Your favorite DT album

[Perpetual Change]

We do all of these weird polls so often, I can't remember the last time we had a good ol' straightforward poll.

Anyway, these results irrevocably prove which DT album is the best 

[?]

https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=4748.0

Anyway, voted for Awake

[Perpetual Change]

https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=4748.0

Oh, yeah, a 3 or 4 year old poll that doesn't even include the band's latest album. Guess we really haven't done this in awhile! 

Anyway, voted for Awake. Images, SDOIT, and even ADTOE were very close behind.

[?]

Oh, I didn't realize ADTOE wasn't an option in that one I do remember that we had at least one fave album poll after the release of ADTOE, but it's ok to have a new one.

[Zydar]

Images is my unquestionable #1. SDOIT and SFAM battle it out for #2.

[cyberdrummer]

SFAM. It'll take something special to ever beat it.

[Scorpion]

Six Degrees. While I do think that The Glass Prison is overrated, and Six Degrees doesn't work that well as a song as opposed to single parts, both are still very, very good.

[SomeoneLikeHim]

SFAM. It'll take something special to ever beat it.

[yorost]

Anyway, these results irrevocably prove which DT album is the best 

...or not.

Voted Train of Thought, a close call with Awake and Scenes from a Memory.

[aprilethereal]

SFAM. It'll take something special to ever beat it.

.


Awake and ToT come close, though.

[AngelBack]

SFAM. It'll take something special to ever beat it.

Yep

[The Stray Seed]

Images and Words.

[Dreamer81]

SFAM with SDOIT and ADTOE close second...

[Rattlehead]

Images

[krands85]

Images & Words. They will never top that record - it's practically perfect.

[Mladen]

Scenes from a Memory

[wasteland]

Images And Words. Best album of all time for me.

[Dream Team]

Images & Words. They will never top that record - it's practically perfect.

[RuRoRul]

Train Of Thought.

[Nekov]

SFAM. It'll take something Really Really Really special to ever beat it.

FTFM

[Syzzle]

Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence.

Nothing else even comes close.

[King Postwhore]

SDOIT

I has such a special meaning to me at that time but also it's my favorite album.

[dparrott]

SFAM.  I'm surprised it's in front with all the praise the other albums get.

[Big Hath]

Images is my unquestionable #1. SDOIT and SFAM battle it out for #2.

this, with Awake not far bahind

[TheGreatPretender]

SFAM.  I'm surprised it's in front with all the praise the other albums get.

That's because all the SFAM fans are too humble to boast about its genius.

[Ruba]

Awake.

[BlobVanDam]

SFAM.  I'm surprised it's in front with all the praise the other albums get.

That's because all the SFAM fans are too humble to boast about its genius.

They don't need to boast about its genius. The album does a good enough job of doing that on its own.

[bosk1]

Six Degrees.  Scenes is a close second, but after that, it gets easy.  And since this will inevitably eventually turn into a series of "rank the entire DT discography" thread, I'll just get mine out of the way.  I've changed my mind a bit recently, but here it is:

1.  Six Degrees - Not a single song I don't like.  Despite Blind Faith being FAR down the rankings from everything else on the album due to disjointedness and lyrics, the rest of the album is so strong that it remains my favorite DT album and perhaps my favorite album of all time.
2.  Scenes From A Memory - This is the album that finally cemented DT as my #1 band despite Queensryche occupying that spot for a decade beforehand.  As I've often said in commenting on the songs, as with a lot of concept or theme albums, the whole is definitely greater than the sum of the parts.  Terrific album.
3.  A Dramatic Turn Of Events - This album is aging very well.  The newness has obviously had time to wear off, and I am finally at a point where I am no longer spinning it nonstop, and it is still just that good.  It obviously hearkens back to Images and Words.  And while that album scores a lot of points for being groundbreaking and simply being a classic, ADTOE takes everything that was great about I&W, adds two decades of songwriting maturity, and just takes things over the top.  The highs may not reach quite as high as the highs on I&W, but unlike I&W, ADTOE is so consistent throughout that it clearly deserves the #3 spot behind two other masterpiece albums.
4.  Images & Words - The classic.  What else can I say?
5.  Octavarium - Tough call whether to put this ahead of Awake, but I will go ahead and do it on the strenght of the title song, Panic Attack, and Sacrificed Sons alone.
6.  Awake - Despite some missteps, this album like the one before it has some incredible moments. 
7.  Systematic Chaos - The only problem with this album is inconsistency.  A good half of the album can go toe to toe with anything in the DT catalog.  Then a couple of good/decent songs.  But then, also a couple of clunkers, one of which is far too long and kills the momentum of the album for me.
8.  FII - Fantastic album.  Again, some clunkers and some lows.  But some terrific songs as well.  The band were simply all over the place at this point.  They were being pulled in too many different directions, and it showed in their music.  Still, a lot of what they did worked, and we have some truly great music coming from this album (as well as from some of the unreleased material).  Another winner.  Just not as big a winner as some of the other stuff that ranks ahead of it.
9.  Train of Thought - Not a bad album by any stretch, but just not as solid as others.  I like heavy.  I like dark.  And there's nothing wrong with that vibe running through an entire album.  But here, it does feel samey and gets a bit tiring.  And some of the songs just overstay their welcome or go off on tangents that are so extreme that I don't find them enjoyable.  But the last three tracks definitely deliver, and I will often listen to the album just for those three.  Not only that, but despite some of the flaws in This Dying Soul, that song gave us perhaps one of the most memorable riffs in the entire DT catalog.  You know the one.
10.  Black Clouds - Also a good album.  But it just feels tired and perhaps a bit too formulaic.  And the fact that it contains so few songs, and that all of them are long, makes the album feel weaker given that there are a couple of songs I usually don't really want to listen to.  But on the strength of A Nightmare To Remember, The Shattered Fortress, and The Count Of Tuscany alone, this album is still better than the vast majority of music by most other bands out there.
11.  When Dream And Day Unite - It's flawed.  But there are some great ideas and some very good songs.  I don't care for Charlie's voice or the production, so I almost never listen to the studio album.  But WDADRU still gets spins from me every now and then.

[Nekov]

I'm surprised that Awake is not even in the contest. What I do like is that the current results reflect my top 4 perfectly:

SFAM
SDOIT
I&W
Awake

[Full Speed]

SDOIT
Awake
I&W
ADTOE
FII
TOT
SFAM
BCSL
8VM
SC
WDADU

[aprilethereal]

SFAM
TOT (this one gets a nostalgia bonus since it was the album that got me into DT)
Awake
8VM
ADTOE
SDOIT
I&W
BC&SL
SC
FII
WDADU

[hefdaddy42]

Awake

[Destiny Of Chaos]

Scenes from a Memory

[SeRoX]

Awake is their best work. The only album that every member of DT is at their peak at what they are doing.

[MoraWintersoul]

Awake is their best work. The only album that every member of DT is at their peak at what they are doing.