Favorite Track 4 of the Rudess era

[KevShmev]

Amazingly, while I like all of these songs, only one of them would probably make my DT top 50, and it is the one I am voting for: This Is the Life.

[ReaPsTA]

I agree.  It's a very well-composed, thoughtful, and lovely piece of music.

[Evermind]

This is the Life. My favourite ADTOE piece and overall a great song. The Great Debate is pretty close though. HTF is on the verge of my top50, and the other songs aren't even close.

[Invisible]

When it comes to Rudess only, The Great Debate easily, it's not even a question. Everything he did on that album ranks as his best work in Dream Theater. The others are awesome, but they don't stand out as much.

[mikeyd23]

TGD. This song is awesome to me, I know some don't like it, but I love it!

[TheGreatPretender]

Definitely Enigma Machine. The second best instrumental DT has ever done. TDEN and TSF follow close by, then IWBY. And the rest is quite underwhelming. I mean, TMW is a great piece of music and a wonderful lead in for FT, but on its own, it's so short, it's barely a song.

[TAC]

I agree.  It's a very well-composed, thoughtful, and lovely piece of music.

I think This Is The Life is one of those perfectly written songs. I mean it's..perfect.

That said, my preference goes to The Dark Eternal Night.

[Tom Bombadil]

I honestly don't like very many of these songs. TITL is pretty good, and so is TGD, but my favorite out of these has to be HTF.

[The Letter M]

The Great Debate

When I first got SDOIT, it was my second favorite song of the album (behind the title track). Something about the 7/8 and the drumming and the different sections all just clicked with me right away. I loved TGP and Disappear, but the others just didn't click right away like TGD did.

-Marc.

[OsMosis2259]

I went with The Great Debate. This is the Life is close behind though!

[?]

TGD easily, although I like TITL too.

[JayOctavarium]

TDEN

[CharlesPL]

Easily ,The Great Debate

[krands85]

I went with The Great Debate. This is the Life is close behind though!

[wolfking]

HTF.  Debate is a close second.

[robwebster]

What a delightfully weird poll.

I thought I was going to vote Enigma Machine, but then I noticed The Dark Eternal Night, which absolutely trashes the others. Through My Words is the only track I don't particularly care about - and even that's got more votes than the poor Shattered Fortress!

1. The Dark Eternal Night
2. Enigma Machine
3. This Is the Life
4. I Walk Beside You
5. Honor Thy Father
6. The Shattered Fortress
7. The Great Debate
8. Through My Words

There we go, I'd probably go with that. Enigma Machine is almost certainly being helped ever so slightly by the new car smell, but I do think it is an absolutely cracking tune. Crushing riffs, very technical but quite singable - This is the Life and I Walk Beside You feel like good company. Honor Thy Father and The Shattered Fortress are both direly underrated (although neither are essential!), and The Great Debate is very good but doesn't quite justify its runtime as the other songs do.

The Shattered Fortress probably has a modicum of new car smell, too. Seeing it live renewed my interest in it quite a lot - gave it a new lease of life.

[TAC]

The Shattered Fortress probably has a modicum of new car smell, too. Seeing it live renewed my interest in it quite a lot - gave it a new lease of life.

It was GREAT live, and I don't really care for it. Like you said about TGD, not sure TSF justifies ITS runtime.
The intro and ending are excellent...another similarity it has with TGD.

[Nearmyth]

The Great Debate by far, followed by Honor Thy Father

[robwebster]

The Shattered Fortress probably has a modicum of new car smell, too. Seeing it live renewed my interest in it quite a lot - gave it a new lease of life.

It was GREAT live, and I don't really care for it. Like you said about TGD, not sure TSF justifies ITS runtime.
The intro and ending are excellent...another similarity it has with TGD.

That's fair! I'm sure I am being swung by the live performance - if you'd asked me in January, The Great Debate would've beaten it hands down, but TSF is a great live song, and TGD doesn't quite transfer to the environment. Part of that's because TGD has a unique and fantastic atmosphere on the disc that's very hard to replicate, but TSF does have qualities TGD lacks, and it's what's doing the job at the moment. I suspect it'll balance out again before too long.

