Black Clouds and Silver Linings?

[Mladen]

Still great. Lyrically not one of my favorites, but the melodies are tremendous, as well as the balance between metal and prog.

[Disciple_Kickstand]

Still great. Lyrically not one of my favorites, but the melodies are tremendous, as well as the balance between metal and prog.

This.  I think James sounds great here, drastic step up vocally from SC. And I can't help but headband thru most of this album. It's a ton of fun.  That's not even counting the covers disc which really enjoyed as well.

[WheyWaffles]

This would be their worst album if it didn't have one of their best songs of the last 10 years on it:

\m/ To Tame a Land \m/

Oh, that was an Iron Maiden song?

Worst.  More Portnoyish than an angry Portnoy.

[Randaran]

This album can be separated into three roughly equal 25 minute sections, each of which is significantly better than the previous one. The first third, containing ANTR and AROP, is the worst 25 consecutive minutes of music DT has ever released. I like, at most, maybe 10 minutes of this part. The next 25, comprised of Wither, TSF, and most of TBOT, is a lot better. It is inconsistent, but a huge improvement. The last 25 minutes, or the TBOT solo and TCOT, is really good, and singlehandedly saves the album.

Overall, BC&SL is my least favorite DT album by a wide margin. It has some great stuff on it, but is really inconsistent.

[thosava]

It's among their best. Number five on my list. The album suddenly clicked with me, but it might fall in the future.

[BlobVanDam]

The first third, containing ANTR and AROP, is the worst 25 consecutive minutes of music DT has ever released.

I would hands down give that honour (or dishonour) to the last 3 tracks of Awake. Not even WDADU manages to concentrate it's awfulness in consecutive tracks for that period of time.
Nothing wrong with ANTR and AROP (overall as songs, that is). DT have written much much much worse.

[thosava]

The only two back-to-back DT tracks that i ever skip are Repentance and Prophets of War.

[MirrorMask]

The first third, containing ANTR and AROP, is the worst 25 consecutive minutes of music DT has ever released.

I would hands down give that honour (or dishonour) to the last 3 tracks of Awake.

WHAT

[BlobVanDam]

The first third, containing ANTR and AROP, is the worst 25 consecutive minutes of music DT has ever released.

I would hands down give that honour (or dishonour) to the last 3 tracks of Awake.

WHAT

Yeah that's right, wanna fight about it?




Because you'd no doubt injure me pretty badly, so I'd rather not.

[pcs90]

I would hands down give that honour (or dishonour) to the last 3 tracks of Awake. Not even WDADU manages to concentrate it's awfulness in consecutive tracks for that period of time.
Nothing wrong with ANTR and AROP (overall as songs, that is). DT have written much much much worse.

What's wrong with Scarred?

[ASacrificedSon]

Check Jay octavarium sig.

[Enigmachine]

I would hands down give that honour (or dishonour) to the last 3 tracks of Awake. Not even WDADU manages to concentrate it's awfulness in consecutive tracks for that period of time.
Nothing wrong with ANTR and AROP (overall as songs, that is). DT have written much much much worse.

What's wrong with Scarred?

From JayOctavarium's sig:

"I just don't understand what they were trying to achieve with any part of the song, either individually or as a whole. You know what? It's the Platypus of Dream Theater songs. That bill doesn't go with that tail, or that strange little furry body, or those webbed feet, and oh god why does it have venomous spurs!? And then you find out it lays eggs too. The difference is that the Platypus is somehow functional despite being a crazy mishmash or leftover animal pieces"

-BlobVanDam on "Scarred"

I don't agree but whatever.

[ThatOneGuy2112]

I would hands down give that honour (or dishonour) to the last 3 tracks of Awake. Not even WDADU manages to concentrate it's awfulness in consecutive tracks for that period of time.
Nothing wrong with ANTR and AROP (overall as songs, that is). DT have written much much much worse.

What's wrong with Scarred?

Absolutely nothing.

[pcs90]

I would hands down give that honour (or dishonour) to the last 3 tracks of Awake. Not even WDADU manages to concentrate it's awfulness in consecutive tracks for that period of time.
Nothing wrong with ANTR and AROP (overall as songs, that is). DT have written much much much worse.

What's wrong with Scarred?

Absolutely nothing.

That's what I thought!

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

My problem with this album is inconsistency. There are some incredible moments, probably some of DT's all-time best but some horrible moments as well. Nightmare is still a great song, it should've been like 3 minutes shorter (the outro is horribly long and I don't like the Portnoy roar section that much), but its highs are way up high. Rite is a very forgettable and meh song. Wither is nice power ballad but nothing very special, so I consder it to be somewhat forgettable. I was never very into Shattered Fortress, but the live version was definitley cool. The Best of Times has some cool things going on but I never feel an urge to listen to it. Also, I'm kind of biased with this song because of what it meant in the DT community back then. Tuscany is still amazing and one of DT's best. Period.
For every cool moment in this album there's a meh moment, so I'm quite comfortable putting it in the middle/below-middle tier.

