Parama's Top 50 Nightmare Cinema Shows, v. Gold Statue! The End!

[Crow]

Three choices in a row you really liked, I guess we have similar taste 
Naturally one of the next two choices will destroy that chain of liking my picks but until then 

[Crow]

Here, have another. This is probably the one I did best on besides #1 because I made damn sure to have #1 perfect even if it was technically the hardest part of the 5.

https://soundcloud.com/parama-3/take-the-time

[Crow]

2. The Root of All Evil
I've already brought it up, so let's just do this first.

TAKE ALL OF MEE
THE DESIIIIRES
THAT KEEP BUUUURNIIIING DEEEEEP IIINSIIIIDE
CAST THEM ALL AWAAAAAY
AND HELP TO GIVE ME STREEEENGTH
TO FACE ANOOOOOTHER DAAAAAY
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
AAAAAM
REEEEEEEADYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
HEEEEELP ME
BEEEEEEEE
WHAT IIIIIIII
CAAAAAAN
BEEEEEEEE

And that's all I have to say about this song.
Oh yeah, also. The intro. That fantastic, unique little intro that just builds up so damn well.
And the main riff. Holy hell is it classy. The verses are damn heavy. LaBrie sings perfectly for the music and the subject matter, I love it, all of it. And then we get the chorus after two verses. About damn time, just kidding. I wish the chorus was more present in the song honestly but the rest of the song is almost as perfect as it so it's not like it's badly written or anything. The second half of the song is slightly, slightly less amazing than the first half, but it spends quite a good while building up to the instrumental break, and doesn't waste any time doing so. There's so much variety here, each passage is different from the past one and it all flows together so well, the TDS reprise is probably better than the chorus original was in TDS, too, the way LaBarie sings the last few lines especially. And I just absolutely adore how chaotic the start of the instrumental is. Everything goes quiet, Rudess does his thing, and then you get several layers of instruments just going absolutely nuts. It's glorious. Rudess' solo and especially Petrucci's are both great, too. Short and ever so sweet. And the riffs under them are the same great riffs from the first half, all building back up to the second chorus. Dear god. This song is so brilliant. It completely overshadows the rest of the album, title track included. What the hell could even be better?

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
AAAAAAAM
REEEEEEEADYYYYYY
COOOOME TOOOO MEEEEE
TAAAAKE MEEE AWAAAAAAAAY

Twenty-Fourth Discussion Question: What's your favorite DT chorus?
Extra Question: Do I even need to say what my #1 is? 

[Evermind]

Uh, sorry, but no. TTT and The Mirror, fine, but this is a big no for the second place.
Still looking forward to your first place though.

[Outcrier]

Fav DT Chorus? Home, Root Of all Evil...

Edit: Bridges in the sky too

[Crow]

Uh, sorry, but no. TTT and The Mirror, fine, but this is a big no for the second place.
Still looking forward to your first place though.

I figured this choice wouldn't be well received, but it's my list so screw you 

[jakepriest]

I actually don't have a problem with Root of All Evil being second, since lately I've really been starting to love the song. The chorus is amazing and its reprise in TSF is probably my Twelve-step Suite top moment.

Fav chorus: Home, Caught In A Web, ITNOG, Bridges In The Sky, A Rite of Passage, Root Of All Evil

[Crow]

The reprise in TSF is cool until they replace the wah guitar with JR's bad strings patch. That kind of kills it for me.

[Nearmyth]

Surprising number 2, I think it just barely makes my top 50 Great song though, the chorus is definitely my favorite part.

[jakepriest]

The reprise in TSF is cool until they replace the wah guitar with JR's bad strings patch. That kind of kills it for me.

Imo the strings make it sound much more epic. 

[Ruba]

Excellent choice.

As for the discussion question, The Root of All Evil is a possible one, but there are also Lines in the Sand, Finally Free, Misunderstood, Never Enough and In the Presence of Enemies pt.1.

[Sacul]

TGD chorus is amazing.

[mikemangioy]

TROAE is a fine song, but far from number 2 in my opinion!
Fav chorus is IIIIIIIIIIII AAAAAAAM REEEEEEEEEADYYYYYY, and SUN! COME SHINE MY WAAAAAY!

[Outcrier]

Excellent choice.

As for the discussion question, The Root of All Evil is a possible one, but there are also Lines in the Sand, Finally Free, Misunderstood, Never Enough and In the Presence of Enemies pt.1.

Misunderstood chorus is very nice too 

[Crow]

Oh yeah another of these I guess cool.
https://soundcloud.com/parama-3/the-root-of-all-evil

#1 will be posted first chance I get tomorrow. I wonder what it is. Suspense.

[Crow]

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for... maybe... probably not...






































