Last two 90s vs first two 00s

[KevShmev]

Gotta go with FII and Scenes.

Scenes is easily the best of the four for me, and while FII has a few weak spots, it has more higher highs than either of the 00s albums, IMO, although I do think Six Degrees is a better overall album.

[Kotowboy]

Both of 6 Degrees and Train of Thought are in my Top 5 albums and Falling Into Infinity is not but I do like it so option 2 wins.

Actually I only like 2 of their 90s albums and I like all of their 00s albums except for Systematic.

[Pettor]

Definitely SDOIT and ToT. Scenes and SDOIT is quite equal to me but ToT is miles better than FII. I can't listen to Trail of Tears on repeat just to enjoy an album can I? 🤔

[DTA]

FII and Scenes are my two favorite albums of theirs. Six Degrees is excellent and in my top 5 but Train of Thought contains one of my least favorite DT songs with Honor Thy Father, and is too bloated.

[TAC]

Scenes is the trump card here.

[Cool Chris]

SDoIT disc 1/Scenes

ToT


SDoIT disc 2





FII

[Pettor]

FII and Scenes are my two favorite albums of theirs. Six Degrees is excellent and in my top 5 but Train of Thought contains one of my least favorite DT songs with Honor Thy Father, and is too bloated.

Sure that Honor Thy Father is so so and you are entitled to your opinion, BUT. You Not Me, Burning My Soul, Take Away My Pain, Just Let Me Breathe?!? Case closed.

[HOF]

FII carries the day here, with each successive album doing less for me than the last.

[Kram]

This is a tough one.  For me, Scenes is clearly the best one here, but FII is clearly the weakest.  Going to have go with 6DOIT and TOT, as FII is just too weak compared to those two.

[Obsidian Pancake]

You've basically asked me to choose between a piping hot NY style supreme pizza and a beef chimichanga slathered in red enchillada sauce, guacamole, sour cream, and cheese.

I would probably faint from hunger from my indecision.

[KevShmev]

FII and Scenes are my two favorite albums of theirs. Six Degrees is excellent and in my top 5 but Train of Thought contains one of my least favorite DT songs with Honor Thy Father, and is too bloated.

Sure that Honor Thy Father is so so and you are entitled to your opinion, BUT. You Not Me, Burning My Soul, Take Away My Pain, Just Let Me Breathe?!? Case closed.

I like Take Away My Pain a lot, and Just Let Me Breathe is a fun little tune, but You Not Me is still the worst DT song on any studio album (to save the Raw Dog remarks from the peanut gallery).  Burning My Soul has a lot of good things going on, but is let down by a bland chorus.  However, FII still has, by my watch, four of their best songs ever in Lines in the Sand, Peruvian Skies, Trial of Tears and Hell's Kitchen.

And call me crazy, but I think Honor Thy Father is one of the better songs on ToT.   Great song to rock out to while driving 70.

[TAC]

Raw Dog is awesome!

[jayvee3]

FII and Scenes in an absolute canter for me. Both in my top 3 albums. I've banged on about it before, but FII is criminally underrated. Many cite a couple of weaker tracks (which every album has) but never mention the quality of New Millenium, Peruvian Skies, Hollow years (Budokan version is next level), Hells Kitchen, Lines (one of my all time faves), TAMP which I really like, Anna Lee which is haunting and the brilliant Trial of tears. That's 8 quality tracks for me, which even with a couple of tracks of lesser quality, is still more tracks than some of their other albums. I actually don't mind You not Me (you or me would have been better) and JLMB either. In any case just an album that I love more than many that has aged particularly well...

SDOIT I really like, but not as much as many here. I really like some stuff, other stuff particularly on disk 2 I'm still a little lukewarm about.

TOT is overrated to me. I like As I Am, Endless Sacrifice and in the Name of God, but the last 2 could definitely have been condensed. Many of the others have some good moments but just amble on too long and I find Stream of Consciousness to be repetitive and probably their least interesting instrumental.

Having said all this, while we like to debate and discuss these things and plead our case for our faves, the band has never bought an album out I flat out don't like, and has bought so much musical joy to these ageing ears over the years...

[TheBarstoolWarrior]

This is a tough one.  For me, Scenes is clearly the best one here, but FII is clearly the weakest.  Going to have go with 6DOIT and TOT, as FII is just too weak compared to those two.

I could see Scenes v. 6DOIT going either way though personally I think 6DOIT just has better stand alone songs.

FII v. ToT makes me hesitate. Hells Kitchen + Lines tops anything on ToT but there are no bad songs on ToT, just unnecessary bloat. Hollow Years is decent and so is Anna Lee. Even Take Away My Pain is decent. However, there are some real duds too.

[TAC]

FII and Scenes in an absolute canter for me. Both in my top 3 albums. I've banged on about it before, but FII is criminally underrated. Many cite a couple of weaker tracks (which every album has) but never mention the quality of New Millenium, Peruvian Skies, Hollow years (Budokan version is next level), Hells Kitchen, Lines (one of my all time faves), TAMP which I really like, Anna Lee which is haunting and the brilliant Trial of tears. That's 8 quality tracks for me, which even with a couple of tracks of lesser quality, is still more tracks than some of their other albums. I actually don't mind You not Me (you or me would have been better) and JLMB either. In any case just an album that I love more than many that has aged particularly well...

My FII only came with three songs..Peruvian Skies, Lines In The Sand, and Trial Of Tears.

The Bukokan version turns Hollow Years from a bottom 15 track into a top 15 track.

