425's Top 50 Dream Theater Songs v. Singularities

[ThatOneGuy2112]

Really loving the DT12 love here. It definitely deserves it. TBP is in the upper tier of the album for me.

[Outcrier]

After my first listen to DT12 all I could remember from TBP was "the bigger picture!" in the chorus. Now I remember the whole chorus and some intro bits, but the song itself isn't even close to my Top 50.

[yeah_93]

Even if I don't agree with TBP being a top 10 song, I can agree it's one hell of a song. What I don't understand is the love the outro gets, for me it's very average. Maybe it hasn't clicked yet.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

To be honest, The Bigger Picture was not one of the standouts for me when I listened to DT12. But, it may grow on me when I revisit it.

I love Systematic Chaos, btw. Although, it does carry the distinction of being the only album I have changed the running order of, to listen to In The Presence in full.

[Prog Snob]

TBP is a great choice.  Maybe not Top 10 worthy for me, but still one of the best tracks on the new CD.

[425]

It's been a late night for me so I won't be writing an album writeup tonight. I did have a song writeup already ready to go (and it's from the time when I was really really gushing, so prepare yourself for that), and here it is...

In the Name of God

You get a cookie!

7. In The Name of God

And you get a cookie!





9. In the Name of God

Religious beliefs, fanatic obsessions
Does following faith lead us to violence?



Images:
This is just a huge, heavy epic. This the first song I heard from Dream Theater that really blew my mind, really made me think "these guys are something else... truly brilliant musicians." And, of course, it's one of my very favorites to this day. Every part of the band comes together, playing the perfect thing at the perfect time to make this composition just excellent.

The intro sets a tone of lament, possibly for the deaths of those killed over religion. Then, the full band entrance sets an epic tone. After the intro, James comes in with some really excellent singing over a great bass riff that then goes into more epic guitar/keys riffing. Then, the music that leads into the chorus is just beautiful and epic, as is the chorus itself. The verses that follow the first chorus are an interesting change that bring more energy. James is amazing on "Lies—tools of the devil inside..." Another chorus, more amazing verses, another chorus.

And then... I just love the fact that midway through, the song completely downshifts and goes in a new direction. This section is carried amazingly by John Myung and Jordan, with James singing amazingly with emotion as he gets progressively higher and higher. I love also the little electronic break (see, they did this before BMUBMD and Outcry) right before his screamed verse (which is itself excellent).

The unison actually happens to be one of the best parts of the song. It's so brilliantly well done, and shamelessly wanky. This is one of those moments that I think is what DT is all about. Myung and Portnoy hold down a great groove while John and Jordan play. I love also that they interrupt their soloing to do a riff for a moment and then go back to it. And then once they come back to the main riff with that harmonic... OH MY GOD DREAM THEATER HOW ARE YOU THIS BRILLIANT.

This writeup is so long but I can't help it, I'm in full-on gush mode and this song is so good. The ending is simply one of Dream Theater's best. James carries the final verses and "oh oh oh"s brilliantly and the rest of the band carries the song out beautifully. The lamenting Battle Hymn in the background is actually an amazing touch. Jordan's piano outro is, of course, gorgeous.

Words:
These are slightly above average by John's standards, but there are some seriously good sections in this. In particular, I love the words to the middle building section where he lists a variety of crimes committed by religious fundamentalists. Very well worded. The words may not be the very best I've heard on the topic (I'm an Iron Maiden fan and that's like every other one of their songs... I think For the Greater Good of God might be the best "religious war" lyrics), but John does a better job than anyone else of separating the crazy killers and genuinely good religious people and the words are fit well to the truly brilliant music, so that's all I ask for, really.

[ThatOneGuy2112]

In the Name of God

That riff at 1:06. Melts my face right off every time.

That "woah oah oah" moment at the end is among my favorites off of TOT, and part of me wishes Jame's did it more since I loved it in TCOT, even though I know some people probably hate it.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

well











               this









                                   



                                     this is .....
   



 



   
                                      awkward......

[Lucien]

Someday I need to write out the story that plays out in my head when I listen to this song...

[Crow]

Nah it's totally fine to gush about a song this good~
Also you missed an album write-up I think?
Great choice though, really, no complaints from me 

[425]

Also you missed an album write-up I think?

It's been a late night for me so I won't be writing an album writeup tonight.