[KevShmev]

My problem with this album is inconsistency. There are some incredible moments, probably some of DT's all-time best but some horrible moments as well. Nightmare is still a great song, it should've been like 3 minutes shorter (the outro is horribly long and I don't like the Portnoy roar section that much), but its highs are way up high. Rite is a very forgettable and meh song. Wither is nice power ballad but nothing very special, so I consder it to be somewhat forgettable. I was never very into Shattered Fortress, but the live version was definitley cool. The Best of Times has some cool things going on but I never feel an urge to listen to it. Also, I'm kind of biased with this song because of what it meant in the DT community back then. Tuscany is still amazing and one of DT's best. Period.
For every cool moment in this album there's a meh moment, so I'm quite comfortable putting it in the middle/below-middle tier.

I agree with much of this, except I went from really loving The Shattered Fortress to just liking it; I don't listen to that one nearly as much as I used to, and I am not sure why.

A Nightmare to Remember definitely has a lot of great stuff, but yeah, it definitely needed some trimming, especially in the second half.

[Cable]

I like the album, and like parts and/or all the songs. They just have too many flaws combined, and are really a sign of the times in hind sight of course. That said, this album is nowhere as bad as Systematic Chaos in my opinion. Even though these are my bottom two DT records, SC is significantly worse.

[t-bone2112]

It's really interesting to read DT fans' comments about opinions on any DT album.

It seems most people here put Awake and TOT very high on a list of favorite albums, yet some hate these two albums.  And so many put BC&SL and SC very low on the list (each of these 2 have one each of my absolute favorite DT songs!).

For me, I think I have listened to BC&SL more times than just about anything but SFAM, I&W and SDOIT (possibly in that order).

I think Wither and TCOT are virtually perfect.  Yes, some lyrics in TCOT are cheesy, but not all of them.  And he music itself is perfect to me!  I mean PERFECT; the guitar playing and tone, keys and Portnoy's drumming are absolutely God-like. 

ANTR, AROP and TBOT are really good overall.  The only song I don't care much for is TSF.  Not bad for a whole album.

[Rodni Demental]

Easily my favourite album, represents most of their styles in various moments of the songs. And I love the long tracks just 'cause.

[red barchetta]

Still great. Lyrically not one of my favorites, but the melodies are tremendous, as well as the balance between metal and prog.

Right on! That is exactly what I don't see unfortunately on TA.

[FsF]

The best album they've made post-SDOIT.

[Bertielee]

One of their worst, bottom tier for me.

B.Lee

[SwedishGoose]

I'm actually pretty sad to see this album get mostly dislikes....
But hey, it's your opinions and I respect that.
There were good and interesting reasons!

I like this album... but it is well below average DT for me.

It just feels uninspired to me. Cringe worthy lyrics and good but booring parts in songs drag it down. Should I say it... feels like DT by the numbers with the added wish to cater for real metal heads. DT does not need growling... so many other bands do it better.

The only song on this that I really, really love is TCOT and I dislike the lyrics in that one.

Still I like it enough to listen to it all... it is just that it's in the lower rank of my favorite bands discography.

Not many bands who have released as many albums have not released clunkers.

[BlobVanDam]

DT does not need growling... so many other bands do it better.

And DT have never once had growling, so therefore I'd say every other band does it better.

[SwedishGoose]

DT does not need growling... so many other bands do it better.

And DT have never once had growling, so therefore I'd say every other band does it better.

Alright... not growling but it is still not good and does not work at all lyrically... an outside producer would have stopped that from ever happening

[lordnafaryus]

I think it's really solid, I'd been listening to them for a few years by the time this came out but it was only the second album to be released since I'd started listening to the band  - the first being 'Systematic Chaos' - so I was really excited about it at the time!

Non of the tracks are skippable, though based on what I've read of your thoughts what might hurt the album overall is becuse it's only got 6 tracks, so if you take a disliking to one or two of them then that's going to affect your feelings on the album as a whole (as opposed to disliking one of the thirty-four tracks on 'The Astoning' for example, which is going to be less noticeable).

