DT album ranking

[Dark Castle]

Different strokes for different folks I guess. Like I said, it doesn't take 10 spins/multiple months for me to know if I'm listening to a monster of an album or not.

[Super Dude]

And that may be true in your case, but a large contingent are clearly not familiar with the concept of the "first listen high." I'm just saying, people should reserve their judgment not for the third listen through but the thirtieth before declaring it the absolute best work a band has done that's been around for nearly 30 years and written hundreds of songs in that time.

[Mister Gold]

I can't wait until a year from now and I still love it and you're grumpy about it.
Unlike most people here at times, if I love an album, I know so immediately, Kvelertak hit me immediately, Grimes hit me immediately, and this is hitting me IMMEDIATELY with it's radularness.

Yeah, usually if I like an album immediately and only continue to enjoy it more with repeated listens, I don't lose interest in it overtime. However there are albums that I don't care much for that eventually click with me over time.

[Super Dude]

Alright, well I'll hold both of you to that.

[Mister Gold]

Alright, well I'll hold both of you to that.

Fair enough!

[BlobVanDam]

Nobody should really be ranking DT12 yet. How can you accurately judge an album in less than a day? Let's see how it's ranked once people get over the excitement/disappointment/whatever your initial reaction was.

Revised ranking. The #7 - #11 rankings are very hard for me to separate, so they could change on any given day.

1. SDOIT
2. SFAM
3. IaW
4. FII

5. ToT
6. 8V

7. SC
8. Awake
9./10. ADTOE / DT12
11. BCASL

12. WDADU


(before anyone comments on me doing the same thing everyone else is, I've had DT12 much longer)

[Super Dude]

Nobody should really be ranking DT12 yet. How can you accurately judge an album in less than a day? Let's see how it's ranked once people get over the excitement/disappointment/whatever your initial reaction was.

Revised ranking. The #7 - #11 rankings are very hard for me to separate, so they could change on any given day.

1. SDOIT
2. SFAM
3. IaW
4. FII

5. ToT
6. 8V

7. SC
8. Awake
9./10. ADTOE / DT12
11. BCASL

12. WDADU


(before anyone comments on me doing the same thing everyone else is, I've had DT12 much longer)

That was pretty much my entire point. I know you've done this more DT album cycles than I have, so you've seen people declare the arrival of God's latest great gift to the world plenty of times.

[N4Player]

In this order for now:

BC&SL
TOT
ADTOE
SFAM
SC
8va
I&W
ACOS (Ep or not I love it and it belongs here)
SDOIT
DT 12 (can only go up from here)
Awake
FII

Can't rank WDADU because I have never listened to the original songs 

[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

[Zyzzyva17]

Ready for a weird/controversial one?

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

[kneepel]

Uh.

1. SDOIT
2. Awake
3. I&W
4. DT12
5. SFAM
6. ACOS
7. ToT
8. ADTOE
9. BCSL
10. Octavarium
11. FII
12. SC
13. WDADU

[(nothing)]

Peeps ranking the self-titled already? I know it's tentative and all but, seriously?  I don't see any point in doing this since I have listened to all the other albums (except FII and WDADU) at least 100 times each and I'm currently on my 4th run of the self-titled.

On topic:

1. Scenes From A Memory
2. Images & Words
3. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
4. Train of Thought
5. A Dramatic Turn of Events
6. Awake
7. Octavarium
8. Systematic Chaos
9. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
10. Falling Into Infinity (I don't think I have actually ever listened to the entire album at one go just 'cause I always feel the urge to skip You Not Me and Just Let Me Breathe... but I think Lines In The Sand, Hollow Years and Trial of Tears are all in my top 50)

I haven't really listened to WDADU all that much as it's reaaaaally not my cup of tea. Tracks that I actually like from it have clicked on me while listening to a live version (most notably Afterlife, Only a Matter of Time, The Killing Hand and of course Ytse Jam).

A Change of Seasons is in my top 3 of Dream Theater songs but I'm not ranking the EP obviously.

I need to listen to the self-titled for about a month or 2 to be able to rank it relatively safely. Could be anywhere from #3 to #9 as far as I can tell.