[yeah_93]

Completely agree, In The Name of God is one of their best songs, a true epic from beginning to end.

[Tom Bombadil]

This might be exactly where I placed it on my list. Amazing song.

[Laughingplace56]

I had it there at one point on my list so I approve of this placement 

[jakepriest]

ITNOG = 

[Sacul]

ITNOG =   

[425]

Here's a song and two albums, to make up for missing one yesterday.

And today no one is getting a cookie. Yes, another song that no one guessed for my top ten, yet one about which I gushed a lot in my writeup. I don't get why people don't like this song, and I'm therefore proud to give it a well-deserved spot in my top ten.

A nigh-nigh-nigh...








8. A Nightmare to Remember

By the grace of god above
Everyone survived



Images:
I know opinions on this one are rather divided, but I very much like it. It's an excellently structured epic and one of the reasons why DT should be very proud of their tenth studio album. It's also one of the songs where they do the best job of setting a mood, and this mood happens to be one that they only really exhibited on this album and really loved (ergo I love this album).

The thunder sets the scene and Jordan's piano intro brings the foreboding mood. The full-band intro is immense and epic and Mike's double bass is superb, as is Jordan's playing in that part. Then, there's that big metal riff that's so damn heavy and so damn catchy. James comes in sounding amazing, aggressive and well fit to the mood. I love the riff that follows the first verse, too. This part is really really fun to sing and dance to (even though my singing is less than good). More great double bass in the part that follows.

Then, the chorus comes along with that the three part vocal harmony, which is great and the thing I miss most since Mike left. Same thing with Mike and James singing the "without warning" section. Mike's technique on this sounds really great, I don't care what y'all say. And the "stunned and bewildered" part is just more great singing from James. And so ends that brilliant five minute prog metal intro to the story.

The Beautiful Agony section is the one part of this song that almost everyone likes, and I have to agree, it's fairly brilliant. The guitar playing is gorgeous, as is James's singing on the chorus, along with another three-part harmony on the second half of the chorus. It's quite amazing.

Some people don't like that Beautiful Agony goes right into to that huge solo section. I do like it, so sue me. And I like the solo section itself, too. John and Jordan impress a lot in this album, and especially here. The Continuum (?) solo is particularly stellar. Towards the end of the solo section it starts to build and we know what's coming...

The best part, that's what's coming. Such adrenaline. So energy. So power. DAY AFTER DAY AND NIGHT AFTER NIGHT. Mike sounds perfectly natural taking the lead microphone and delivering semi-growls, especially with those choral bits that are over the later section. THIS IS THE BEST PART OF THE SONG IT'S REALLY GOOD STOP HATING IT (more gushing, yes, I know).

Day After Day (A.K.A. The Best Part) goes into another interesting instrumental section that explores a variety of the themes in the song. The best part is when Jordan has a little keyboard break that goes into that huge riff. So excellent. And the final chorus with that three part harmony again. So beautiful. They carry the song on for another two and a half minutes, which is really all good with me because this song is chalk-full of good melodies that they continue to revisit and do so well. The blast beat is kind of there, but I don't understand why it should bother anyone. And the keyboard outro is great to bring the song full circle. This song is just brilliant.

Words:
The lyrics to this song are very good. I said it, so it's out there now. John really delivers excellent storytelling on this song, especially on the Beautiful Agony part and (yes, I'm going to say it), Day After Day.





Album 8. Dream Theater



The newest Dream Theater album, the self-titled, is the threshold in this list for albums that I enjoy listening to all the way through, and do so a lot of the time (I listen to SC and WDADU in this way and almost never do so with FII and SDOIT). This is also one of those albums where the songs tend to be dependent on being part of an album. The songs all share a basic vibe that they don't really share with those of any other DT album: they're all very heavy but tend to have positive messages. They're also all, with the exception of Illumination Theory, attempts at more concise songwriting. I just find that I like the songs significantly better when I listen to the full album than when I take any of them out of context.

The album is remarkably well paced and does not really have any weak tracks. This is an album writeup I can do without spoilers, since it's fairly evident, I think, that TBP is my favorite on the album. TBP is an amazing centerpiece (yes, I really am bringing that back) and Illumination Theory is a brilliant epic. Then, as you well know, Along for the Ride barely grabs my top 50. I really love the feel of that song more than most of the album because it's quite anthemic. However, much of the album lies just outside my top 50. The Looking Glass made 56, and Behind the Veil and Surrender to Reason would not be too far off. These would be followed, again, not too distantly, by The Enemy Inside and Enigma Machine. False Awakening Suite is a good intro but it's hard to think of it as anything but. I mentioned all of these rankings to indicate how consistent this album is for me. All the stuff on it is quite good.

