Are you more of a Pre-Train of Thought or Post-Train of Thought fan?

[Skeever]

Though this was an interesting take on the other thread.

If you split the DT discography right down the middle, you get this

First Half
When Dream and Day Unite
Images and Words
Awake
Falling into Infinity
Scenes from a Memory
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

Second Half
Train of Thought
Octavarium
Systematic Chaos
Black Clouds & Silver Linings
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Dream Theater

For me, it's no contest. First half includes the four best DT albums. Second half is much patchier, with only A Dramatic Turn of Events breaking my Top 5 DT albums.

[BlobVanDam]

My top 4 DT albums are in the "first half", with my next two being the first two of the "second half", so first half it is. No contest.

[rumborak]

ToT splits their career pretty neatly into half at this point, but I have to say that no album of the second part of their career makes it into the top 5. And in fact, ToT is even the top album of the second half. If you moved that split point one to the right, the division would be even more stark.

[Another_Won]

I actually went with Post-Train of Thought.  The Train of Thought album is one of my favorites.

After I voted, I looked again and had second thoughts.  How do you rate an album?  The strength of the individual songs or how it plays all the way through.

[The Letter M]

First half, most definitely, if only BECAUSE IAW, Awake, SFAM and SDOIT are in it. Those are huge albums to me, and I love them all dearly. In the second half, I only really love 8VM, ADTOE and maybe DT12 (although that's still growing on me), and in the case of 8VM and DT12, I only love most of those albums, not as much as any one of the four in the first half.

-Marc.

[TheCountOfNYC]

I went with post Train of Thought, even though my two favorite albums (IaW and SFaM) are before that. This is because I became a fan much later in the game. If it wasn't for Octavarium (which is my 3rd favorite album), I would have never heard them. Since a second half album is what started my fandom off, I felt I had to go in that direction.

[Setlist Scotty]

Definitely pre-ToT. The only discs out of that bunch that I'm not as fond of are FII and the second disc of SDoIT. From the second half, I'd say only 8v and BCaSL do as much for me, altho I'd probably rank the latest 2 albums above FII.

[hefdaddy42]

Definitely pre TOT.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Pre has I&W, Awake, and SDOIT, can't really beat that.

[Randaran]

The only album in the first half of their career that does not break my top 6 DT albums is FII. (ToT is my third favorite, though)

[ThatOneGuy2112]

Pre-TOT includes I&W, SFAM, and SDOIT. To be honest, it doesn't seem like a fair match.

[Rodni Demental]

Post.

Train of Thought solidified the sound that is a predominant feature in their style today. You could argue it started earlier and that there were always elements to this showing through but TOT really defined that aspect of the band and they've kept it ever since.

[rumborak]

I'm assuming everybody who said post ToT came on board after that album.

[Rodni Demental]

I'm assuming everybody who said post ToT came on board after that album.

Quite possibly, but would it be fair to assume that the majority of those whose who said pre ToT came on board before this album?

[bl5150]

My mind's that scrambled from all these polls that I can't remember when I came on board 

[Zyzzyva17]

Pre-TOT: #3,4,8,10,11,12
Post-TOT: #1,2,5,6,7,9

The album rankings have spoken.

[Obfuscation]

I'm leaning mostly towards the Pre section but man I'm having a hard time deciding because the Post section has most of my favorite songs I feel like.

[RoeDent]

The Post- section does contain my No. 1 (ADTOE), but the rest of my Top 5 are in the Pre- section, so I'm voting that.

[erwinrafael]

I would say pre-ToT in terms of albums, but they have a lots of highs post-ToT in terms of individual songs.

[mikeyd23]

Pre - TOT carried by the strongest albums in their catalog; SDOIT, SFAM and I&W.

[Dublagent66]

Pre ToT.  SDOIT was their peak.  All downhill ever since.

[?]

Definitely pre TOT.

[emtee]

Pre ToT easily and it's largely because I feel more emotional connection with that body of work. I realize the writting process with
DT has always been the same...everyone enter the studio and for a few months you bounce ideas off each other until the work
is done...well I think in the early years there was enough unexplored territory and life experiences to be able to maintain a fresh
approach. But as time passed this process began to feel more sterile to me, like we have a timeline and an obligation and this is
our job so let's get busy and come up with material. The latter albums felt more like they were driven by the obligation than
about the artists having something important to pry from their souls and convey in the form of music. There are some songs post
ToT that are really amazing and I love them as much as the pre ToT period but as a total output I'll take the pre-ToT period
without any hesitation.