[jammindude]

1. Octavarium
2. Scenes From a Memory
3. Awake
4. Images and Words



5. A Dramatic Turn of Events
6. Train of Thought
7. Six Degrees



8. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
9. Falling Into Infinity
10. When Dream and Day Unite



(a distant) 11. Systematic Chaos

This is my list from a little over a year ago...and I think I stand firm on this ranking.   If I had to put DT12 somewhere (it's only been two listens...so I don't expect to be held to its placement permanently) I'd probably go with the #5 spot just above ADTOE....and maybe bumping it up into the upper tier  : category.

[SeRoX]

Awake
I&W

SDOIT
FII
DT12 (This probably may change)
SFAM

ADTOE
WDADU
Octavarium
TOT
SC






BC&SL

[Scard]

Awake
SDOIT
I&W
SFAM
DT12 (Possibly just because of how new and exciting it is. This probably may change)
8VM
ADTOE
TOT
FII
SC
BC&SL
WDADU

[Fnejk]

SFAM
SDOIT
Awake
FII/ACOS
I&W
8VM
ADTOE/DT12
TOT
SC
WDADU
BC&SL

[JPX]

01. Six Degree's of Inner Turbulence
02. Scene's From A Memory
03. Train of Thought
04. Images & Words
05. Awake
06. Falling Into Infinity
07. A Dramatic Turn of Events
08. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
09. Sysmetatic Chaos
10. Octavarium
11. When Dream And Day Unite
12. Dream Theater

[Kotowboy]

Dream Theater last place ?

[Super Dude]

He made his feelings quite clear in the reactions thread.

[Kotowboy]

He made his feelings quite clear in the reactions thread.

Wow I just read it :/

[JPX]

I want you guys to know that it upset me to write what I did yesterday given what DT means to me.

I'm really happy that so many of you are enjoying it though. 

[Kotowboy]

It's really odd how one album can make one person get goosebumps and nod along and smile with joy . . .


And others just leave them cold and empty..


I'm avoiding calling it the best album or top 5 or whatever until it's had a chance to settle in and be more familiar.

It could be that new car smell but on first listen I enjoyed it a lot more than the previous few.

[mezzaIX]

First post; be kind.


Awake

Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Train of Thought (Vacant + Stream of Consciousness easily compensate the weaker songs, in my opinion)
Images and Words

A Dramatic Turn of Events

And the rest in no particular order.


Regarding the new album, I will hold back my opinion for now.

Self-welcoming and greetings from Spain (so from now and onwards, please excuse my not-so-bad english).

[jayvee3]

1. Awake (was the album that got me hooked in my high school days in 94. Still love it immensely.)

2. FII (High points are amazing. If the record company didn't fuck with it and kept certain demo songs and versions, it could've surpassed everything..)

3. 6 Degrees (Real good. Confused the heck out of me on first listen, repeated listens rewarded me with its undoubted brilliance.)

4. Scenes (Remember being the album that blew me away the most when I arrived home from the record store, and popped it into my cd player for the first time. Still love it, particularly as an entire album experience.)

5. Dramatic Turn (A great return to form, and really don't dislike any songs. Excellent.)

6. Images (The first album I ever heard on cassette, but never got sold until Awake arrived. Some great moments, but I still always felt it sounded a little dated and was overrated. Good, but not as amazing as some feel it to be in my books.)

7. Train (I actually really like this album. Nothing to complain about - I enjoy their metal side, and this is well done. To be honest, probably listen to it more than Images, so could swap spots on any given day.)

8. Octavarium (The title track saves this one from being very mediocre for me. Love the epic, the other tracks bar probably These Walls are pretty Ho Hum..)

9. When Dream and Day Unite (In actuality, not a bad collection of songs. It's Charlies vocals that bother me and probably many here, but if you strip the songs down to what they are, and Imagine James as the vocalist,  there are actually some very good moments. Some live performances with James at the helm are excellent, but he wasn't having an awesome night for 'WDADReunite'. If this were re recorded in the studio with James, I think people would realise it's actually pretty solid. If this also ever happened, I think it would leapfrog Octavarium in my rankings easily..)

10. Black Clouds (The Count helps it, biggest problem is, with only 6 songs, they better all be pretty darn good, and unfortunately, many miss the mark. Still some nice little highlights throughout - looking at you 'Beautiful Agony'..)

11. Systematic (I don't dislike this album, I just think everything else they have done is stronger, which says more about the great form of the band. Still gets some good spins, and many of the songs were very good in the live setting.)