Why is it not higher than #8? Because, though all the stuff is very good, there's not much that's great. TBP and IT are great songs in my opinion, but everything else is just very good by my DT-measurin' meterstick. Also, it's hard for me to take particular songs on this album out of context and enjoy them as much as I do in the context of the album, which makes things more difficult for me to love this album. It is a very excellent album, but it is not a new DT classic in my opinion; and it's in the bottom half of their discography.





Album 7. A Dramatic Turn of Events



Yes, the two Mangini-era albums are back-to-back in my ranking. I enjoy both of these albums about the same amount, but in extremely different ways, and I enjoy ADTOE just a tiny bit more.

This album is not as consistent as DT12. That is to say, DT12 is an album of about the same quality (very good but not great) all the way through. ADTOE, on the other hand, varies more in quality in my view. Lost Not Forgotten is just not a song I like very much, and it's not about it supposedly sounding like Under a Glass Moon. The music just doesn't hold my attention as much as most DT songs do. Outcry is one that is growing on me, but I still don't listen to it that often and don't enjoy it nearly as much as other tracks in its category of DT songs. On the other hand, On the Backs of Angels and Beneath the Surface are stellar compositions and highlights, and I actually really like Build Me Up, Break Me Down, too, and find it to be more inventive than anything on DT12 aside from The Embracing Circle. So this is an album with a song or two that I don't like so much, but other songs that I really like a lot. The sum of this is an album that is not consistently as good of a listening experience, but one that has higher and more frequent highs.

[sneakyblueberry]

+1 for Nightmare! Love it!

[Sacul]

ANTR at #8? As Evermind said to me:

No. No. Nooooo. Just no. No way. No bloody way.

But Beautiful Agony is my fav part of the album though.

[Evermind]

ANTR in Top 10 is still better than Wait for Sleep in Top 5 worst DT songs though.

But seriously, too high.

[Laughingplace56]

ANTR in the top 50? As Evermind said to Sacul:

No. No. Nooooo. Just no. No way. No bloody way.

I like the song. It's fun, the riff is heavy, the beginning 5 minutes and the last 2 or so are great. But the Beautiful agony part and the solos are what drag it out of my Top 50. I like the Beautiful Agony part, I do. But on the whole, I find it boring and it definitely didn't need to drag that song down even more by adding another 3 or so minutes to it. The solos aren't spectacular. I like MP's vocal part, but that section also could've been cut. The instrumental section afterwards is cool though. Overall, if the song was 8-9 minutes long, it would've made my top 50. It's just too long.

Also, my #2 song isn't even in your top 15, yet this is. We ca't be friends. 

[Sacul]

ANTR in Top 10 is still better than Wait for Sleep in Top 5 worst DT songs though.

I think if I remade my list now, WFS wouldn't be there.

[Outcrier]

8. A Nightmare to Remember
The best part, that's what's coming. Such adrenaline. So energy. So power. DAY AFTER DAY AND NIGHT AFTER NIGHT. Mike sounds perfectly natural taking the lead microphone and delivering semi-growls, especially with those choral bits that are over the later section. THIS IS THE BEST PART OF THE SONG IT'S REALLY GOOD STOP HATING IT (more gushing, yes, I know).

Can't wait to see it so i can verify if you like DT for the wrong reasons 

Now i know the answer, i'm disappointed 425 
You can still redeem yourself a bit with your album ranking 

[Crow]

ANTR is a song that's pretty awesome for half the song then it stops doing interesting things halfway through.
That's not entirely true because the build-up unison before the day after day section is awesome and the outro is awesome
but I usually tend to lose interest once the trading solos come in.

Also liking BMUBMD automatically invalidates your entire list sorry :V
but no seriously how can people have any positive feelings towards that song :<

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

BMUBMD has some cool parts.

[Onno]

ANTR is great, good choice there 

[Sycsa]

I really like "Day after day...", it was a good call by Mike. It's energetic, it fires me up and Mike's tone is great. I also like how differently he enunciates the two 'overs', it's like "over and oba". Sounds really cool.

