Buddyhunter1's Top 10 BEST & WORST Dream Theater Songs

[nicmos]

Ooh, it's another rage time!

The SDOIT ending is the very definition of a DT epic ending imo. The only other DT songs that come close to ending that epically to me are ITNOG and Octavarium. How much more grand could you want a finale?!

Another minute of synth fadeout?? 

Yeah, I don't know what buddyhunter is thinking.  This is one of the few endings that I think does an epic song justice.  Way better than ACOS, for example.

[Buddyhunter1]

Yeah, I don't know what buddyhunter is thinking.  This is one of the few endings that I think does an epic song justice.  Way better than ACOS, for example.

...which is another song with a pretty underwhelming finale.

[Dream Team]

Yeah, I don't know what buddyhunter is thinking.  This is one of the few endings that I think does an epic song justice.  Way better than ACOS, for example.

...which is another song with a pretty underwhelming finale.

There's no way you're serious. The build-up to that ending is incredible and defines "epic".

[hefdaddy42]

Yeah, I don't know what buddyhunter is thinking.  This is one of the few endings that I think does an epic song justice.  Way better than ACOS, for example.

...which is another song with a pretty underwhelming finale.

What the hell do you consider an epic finale?

[Buddyhunter1]

Alright alright, the ACOS finale isn't bad, Dream Theater just has plenty of ones that are better. (See my write-up for Losing Time / Grand Finale)

[Buddyhunter1]

#5 BEST:
Trial Of Tears (Falling Into Infinity)

Ironic that I followed up Dream Theater's angriest song with one of their most beautiful, eh? Trial Of Tears is unlike any other song they've done before. It has all the qualities of a good epic, wrapped up in a somber, peaceful, and mostly quiet song. It's just such a soothing piece to listen to. From that quiet ambient intro, to the melancholy first movement, to the proggy instrumental section to the satisfying finale, it's always awesome and always beautiful. What really makes this song amazing is its atmosphere. I'm a huge sucker for atmospheric music, and I wish Dream Theater had more of it, because this song proves that they can pull it off. This isn't a song you rock out to, it's a song where you sit, back, relax, and take in all of its beauty. Falling Into Infinity may have some extremely low lows, but Trial Of Tears is amazing enough to practically salvage the whole album.



#5 WORST:
Take Away My Pain (Falling Into Infinity)

...Sadly, that's the last time I'll be praising Falling Into Infinity on this list, because like I just said, it has a lot of bad songs. Like Anna Lee, Take Away My Pain is one of the most non-interesting ballads in Dream Theater's discography. It's more on the poppy side though, and it doesn't succeed well in that department, either. While it is pretty unique-sounding for the band, it's boring and ultimately comes out flat in my opinion. Anyways, I promise that this is the last song on this list that's only bad in a boring way. It's all downhill from here...

[Lucidity]

I've never been a big fan of Take Away My Pain. It's not even a bad song, but it's just so unlike DT that I can't really enjoy it. It doesn't seem like a song they would have wanted to write in the first place.

[Lucien]

I've never been a big fan of Take Away My Pain. It's not even a bad song, but it's just so unlike DT that I can't really enjoy it. It doesn't seem like a song they would have wanted to write in the first place.

It is Falling Into Infinity after all...

[Rattlehead]

Nice update... ToT is excellent and has moved its way up to my top 10. I also agree with TAMP being one of DTs weakest songs, it just does nothing for me 

[erasiel]

To quickly weigh in on a couple of buddy's picks....much of which is right on, by the way:

- Innocence Faded is indeed pretty weak. I'll tell you why - its the chorus, and more specifically, the angelic backup vocals and sparkly guitars layered on top. It makes everything sound really syrupy and poppy, and this coming after a couple of BADASS songs like 6:00 and CIAW really disrupts the dark groove that Awake has going on. I do really like the last 80 secs of the song though.

- Panic Attack RULES, and the very Iron Maideny unison bit from 5:43 to 6:13 might be among my top 5 Dream Theater bits of all time.

[Nearmyth]

I remember liking Take Away My Pain at first only for its somewhat melancholic/hopeful chorus, but it is complete cheese-pop even by DT standards :/ I like the demo version.
For some reason ToT never hooked. It has a nice chorus, and the instrumental section is stellar, but besides that as a whole it doesn't do much for me. Can't deny it being a good song, however. I might be in the minority by saying I prefer Lines In the Sand by a long shot.

[?]

Trial of Tears TAMPon has never been one of my favorites, but I think the demo is ok and even the final version isn't among my bottom 4 songs from FII.

[BlobVanDam]

Can't disagree with your "best" choice. ToT is beautiful. Simple as that.

I wouldn't put TAMP quite so low, but I don't really disagree either. It's mostly the vibe that puts me off, but it has some redeeming qualities. The chorus is nice, and the solo is absolute killer.

[Buddyhunter1]

#4 BEST:
Blind Faith (Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence)

Like Trial Of Tears, this is a pretty unique-sounding song for Dream Theater. Both songs are atmospheric and grandiose, but Blind Faith has a lot more energy to it. It's an amazing song from start to finish, and it's definitely one of their most skillfully-composed pieces. I really like how it has a large build-up to it, starting out quiet and atmospheric and slowly building into rocking, proggy goodness. Special mention must be made Jordan Rudess here, because this is easily one of the best showcases of his keyboard work. The texture he gives to the verses is atmospheric and beautiful, and that piano break in the instrumental section is superb. Speaking of which, the instrumental section in this song is just fantastic. Though that's not saying much, because I can't think of a single part of this song that I don't like. It's just a brilliant, brilliant song.