Now, as for the new and shiny DT, I think its cinematic feel and raw power is awesome. FAS is an amazing opening piece, TLG reminds me of Journey's Escape, IT is as good an epic as they have done, and the easter egg music, is like music for the closing credits of a film - and I feel may be used when people are leaving the stadiums in a live setting. I'll hold off from ranking it this early, but as a fan from the early days, I kinda know what I enjoy in a DT album, and this one will sit anywhere from my 3rd to 5th spot as an early prediction. I really enjoy the cinematic concept and diversity of songs, which while not completely conceptual, definitely share a common sound theme. Peace 

[Ruba]

First post; be kind.


Awake

Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Train of Thought (Vacant + Stream of Consciousness easily compensate the weaker songs, in my opinion)
Images and Words

A Dramatic Turn of Events

And the rest in no particular order.


Regarding the new album, I will hold back my opinion for now.

Self-welcoming and greetings from Spain (so from now and onwards, please excuse my not-so-bad english).

Bienvenido!

I will be kind to anyone who considers Awake as their best album.

[metrojam]

01. Scenes From A Memory
02. Images & Words
03. Octavarium
04. A Dramatic Turn of Events
05. Awake
06. Six Degree's of Inner Turbulence
07. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
08. Train of Thought
09. Falling Into Infinity
10. Dream Theater
11. When Dream And Day Unite
12. Systematic Chaos

Very sad to have to put the new CD so low, but after 6 listens now, I am confident that it isn't going to climb much higher in due course (may just sneak into 9th place).

[Hanz Gruber]

Hope this changes as I listen to the new album more.  I want to like it and I thought it was a great idea going back to a Awake formula with shorter songs while cutting out the excess......the songs aren't catchy or memorable to my ears though.  Glad others think highly of it.  Wish I did too.

Images
Scenes
Awake
Falling
Six Degrees
Octavarium (had a few clunkers but had catchy and memorable songs on it with some great melodies)
ADTOE
Cleaning out the Closet (I count this as a release because it has great quality stuff on it)
A Change of Seasons (love the song....if it had more songs on it I would rate this EP higher)
Black Clouds
SC
ToT
DT (Self Titled)
WDADU (loved the actual songs but can't get past Charlie's voice)

[Orthogonal]

I want you guys to know that it upset me to write what I did yesterday given what DT means to me.

I'm really happy that so many of you are enjoying it though. 

You wouldn't be so upset if you conformed to popular opinion, or something like that.



This is what I posted a year ago and I still hold to this. I'm not going to pigeon hole DT12 yet since I need more listens, but for now I feel that it will go in the top half of the catalog and it will upset the balance of my symmetrical rankings...

Tier 1: Masterpiece
I&W

Tier 2: Exceptional
SFAM
Awake
ADTOE

Tier 3: Very Good
SDOIT
Octavarium
ToT

Tier 4: Good
BC&SL
WDADU
FII

Tier 5: Mediocre
SC

[zepp-head]

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

[Cygnus17]

Still havent heard DT 12....

Scenes
Train of Thought
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Awake
Six Degrees
Octavarium
Images and Words
Black Clouds/Silver Linings
Falling Into Infinity
Systematic Chaos
When Dream and Day Unite

[mezzaIX]

Bienvenido!

I will be kind to anyone who considers Awake as their best album.

¡Gracias!

[MetalJens]

Probably too early to rank DT12, but anyway here goes my current updated ranking (yes, I really think DT12 is right up there  )

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

[Thematt202]

Mine goes something like this -

I&W
ADTOE
SFAM

BC&SL
OCTAVARIUM (only because of OCTAVARIUM itself)
AWAKE
SDOIT
SC

TOT
FII

WDADU

The middle section changes around on a daily basis.  It's obviously way too early to rank DT12, however I'm pretty confident that it'll end up in the top two or three.

[kneepel]

Peeps ranking the self-titled already? I know it's tentative and all but, seriously?  I don't see any point in doing this since I have listened to all the other albums (except FII and WDADU) at least 100 times each and I'm currently on my 4th run of the self-titled.

I don't know man, I've had a good 11 or 12 listens(Minus Along for the Ride) over the past few days. My opinion on it really hasn't changed, I'm still liking it a lot.

[Syzzle]

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

DT12 will probably move up a spot or 2, but I don't see it taking SDOIT's place at #1.