[TAC]

I've never seen TGD live, but I bet I would enjoy it very much. Just based on watching the drumming alone. That's what's great about the live experience.
TGD and TSF are pretty bloated, but watching TSF live, it felt like its running time was cut in half, you know what I mean? I would love the opportunity to experience TGD live, even though I really don't rate it that high on my DT List.

[robwebster]

The drumming's the highlight. It's that one bit - "Harvesting existence, only to destroy..." I suspect if I had to pick my favourite DT song in terms of musical drumming, The Great Debate would be right up there.

[TAC]

Yup, without question!

[TheGreatPretender]

Man, I will never understand the love for TGD. Even if the drumming is good, a song requires a hell of a lot more than just good drumming to be top pick, and TGD is a grind to listen to all the way through. In my humble opinion of course.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

ARE YOU JUSTIFIED?!?

[KevShmev]

Man, I will never understand the love for TGD. Even if the drumming is good, a song requires a hell of a lot more than just good drumming to be top pick, and TGD is a grind to listen to all the way through. In my humble opinion of course.

I mostly agree.  It's a good song, and the drumming is off the charts great, but the song just never really comes together.  In a way, On the Backs of Angels is like a modern day Great Debate, albeit shorter, in that both have all of the key elements that should make up a great DT song, but neither manages to be so.  Good songs, but neither are great.  I think the lack of truly memorable choruses hurts both.

[aprilethereal]

The Dark Eternal Night

[Outcrier]

Easily ,The Great Debate

[TheGreatPretender]

I mostly agree.  It's a good song, and the drumming is off the charts great, but the song just never really comes together.  In a way, On the Backs of Angels is like a modern day Great Debate, albeit shorter, in that both have all of the key elements that should make up a great DT song, but neither manages to be so.  Good songs, but neither are great.  I think the lack of truly memorable choruses hurts both.

Shorter is exactly the reason why OTBOA is better, and a more enjoyable listen because it doesn't overstay its welcome. The problem with TGD isn't just that there's nothing remarkable about it, but that it's just so damn long, it drags on.

[Invisible]

Man, I will never understand the love for TGD. Even if the drumming is good, a song requires a hell of a lot more than just good drumming to be top pick, and TGD is a grind to listen to all the way through. In my humble opinion of course.

I mostly agree.  It's a good song, and the drumming is off the charts great, but the song just never really comes together.  In a way, On the Backs of Angels is like a modern day Great Debate, albeit shorter, in that both have all of the key elements that should make up a great DT song, but neither manages to be so.  Good songs, but neither are great.  I think the lack of truly memorable choruses hurts both.

How can a song with TWO choruses lack on that department? Well, opinions... Are you justified?!?!?

And OTBOA the definition of nothing truly remarkable for me, I found it ok when I first listened, but it's one of the truly rare cases of a DT song that the more I listened, the less I liked. Almost every other song is the exact opposite.

[Outcrier]

How can a song with TWO choruses lack on that department? Well, opinions... Are you justified?!?!?

And OTBOA the definition of nothing truly remarkable for me, I found it ok when I first listened, but it's one of the truly rare cases of a DT song that the more I listened, the less I liked.

My thoughts.

[TheGreatPretender]

How can a song with TWO choruses lack on that department?

Simple! It's like when you have a glass of beer... Then you pour half of it into another glass and fill them both up with water. You end up with two full glasses of watered down beer.

So there it is. The Great Debate is like watered down beer.

[?]

You guys are crazy, TGD rocks!

ARE YOU JUSTIFIED?!

[BlobVanDam]

Despite being my least favourite song on SDOIT, TGD is still a great song. OTBOA is one of DT's most blandtacular songs, and I don't really see any notable comparison between the two songs.
I voted for TDEN. TGD or HTF probably would have been my next choice. I wouldn't consider any of the rest contenders.

[TheGreatPretender]

Blandtacular is exactly how I'd describe TGD. And you are right, I wouldn't really compare it to OTBOA. OTBOA is at least fun to listen to.

[BlobVanDam]

Blandtacular is exactly how I'd describe TGD. And you are right, I wouldn't really compare it to OTBOA. OTBOA is at least fun to listen to.

YOU CAN'T STEAL MY INVENTED ADJECTIVES!
I don't find OTBOA at all fun to listen to. The song is devoid of fun, or character, or energy.