
8. DT12
9. BC&SL
10. FII
11. TOT
12. SC
13. WDADU

[Prog Snob]

The big four:

Awake
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Images & Words
Scenes From a Memory

Excellent:

Falling Into Infinity
Train of Thought
Octavarium

Good:

Systematic Chaos
Black Clouds & Silver Linings

Pretty good:

A Dramatic Turn of Events
Dream Theater

Not that good:

When Dream and Day Unite

Your big four are my big four.   

[ToT-147]

The big four:

Awake
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Images & Words
Scenes From a Memory

Excellent:

Falling Into Infinity
Train of Thought
Octavarium

Good:

Systematic Chaos
Black Clouds & Silver Linings

Pretty good:

A Dramatic Turn of Events
Dream Theater

Not that good:

When Dream and Day Unite

Your big four are my big four.   

What a coincidence!..

[Agalsed]

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Awake
Scenes from a Memory
Images and Words
Train of Thought
The Astonishing
Octavarium
Black Clouds and Silver Linings
Systematic Chaos
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Dream Theater
Falling into Infinity
When Dream and Day Unite

[BlackInk]

Now that DoC's rating thing is over, here are my album results:

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - 7.92 - Good

Train of Thought - 7.71 - Good

Octavarium - 7.31 - Good

Systematic Chaos - 7.29 - Good

Images & Words - 7.06 - Good

Metropolis - Part 2: Scenes From a Memory - 6.96 - Okay

A Dramatic Turn of Events - 6.72 - Okay

Awake - 6.68 - Okay

Falling Into Infinity - 6.36 - Okay

Black Clouds & Silver Linings - 5.92 - Mediocre

The Astonishing - 5.74 - Mediocre

Cleaning Out the Closet [FAN CLUB CD] - 5.63 - Mediocre

Dream Theater - 5.50 - Mediocre

When Dream & Day Unite - 4.88 - Bad

The Majesty Demos [DEMO] - 2.50 - Painful



These are of course when rating the tracks individually. If I were ranking the albums as a whole I would probably want to give SDoIT a "great" instead of "good", and I'm not quite comfortable with giving SFaM just an "okay". But I stand by the order, and I stand by the labels I gave all the other albums.