[Madman Shepherd]

Wheres the "both" option?

[Skeever]

Wheres the "both" option?

In some other copout poll.

This is your typical "gun to your head, can only chose one" type scenario.

[jjrock88]

Pre TOT no question. I&W and Awake make that an easy choice

[sylvinception]

Both eras!!

Exept BC&SL of course...

[JiM-Xtreme]

I am by definition a "post-ToT" fan... the first album that came out after I was a officially a fan was 8V. Still, from a musical point of view all of the material I consider to be the best is squarely in the first half of the discog - sadly, a lot of the reason I enjoy listening to albums such as 8V, SC etc. has to do with nostalgia.

[adamack]

Nice idea!

Man, this is tough.

My absolute favorite album of all time (SFaM) is in the first half - as is SDoIT, which is my 4th favorite DT album.

However, the other half holds my 2nd and 3rd favorites, ADToE and Octavarium, respectfully.

I can probably say that those 4 albums equal out. 1st and 4th = 2nd and 3rd. So it comes down to the rest of them.

Maybe it was not as tough as I thought. The remaining albums in the second half comprise my 5th through 8th favorites, so it's gotta be the post-Train of Thought option.

The only thing which I come back to is the strength of SFaM. That album alone almost has the strength to trump everything else. Not quite, though.

[darkshade]

I believe the DT canon will really be divided between 8vm and Systematic Chaos in the long run, Octavarium was the exclamation point on Dream Theater up until that point, and SC was a 'new beginning'. Opinions aside, ToT and 8vm were still part of the "Rudess era" starting with Scenes. With SC, began the Mike Portnoy years, heavier modern-metal sound, and so on... Difference between ToT and SC/BC&SL is ToT is like an album of Glass Prison's, which is on SDOIT, and feels more like some weird extension of that album.

Couple more albums and 8vm will split the the discography in half.

OT - I pick the first option.

[erwinrafael]

Wrong periodization, I think. Can't you see that the DT album eras are in cycles of 5?

1. Tries to find identity                                              WDADU                           SDOIT                       ADTOE
2. Definitive sound of era                                             I&W                                ToT                              DT
3. Tries to incorporate sound of the times                 Awake                          Octavarium                        ?
4. Loses some steam                                                    FII                                   SC                               ?
5. Goes back to definitive sound of era                       SFAM                              BC&SL                           ?

[The Letter M]

Wrong periodization, I think. Can't you see that the DT album eras are in cycles of 5?

1. Tries to find identity                                              WDADU                           SDOIT                       ADTOE
2. Definitive sound of era                                             I&W                                ToT                              DT
3. Tries to incorporate sound of the times                 Awake                          Octavarium                        ?
4. Loses some steam                                                    FII                                   SC                               ?
5. Goes back to definitive sound of era                       SFAM                              BC&SL                           ?

I've always seen DT's career as sets of four albums, actually. The first four albums are Pre-JR, where the band tries to find their sound and changes it over time, especially under the watchful eyes and ears of the record label, who wanted success but didn't seem happy enough when the band didn't produce another "Pull Me Under".

Then there's the Meta-Album era when JR joined, and this is because they conceptually linked SFAM, SDOIT, TOT and 8VM by cross-fading/segueing the end of one album to the beginning of the next. These four albums also form the second half of their contract before moving on to...

The Roadrunner Records Era (part 1?), which encompasses SC, BC&SL, ADTOE and their last album, where the band goes a bit heavier over-all, but continues to evolve their sound.

But that's just me. I do have to wonder where the band will go next with their next couple (or more!) albums.

-Marc.

[Drinktheater]

I am evenly split on this,

I like Octavrium, ToT,Octavarium,SC,DToE,and Dream - theater.

[Skeever]

For me, I just feel like SDOIT was such a great album where they branched out in so many different directions. Since then, it's been primarily metal, aside from Octavarium.

[bosk1]

Wow, this is actually REALLY hard.  I mean, most of what I would consider "classic DT" comes from the early era.  And my two favorite albums are Six Degrees and Scenes.  But even thought Six Degrees comes close to being consistently strong throughout the entire album, they really reached the height of consistency on their last two albums.  They have never in their entire careers written albums that are as consistently strong from start to finish as they have since Mangini joined.  And the fact that they did it twice in a row now makes me lean slightly toward the latter era.