A Nightmare to Remember -  The first 10 minutes are perfect, and the melody that kicks in at 6:14 demands you just stop what you're doing and pay attention. But you're left scratching your head around the 11-minute mark with those vocals, I just don't think they add anything at all.
A Rite of Passage - I will comfortably state this is nobody's favourite DT song, it's just stock metal riffing with James trying his best to make the daft lyrics sound believable. However, it bears repeated listening for the section beginning at 4:52
Wither - A nice stab at a 'single' length track, and very listenable. James does well to bring some emotion to otherwise fairly plain lyrics, and it would've been nice to hear some of these melodies as part of a bigger piece.
The Shattered Fortress The final 3 parts of the 'The Suite', and the big blowout people had been waiting for, though it doesn't necessarily feel like a new song with all of the repeated motifs from the previous 9 parts. This means it stands as a strong song on its own, and in the context of this album, but if all 12 parts were played live this would risk sounding repetitive. Great to see the skull crushing riff used toward the end of 'Glass Prison' get more of a main role when it kicks in at 1:52. 
The Best of Times - A choice cut for the type of fan who wants everything they do to sound like 'Images & Words' and probably James' finest moment on the album. It's obviously a very personal song, and I in no way want to critiscise it, but overall it comes across as slightly hammy and I have difficulty finding the emotion in it.
The Count of Tuscany - Quite simply, a perfect DT song. It's in my personal top 5 of their tracks, the intro alone sends shivers down my spine whenever it comes on. It just takes you on a journey. People have commented on the lyrics being corny, and yes they could be stronger, but where the lyrics are lacking the music saves it. Hell, it feels like you're having the same experience just listening to it as an instrumental, so the words have a lot of help from the structure and tone of the song (fear, excitment, sadness, relief etc.). Even if you quibble with some of the other tracks, having spent the last 19 minutes of the album hearing this has to send any fan away happy.

Also, I love  the artwork. I know that shouldn't affect your view of the music of course, but the surreal image of the elephant on the books and the child by the open door is about a million times better than seeing 'Systematic Chaos' and those bloody ants... Eugh.

[pantsofeternity]

DT does not need growling... so many other bands do it better.

And DT have never once had growling, so therefore I'd say every other band does it better.

Um, what do we call that if not growling???

[BlackInk]

Voted "one of my least favorite". There are moments of okayness here and there, but then there is so much on this album that is just embarrassing.

[Dublagent66]

My album rankings as of 1 year ago.

1.  SDOIT
2.  I&W
3.  SFAM
4.  Awake
5.  FII
6.  ToT
7.  ADTOE
8.  8VM
9.  SC
10.  BC&SL
11.  DT12
12.  WDADU

I voted "below average" simple because it's right at the edge of top 10 on my list.  However, I still enjoy it.  The only song I really don't care for is TBoT even though it's got a killer JP outro solo.  TCoT, even though it suffers lyrically, it's still an excellent closer.  Something I haven't seen on any of their releases since.

[TheOutlawXanadu]

To me, Systematic Chaos and BC&SL represent the two most, how do I say, "meh" Dream Theater albums. They're not bad by any means, but looking back on the band's career, that whole period feels a little weird. By that, I don't mean weird as in, "The band was doing a bunch of experimentation!", but rather, weird as in I kind of forget those records even exist.

[Kotowboy]

To me, Systematic Chaos and BC&SL represent the two most, how do I say, "meh" Dream Theater albums. They're not bad by any means, but looking back on the band's career, that whole period feels a little weird. By that, I don't mean weird as in, "The band was doing a bunch of experimentation!", but rather, weird as in I kind of forget those records even exist.

I don't mind them but I always forget they signed to roadrunner after Octavarium. i keep having to remind myself that A Dramatic Turn Of Events isn't their RoadRunner debut.

[Dream Team]

To me, the run from TOT to BCASL represented a gradual decline in quality, but it has reversed itself and been on the upswing since ADTOE.

[Zook]

DT does not need growling... so many other bands do it better.

And DT have never once had growling, so therefore I'd say every other band does it better.

Um, what do we call that if not growling???

Tough guy shouting. Portnoy's original idea had growling. The end result is not growling.

[energythief]

One of their worst albums for me. ANTR is very long with a lot of needless soloing, the atrocious portnoy vocals and a failed attempt at blastbeats.
Wither and TSF are kinda good, i came to appreciate TSF a lot more recently listening to it on BTFW.
TCOT has some great moments, but it drags a lot and has some of the worst DT lyrics ever.
TBOT has some interesting moments and a great solo, but i don't find myself listening to it a lot.

Overall, i think it's one of their weakest albums.

Bang on. I'd add that AROP is one of the most boring DT songs.

[Enalya]

Absolutely in top 3, so much love for it. TCOT is to me one of the best songs ever written, aside from the lyrics.

The most annoying to me are indeed the cookie-monster vocals of Portnoy in ANTR. The Best of Times sounds gayish and I always skip that one (no offense intended - I know the lyrics are emotional).