[jayvee3]

FII and Scenes in an absolute canter for me. Both in my top 3 albums. I've banged on about it before, but FII is criminally underrated. Many cite a couple of weaker tracks (which every album has) but never mention the quality of New Millenium, Peruvian Skies, Hollow years (Budokan version is next level), Hells Kitchen, Lines (one of my all time faves), TAMP which I really like, Anna Lee which is haunting and the brilliant Trial of tears. That's 8 quality tracks for me, which even with a couple of tracks of lesser quality, is still more tracks than some of their other albums. I actually don't mind You not Me (you or me would have been better) and JLMB either. In any case just an album that I love more than many that has aged particularly well...

My FII only came with three songs..Peruvian Skies, Lines In The Sand, and Trial Of Tears.

The Bukokan version turns Hollow Years from a bottom 15 track into a top 15 track.

Haha, best get on to that mate, surely there is something wrong with the FII you received 

[wolfking]

Option 2.

[Obsidian Pancake]

FII and Scenes in an absolute canter for me. Both in my top 3 albums. I've banged on about it before, but FII is criminally underrated. Many cite a couple of weaker tracks (which every album has) but never mention the quality of New Millenium, Peruvian Skies, Hollow years (Budokan version is next level), Hells Kitchen, Lines (one of my all time faves), TAMP which I really like, Anna Lee which is haunting and the brilliant Trial of tears. That's 8 quality tracks for me, which even with a couple of tracks of lesser quality, is still more tracks than some of their other albums. I actually don't mind You not Me (you or me would have been better) and JLMB either. In any case just an album that I love more than many that has aged particularly well...

My FII only came with three songs..Peruvian Skies, Lines In The Sand, and Trial Of Tears.

The Bukokan version turns Hollow Years from a bottom 15 track into a top 15 track.

I love the sound of the "Trial of Tears" solo and all of the legato and slides. I wish he would explore that sound more. Maybe we'll hear some on the next album!

[pg1067]

Sucks not to get SFAM, but SDOIT is my #3 DT album, and TOT is probably #5.  SFAM is #1, but FII is somewhere in the 11-13 range, so it barely moves the needle. 

[bosk1]

My two favorite albums and two of my least favorite.  Hmm...

Even though SDOIT is my #1, Scenes is right there just behind it.  And I would rather listen to FII than TOT most days, so I'll go with the SFAM/FII combo.

[Kram]

This is a tough one.  For me, Scenes is clearly the best one here, but FII is clearly the weakest.  Going to have go with 6DOIT and TOT, as FII is just too weak compared to those two.

I could see Scenes v. 6DOIT going either way though personally I think 6DOIT just has better stand alone songs.

FII v. ToT makes me hesitate. Hells Kitchen + Lines tops anything on ToT but there are no bad songs on ToT, just unnecessary bloat. Hollow Years is decent and so is Anna Lee. Even Take Away My Pain is decent. However, there are some real duds too.

Hence why I said this is a tough one....wasn't an easy decision for me - but in the end chose option 2.

[TheCountOfNYC]

Scenes From a Memory is my favorite Dream Theater album, but Falling Into Infinity is my LEAST favorite Dream Theater album. With that said, Scenes is also my second favorite album of all time, so my love for it is enough to carry both albums over Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence and Train of Thought.

[Trav]

Option 2. Scenes and SDOIT are a given. I would barely put TOT ahead of FII. The best songs on FII are better than anything on TOT. But, I like all of TOT, and FII is a very peaks and valleys kind of album.

[Fritzinger]

I'll have to go with the first choice here. I love all of these 4 and I'm also a defender (hope this makes sense in English haha) of the criminally underrated FII. But Scenes is just... Scenes. I had to sleep over this poll before voting but ultimately this is the right choice for me 

[Architeuthis]

Six Degrees and ToT by a landslide!   

[erciccio]

For me SFAM>SDOIT>FII=ToT so the 90s win!

[hefdaddy42]

FII & SFAM

[Architeuthis]

Six Degrees and ToT by a landslide!   

Dude, you're crazy!  I mean c'mon man, what the hell?!?!    

[Cavalry of Despair]

Have to go with FII and Scenes. FII and TOT are mixed bags but FII's standout tracks are much more memorable and unique than those of TOT.

[Mladen]

The option that containts my favorite Dream Theater album also contains my least favorite Dream Theater album. So I went with the first two of 00s.

[Architeuthis]

The option that containts my favorite Dream Theater album also contains my least favorite Dream Theater album. So I went with the first two of 00s.

Kind of the same here,  but SFAM is somewhere in the middle for me, whereas FII is my least favorite DT album. So that's why the first of the 00s wins easily.

[Revenge319]

Pretty tricky choice, but I ultimately went with the first two 2000s albums. Train of Thought has my least favorite Dream Theater song (Honor Thy Father), but Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence is not only my favorite Dream Theater album but one of my all-time favorite albums ever. And aside from HTF, TOT is a really enjoyable album otherwise.

[Volante99]

Six Degrees and Trajn of Thought are more consistently good.

But Scenes is arguably the best thing they've ever done-

So tough call

[Cool Chris]

My FII only came with three songs..Peruvian Skies, Lines In The Sand, and Trial Of Tears.

Dang I wish I got that version. Is that Falling into Infinity - Special Edition? Does LitS not have the annoying backing vocals in the chorus?

[Dublagent66]

Pretty tricky choice, but I ultimately went with the first two 2000s albums. Train of Thought has my least favorite Dream Theater song (Honor Thy Father), but Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence is not only my favorite Dream Theater album but one of my all-time favorite albums ever. And aside from HTF, TOT is a really enjoyable album otherwise.

I agree with all of this except HTF.  Interesting choice as a least favorite DT song.  Maybe it's too negative and angry?  Still rocks though...