#4 WORST:
Burning My Soul (Falling Into Infinity)

Alright, now we're starting to get to the real stinkers. While Burning My Soul sounds quite different than the other bad songs on Falling Into Infinity, it's bad for pretty much the same reasons. The album has several songs where the band tries to write a poppy, accessible track, and fails to do so. For this track, the band tries to write an angry, dark song, and fails miserably. While there's an occasional cool riff or atmospheric section, the majority of the song just sucks. The vocal lines are uninspired, the lyrics come across as cheesy and amateur, and dear lord does that chorus get annoying, fast. The only redeeming thing about this song is that it has one of the most hilariously awful lines in Dream Theater's discography. SO I HURT YOUR FEELINGS WELL I'M REALLY SORRY BUT I DON'T GIVE A SHIT, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Lucien]

I remember seeing Burning My Soul on Sirius XM less than a year ago (I wasn't driving), before I really new between the bad and good Dream Theater. Needless to say, I think I scarred my family's view of Dream Theater 

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

I like Burning My Soul.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

Lovin' that placement of Blind Faith. Top 5 for me too!

And Burning My Soul is a terrible song, so I can't argue with that one.

[Scorpion]

Blind Faith is probably my favourite from SDOIT, I'd place it around there as well.

BMS is pretty bad, though the keyboard solo is pretty cool.

[SomeoneLikeHim]

This list was burning my soul but with these last picks you have taken away my pain.

I don't yet feel like I can have blind faith in you though. Your next pick might cause a panic attack and lead me through a trial of tears...

[Buddyhunter1]

This list was burning my soul but with these last picks you have taken away my pain.

I don't yet feel like I can have blind faith in you though. Your next pick might cause a panic attack and lead me through a trial of tears...

[Elite]

for both picks.

[Tom Bombadil]

for both picks.

Me too

[BlobVanDam]

I like Burning My Soul.

Me too. I'd rank it low for DT, but I still think it's a good song, and I prefer it to most of the FII discards.

Can't argue with the choice of BF. Amazing song from an amazing album. :

[?]

Blind Faith deserves that spot I like BMS, but I know it's not a popular song.

[Ruba]

I like Burning My Soul.

[senecadawg2]

You got ToT in at 5, which is close enough to my own ranking to be happy. Blind Faith is also a solid song and Burning My Soul is not, so props to you on that 

[hefdaddy42]

Nothing wrong with the last two ranking posts.   

[Buddyhunter1]

#3 BEST:
The Glass Prison (Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence)

I so wish I could have been a Dream Theater fan back in early 2002, when 6DOIT was released. I can just imagine getting my hands on Dream Theater's new album, putting it in for the first time, and having this song hit me over the head. At the time, this song was unlike anything the band had done before. In my opinion, it was their first step out of the classic era of DT and into the new. It had all the good qualities of Dream Theater up to that point, but it was heavier, bigger-sounding, and, in my opinion, the best thing they had done up to that point. The intro is probably the band's greatest intro ever; it's my textbook definition of a good opening, and the transition from it into the fast, heavy riff right afterwards (probably my favorite Dream Theater guitar riff, period) still sends shivers down my spine. While the rest of the song doesn't quite live up to the first few minutes, that's really not saying much at all. It's not a perfect song, (the second movement does drag on a bit too much), but that doesn't stop it from being my third favorite Dream Theater song of all time.



#3 WORST:
The Ministry Of Lost Souls (Systematic Chaos)

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to The Ministry Of Lost Souls, Dream Theater's most boring song of all time. The thing about song length is, while being long gives a song the ability to cover a wider range of musical directions, and while most of my favorite songs are all quite long, I would rather listen to a bad short song than a bad long song. And The Ministry Of Lost souls is nearly fifteen minutes long. FIFTEEN FUCKING MINUTES. That's long even for Dream Theater standards, and saying that this song doesn't doesn't warrant its length would be a colossal understatement. If this song was maybe 6-8 minutes long, then maybe it would have worked. It still wouldn't be that great, but it would at least be tolerable. But as it is, it's just a test of patience and sanity. The main reason this song is needlessly long is its instrumental section, which comes out of nowhere, has little to nothing to do with the rest of the song, and quickly overstays its welcome. I have no problem with sections that have nothing to do with the rest of the song if they're actually good (I put Endless Sacrifice as my #7 best, after all), but the instrumental section in this song is just... not... good. At all. It's just as boring as the rest of the song. But hell, EVEN IF that whole section was cut out, the song STILL would have been too padded. You've still got the verses that take forever to finish, the boring outro solo that consists of Petrucci essentially playing the same thing over and over again for a couple minutes, and the chorus that, almost as if the band was trolling us, contains the line "It's almost over now." OH HOW I WISH THE SONG WERE ALMOST OVER NOW. Fuck this song.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Oddly enough, I'm listening to The Ministry Of Lost Souls as I read this.

[senecadawg2]

I've always thought TMOLS is underrated, and TGP is overrated. Different strokes for different folks

[Joshin U]

I've always thought TMOLS is underrated, and TGP is overrated. Different strokes for different folks

[hefdaddy42]

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to The Ministry Of Lost Souls, Dream Theater's most boring song of all time.

What?  The Answer Lies Within would like a word with you.

BTW, hating this song while loving Endless Sacrifice makes little sense in this or any other universe of which I am aware.

[senecadawg2]

BTW, hating this song while loving Endless Sacrifice makes little sense in this or any other universe of which I am aware.

Hey now, they're both good songs! 

[hefdaddy42]

BTW, hating this song while loving Endless Sacrifice makes little sense in this or any other universe of which I am aware.

Hey now, they're both good songs! 

Both good or both bad, that's subjective.  But they are structurally both almost the same, so one good and one bad makes no sense.

[Tom Bombadil]

I still feel the same way about TMOLS but recently it's been sounding better to me. TGP hasn't aged that well, I used to love it but rarely listen to it these days