1. Scarred
This was really the only song whose placement I decided on immediately. There was no way it was ever going to be anywhere else on the list. It's almost as perfectly written as Take The Time. It covers as many emotions as Disappear. And it has a wonderful chorus like TROAE and The Mirror. Like, taking the best aspects of my other favorites, throw them into a blender, bam, Scarred, the end. DT is over. No need to ever write music ever again. We're done. Actually no this isn't my favorite song of all time though it's easily in the top 5. The only thing this song repeats for more than a few seconds is its chorus. There's so goddamn much here. The chilled, grooving intro with Petrucci's unique solo, the pleasant atmosphere of the first verses, the heavy as hell few verses after and that damn riff, LaBrie doing all his lovely things. And the bridge after the first chorus too, LaBrie owns there too. And it's got such wonderful build-up to the second chorus. Hell, pause, rewind. Everything builds up to the choruses here. That's basically how a song is supposed to be. I think that's basically why this song works so amazingly well for me. It's very tightly written, the only DT song above 10 minutes that I'd even think of saying this about. Hell, this entire album is so tightly written. And I&W too aside from LTL. That's what DT is lacking nowadays. Tightness. All their recent epics, BAI aside, are some degree of bloated, to the point of being an absolute mess. Also yes let's talked about Scarred instrumental section, alright. It's lovely. I love the rhythm of the first solo, it gives it a very sharp sound. Moore's and Petrucci's solos after are both fantastic as well. And the outro is godly, I know it's always brought up, as it deserves to be. I wish it didn't fade out so soon, I wouldn't complain in the slightest if it went on for another minute. It wouldn't be too long. As it stands it's not like the fadeout is bad, I have no clue how else they'd have been able to end this masterpiece. And it gives SDV a chance to follow it up, if it had ended with a big chord like all the recent DT epics it'd be impossible to follow.
You know what this song is? It's what LTL was trying to be, and couldn't quite become.
Guys, I love Scarred. I absolutely, unquestionably consider it my favorite DT song. Am I typing to much? No, I'm not typing nearly enough. But I'll stop, I've been working on this one nonstop and the song's already ended and I'm still typing I should really stop and HIT REPEAT

Twenty-Fifth Discussion Question: Final thoughts on the list?

[?]

1. Scarred

I can live with that

[Evermind]

1. Scarred
2. Lines in the Sand
3. A Change of Seasons
4. The Mirror
5. Disappear
6. In the Presence of Enemies
7. Breaking All Illusions
8. Anna Lee
9. Beneath the Surface
10. Take the Time

I did OK it seems.

But seriously, if there was one thing I was ready to bet on, it was Scarred at top 1. I wish I could love this song more.

Great list! I appreciate your effort to list your 10 least favourite songs, and the honourable mentions were also a nice touch. And you updated this thing daily, which I totally appreciate too. Good job on this one.

[jakepriest]

Scarred took way too long to grow on me, but once it did, I immediately fell in love with it. I don't like the instrumental section much, but the soft part and the entire heavy part before the first chorus are amazing. So 

As for the list, I disagree with a lot of things, but your top 10 has been pretty solid. I like some of the controversial stuff too.

[Crow]

I was surprised at how many songs you nailed, Evermind. Part of why I went through effort to try and be accurate on yours 

Also, here's an image I made for a write-up but never ended up using as this song didn't even make my honorable mentions. I just figured I'd share it.

[mikemangioy]

Nice number one!

[Evermind]

I was surprised at how many songs you nailed, Evermind. Part of why I went through effort to try and be accurate on yours 

Also, here's an image I made for a write-up but never ended up using as this song didn't even make my honorable mentions. I just figured I'd share it.

img

Well as you can see you did pretty well. What've you got, 6/8 at this point?

And 

[Crow]

5/7 thus far! And only one more I'm certain of and will be wrong about anyways.

[Crow]

Anyways here's the last recording.
https://soundcloud.com/parama-3/scarred

Considering maybe responding to all the discussion questions I posed (sans the last one) tomorrow since why not, that could be fun. If people cared at least, though I'm sure some of these are self-evident 

[Tom Bombadil]

Perfect choice for #1 (seeing as it's my #1 as well). Just a perfectly crafted song. Your list overall was very good. Thanks for sharing.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

Your list was awesome, and your presentation was the best that I've seen.

[Crow]

Thanks, heh. Coming off the last few lists that didn't end up finished I can see where you're coming from with the being happy about it running smoothly and all 

[Ruba]

1. Scarred

I can live with that

Waiting for Blob.

[Crow]

Fairly certain he's not following this list :V

[Sacul]

My least fav song from Awake . Although it has some epic moments, I find the chorus to be very weak and dull.

[jakepriest]

My least fav song from Awake . Although it has some epic moments, I find the chorus to be very weak and dull.

While I agree that the chorus is the weakest part of the song, it's in the song only three times anyway and pretty seperated. Doesn't take away from the awesomeness at all 

[Crow]

screw y'all the chorus is great
I love the riff Petrucci's playing
The weakest part of the song is the fact that it ends, there's literally nothing else negative I can say about it.

[LTE3]

Great three songs 

My least favorite wankery mhh....
probably The Glass Prison, towards the last verse.. it's cool but it never ends 

You Europeans love to throw around that term wankery, if you don't like "wankery" it seems like a tough task being an actual Dream Theater fan, but you must be if you are on this sight. Wankery should be reserved IMHO for musicians like Yngwie Malmsteen. Also to use one of the heaviest, coolest, and most grooving section of a song as your example has my mind blown. Your entitled to your opinion of course but I had to comment.