DT's First Five VS Second Five VS Third Five Album Groups

[The Letter M]

Now that we have 15 albums from the band, which group of five albums do you like more? The first five released before the turn of the century, the middle five released in the 2000s, or the five released with Mangini?

And since everyone here is also into ranking things, how would you rank these groups?

Personally speaking, I think the middle five might be my favorite, as much as I love IAW and SFAM, SDOIT and Octavarium are two of my favorites and that period is where I came to discover the band, but the first five would probably be very close behind it. That, of course, isn't to crap on the Mangini albums, as much as I've really liked AVFTTOTW so far, and really enjoyed DOT and ADTOE, but some of DT12 and The Astonishing bring the group down a bit (in more ways than WDADU/FII do for the first five, or SC/BC&SL do for the middle five).

So I'd rank them as:
Second Five
First Five
.
.
.
Third Five

-Marc.

[Revenge319]

I vote for their second group of five, easily. SDOIT, Octavarium, and BC&SL are all top-tier albums, and while I'd rank TOT and SC in the lower-middle of my album rankings, they still mostly consist of really great songs.
Second place goes to the third group of five. DT12 is kind of inconsistent in quality, and I still need more time with AVFTTOTW, but I think the other three albums are really good.
Then last place goes to the first group of five. Lots of great material across all of their first five albums, but aside from Metropolis Part 2, there are one or two songs on all the first four albums that I might be a bit tempted to skip sometimes when listening to the whole thing.

[TheCountOfNYC]

The middle five has my two favorite Dream Theater albums so very easy choice for me.

[Kotowboy]

#2 has two of my least faves in Systematic and Black Clouds but it also has three of my faves so it's a tricky one.

[Elite]

Any group that has I&W, Awake & SFAM can't be beaten

[Kotowboy]

Unless you dont like the first 2 albums

[Elite]

Should I have written 'in my opinion' there then?

[Kotowboy]

nope 

[UndercoverMyung]

I voted 3rd five. The first 5 have some of my favorite DT albums of all time, but I dislike WDADU and FII. I dislike most of the 2nd five to be honest. I voted for the 3rd five because I love 4 of them, and even though I don't love The Astonishing, I don't hate it either. So the 3rd five is the era I most consistently enjoy.

[wolfking]

Went first 5, but thinking I should have gone with the second 5.

[javidt]

SDOIT is my favourite album along SFAM, but I can't stand SC and BC&SL is pretty weak.

So, it's first five for me: WDADU is a special album, very different from the rest and FII has LITS and TOT. Awake, I&W and SFAM are classic DT sound.

[lovethedrake]

First five will win in a landslide if enough people vote.

It has 3 of their top 4 albums by most people.

I would rank them

1st five

2nd five

3rd five

[pg1067]

Any group that has I&W, Awake & SFAM can't be beaten

Pretty much (even thought that same group also has FII).

Also, it's way too early to consider the new one.

Group 2 started strong, but it's weighed down by two bottom four albums, and Group 3 has TA.

[krands85]

Has to be the first five really, as it has two of my 'big 4' DT albums in I&W and SFAM.

But looking at the albums laid out like that makes me realise that the Mangini albums are probably the most consistent to me. It only has one of my lower tier DT albums in DT12, whereas the other two groups have two each. If the new album continues to grow on me, I think I'll have the third five comfortably in 2nd place.

[TheBarstoolWarrior]

The third 5 has the most consistent song quality so I went with that despite the fact that the best album by a mile is I&W.

[Trav]

First five will win in a landslide if enough people vote.

It has 3 of their top 4 albums by most people.

I would rank them

1st five

2nd five

3rd five

This. I&W, Awake and SFAM would be my top three, so it wins. SDOIT is fourth. But all of the Mangini albums are top 10. (Haven't ranked A View yet) And SC and BCSL are bottom two.

[KevShmev]

First grouping for me, by a lot.  It has my top 3 DT albums, my 6th favorite (FII), and a good debut (warts and all).

The 2nd vs the 3rd groupings would be tough.  It will probably depend on how much I end up liking the new record.  The 2nd grouping has my bottom two DT albums (Systematic Chaos and Black Clouds & Silver Linings), but also has my favorite of the 10 (6DOIT).  The consistency of the Mangini era has been pretty nice, though. 

[Peter Mc]

It's the first 5 all day long but I would pick the Mangini era over the 2nd 5 ones.

[Max Kuehnau]

Third five all the way (despite D/T), thanks AVFTTOTW.

[JediKnight1969]

Any group that has I&W, Awake & SFAM can't be beaten

Agree.

[Kram]

It's the first 5 all day long but I would pick the Mangini era over the 2nd 5 ones.

This sums it up for me perfectly.

[TAC]

It's the first 5 all day long but I would pick the Mangini era over the 2nd 5 ones.

This sums it up for me perfectly.

Same here.

[DTiwbwMP]

First Five
Second Five
Third Five

[ThatOneGuy2112]

.

[Dedalus]

It's the first 5 all day long but I would pick the Mangini era over the 2nd 5 ones.

This sums it up for me perfectly.

Same here.

This.

The 2nd 5 = 1 excelent + 1 meh + 3 bad

[erwinrafael]

I am in the minority 3rd 5 group. hehehe

[jayvee3]

First group comfortably for me, then the third group - again, equally as comfortable over the second group.

[MarkFitDT]

Group 1 - Group 3 - Group 2. SC and BCASL are their weakest 2 albums by a mile imo which drag Group 2 down.

[Wim Kruithof]

This is a tough one for me. I do know that the first five would be my least pick, but the second and third five are close, in my opinion. There's so much to enjoy in all and it depends on so many different factors, that it's hard to choose one another. And whenever I deside a ranking, reading it a while later, it all can be changed already.

[erciccio]

WDADU   7
I&W   10
Awake   9
FII   6
SFAM   9
   
SDOIT   8
TOT   6
OCTAVARIUM   6
SC   5
BCSL   6
   
ADTOE   8
DT12   7
TA   8
D/T   6
AVFTTOTW   6
   
Group 1   41
Group 2   31
Group 3   35

[Lonk]

Very close to this one.

https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=56784.0

[TheCountOfNYC]

The middle five has my two favorite Dream Theater albums so very easy choice for me.

So for some reason I miscounted and put SFaM in the second group. I'm a dumb. My vote actually goes to the first group because that's where my favorite DT album is.

[ReaPsTA]

Obvious result is obvious. More interesting poll would be second vs. third five.

Funny how the eras line up so cleanly. Classic Period/JR & latter MP era/MM era

[Dedalus]

Obvious result is obvious. More interesting poll would be second vs. third five.

Funny how the eras line up so cleanly. Classic Period/JR & latter MP era/MM era

This.

[hefdaddy42]

First Five without a thought, it contains my top 3 albums.