[425]

Haha, I expected this kind of reaction to this choice. A few people with good taste liking the choice and then a lot of people with poor taste feeling very indignant about it.

Can't wait to see it so i can verify if you like DT for the wrong reasons 

Now i know the answer, i'm disappointed 425 
You can still redeem yourself a bit with your album ranking 

Damn, I was hoping I liked DT for the right reasons. Very disappointing to hear that I'm wrong.

Also liking BMUBMD automatically invalidates your entire list sorry :V
but no seriously how can people have any positive feelings towards that song :<

Because it has a cool intro, good riffs, interesting vocal melodies and an amazing chorus?

I really like "Day after day...", it was a good call by Mike. It's energetic, it fires me up and Mike's tone is great. I also like how differently he enunciates the two 'overs', it's like "over and oba". Sounds really cool.

I agree completely!  I also appreciate the gutsy call there to go with what was good for the song, despite the fact that they very well knew that it would frustrate large sectors of the fanbase to no end.

[jakepriest]

I would like the Day After Day part if they used the growl vocals Mike originaly wanted. I just dislike Portnoy's tough guy voice for some reason. ANTR is still a good song. 

Also Parama stop the hate, BMU,BMD is good.

[Sacul]

Also Parama stop the hate, BMU,BMD is a masterpiece of prog metal.

Fixed.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

not sure if serious

[Crow]

Everything about BMUBMD is flat-out wrong and I hated it from the first time I listened to it 

[425]

Another song and another album. This is the last of the song writeups that I did on that day when I was gushing. It's a short writeup, but it accurately describes my feelings towards the song to the extent where I can't think of anything that I need to add.

Oh, and who is getting a cookie today?

2. Far From Heaven

Cookie for you.

Far from Heaven

Cookie for you, weirdly, on what seemed to be a joking list. Does this mean you don't like my choice? 






7. Far From Heaven

Not asking you to save me
I'm too far from heaven



Images:
This is my favorite piano ballad of all time. Jordan's playing on this song is just beautiful and weighty with emotion. I don't understand how anyone can hear this and say that Jordan is just technical without emotion. This is such emotional playing.

James perfectly compliments Jordan's piano with his gorgeous breathy singing. He just puts such emotion into every word of this song. My favorite part is the "You can't imagine" verse. Jordan steps up the tempo without losing the mood and James delivers the most emotional section of the whole song. Then the ending forms the perfect segue into Breaking All Illusions...

Words:
These are probably James LaBrie's best lyrics, next to Vacant. He simply communicates the idea of feeling completely and utterly alone with such powerful words. The line "Not asking you to save me, I'm too far from heaven" is chill inducing and so beautiful.





Album 6. Train of Thought



Train of Thought is sort of a weird one for me, because, as many have said before, it's easily the band's most one-dimensional album. Even though they have other albums, like Dream Theater or Awake where all the songs share a particular atmosphere that is unique to the album, those albums still have songs with a variety of degrees of progginess and heaviness. Train of Thought isn't like that, though. It's very heavy and very proggy (wanky) all the way through, with only one 3-minute exception in Vacant.

Yet, I cannot deny how amazing this album is. Sometimes obviously I'm not in the mood for something this heavy, but often, this entire album is capable of rocking my socks off. Maybe it helps that it was my first DT album, but I don't think so, because I was only somewhat into the album at first and didn't get into the band until getting Images and Words. However, over time, ToT has grown into being a classic album for me, and it is the first of the albums that I think is really excellent all the way through.

As I Am is one of the weakest tracks on the album in my opinion, but it is still a great prog metal tune. The quiet prechorus is the one thing on the album that I find any fault in, but the song as a whole is one I enjoy every time. It transitions well into This Dying Soul and Endless Sacrifice, two prog metal classics, to make for a massive opening three. Honor Thy Father is also among the weaker songs, but is still very good with some utterly kickass sections. The last three are even more astounding than the first three. Vacant, Stream of Consciousness and In the Name of God are utterly perfect compositions and work brilliantly together.

Train of Thought's relative lack of dimension is the reason why I can't place it any higher than 6th, but it certainly earns this spot by featuring so many masterpieces and brilliant compositions that also get the blood pumping. Truly excellent work by Dream Theater.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Far From Heaven is amazing.

[Outcrier]

Wait for Sleep >