Last two with Portnoy vs last two with Mangini

[hefdaddy42]

Stunned by how low Transcending Time - my favorite song on the new album - is on most of these lists.

FWIW, it's my favorite on that album as well.

[MirrorMask]

Stunned by how low Transcending Time - my favorite song on the new album - is on most of these lists.

Fantastic song!

[TheOutlawXanadu]

Transcending Time was my favorite song on the album at first. Now, it's still up there but it has some stiff competition. I may actually give Awaken the Master the edge.

I also really warmed up to Invisible Monster. When I first heard it, I thought it was a bit "stock". But when you hear it on a good sound system, it actually really slays.

[Cool Chris]

Being really lazy with this:

ItPoE
Basically all of A View....
TMoLS
Most of DoT
The rest of SC
All of BC&SL
Room 137

[TAC]

Being really lazy with this:

ItPoE
Basically all of A View....
TMoLS
Most of DoT
The rest of SC
All of BC&SL
Room 137

[Zantera]

I voted the last two with Portnoy. For me it's tough those because I have a lot of nostalgia and good memories with SC and BCSL even though I don't particularly like either of them very passionately (they're both fine) - the last 2 Mangini albums by comparison are arguably better from a quality perspective but I kinda care less about them and will probably revisit them less.

[TAC]

1   The Count of Tuscany
2   The Best of Times
3   The Alien
4   In the Presence of Enemies
5   A View from the Top of the World
6   Fall Into the Light
7   At Wit's End
8   The Dark Eternal Night
9   The Ministry of Lost Souls
10   Sleeping Giant
11   Prophets of War
12   S2N
13   Barstool Warrior
14   Transcending Time
15   A Nightmare To Remember
16   Pale Blue Dot
17   Forsaken
18   Awaken The Master
19   Answering the Call
20   A Rite of Passage
21   Invisible Monster
22   Viper King
23   Wither
24   Untethered Angel
25   Constant Motion
26   The Shattered Fortress
27   Paralyzed
28   Room 137
29   Repentance
30   Out of Reach

[Jamesman42]

None of them are top albums. SC was a huge disappointment when it came out, relative to 3 album stretch before it. BCSL was DT getting on the right track.

Best songs from these two albums: TCOT (top 10 song), TSF, Wither, ITPOE, CM, TDEN

The last two MM albums are okay. D/T is serviceable and more listens may prove it's good. But View is just boring.

[Rob24]

SC was a bit weird but I was physically unable to be disappointed after ITPOE. They never reached that level again.

TMOLS also a masterpiece.

[FlashCE]

View is terrible. But Distance Over Time beats both SC and BC&SL.

[TheBarstoolWarrior]

View is terrible. But Distance Over Time beats both SC and BC&SL.

Terrible? Really? That hour or so of music is that bad to you?

[Setlist Scotty]

View is terrible. But Distance Over Time beats both SC and BC&SL.

Terrible? Really? That hour or so of music is that bad to you?

Yeah, not getting that at all either, IMO, it's the best of the MM-era albums, closely followed by d/t.

On topic, while I rate BCaSL fairly highly, SC is much lower, so for the poll I chose the MM pair of albums.

[porcacultor]

It's a tight one for me. Chose the MP pair off the strength of SC, which brought and still brings me so much joy.

BCSL is no slouch either, and neither are d/t or View. Only hiccup for me is Invisible Monster, but all 4 are very respectable endeavors.

[Progmaniac1988]

SC, BCSL all the way for me. Although I liked these last 2 albums quite a bit they both had a handful of forgettable tracks imo. The last 2 Portnoy albums aged VERY well imo, and I love them now more than ever. Plus some straight up classics on those albums.

[El Barto]

The worst two MP albums (and perhaps the worst two in the entire DT catalog) vs. the best MM album and a decent MM album.

Yeah, Portnoy wins for me too. 


Honestly, MP's win on the strength of ItPoE and JP's solo in BoT. In fairness I don't regard AWE and S2N very much behind them, so it actually is pretty close, but ItPoE wins out. Generally the rest of all four albums are distinctly mediocre.

[RaiseTheKnife]

As a pairing, I had to go with SC and BC&SL.  View From the Top is an amazing album but Distance Over Time pulls it below the MP ones.

[lightningbolt]

I voted for SC and BC&SL.  Neither are as good as the top tier DT albums, but both have a number of songs I listen to all of the time (I'm listening to ITPOE as I type this). 

I genuinely enjoy all of the songs on SC, although I listen to Prophets of War and Repentance far less often than the other tracks.  A buddy of mine used to play SC constantly when he and I would play WC3 and other video games, so I think that is partially why I enjoy that album so much.  It was also the first new DT release to come out after I became a fan of the band.  The documentary regarding the recording/development of the album also helped me connect to these songs.

When BC&SL came out, I mostly couldn't stand it - I always enjoyed most of Nightmare though (it did and still does seem several minutes too long).  COT just seemed too bizarre lyrically.  The album finally "clicked" for me years later and COT is now one of my favorite DT songs.  There are still several things about the album that I don't like (mostly related to MP's vocal insertions), but I'm able to overlook those for the most part.  That being said, Best of Times still does nothing for me.  In my previous career, writer's block could be a real issue at times.  So, I very much relate to the lyrics of Wither.

I enjoy DOT well enough, but not like I did when it first came out.  Some of the tracks I originally enjoyed haven't aged well for me (Barstool Warrior & Wit's End) and I never liked S2N or Room 137.  I still very much enjoy Pale Blue Dot and Untethered Angel.

View was a major disappointment when it was released and subsequent listens haven't improved the status of the album.  My first child was born a few weeks before it was released, so I was very excited I'd have a new DT album to dive into when home on paternity leave.  Unfortunately, it just wasn't my cup of tea at all and is currently my least favorite DT album..., even below When Dream and Day Unite.  I tried to listen to it as recently as last week and it didn't do a thing for me.  The epic is just so "blah."  Maybe it will "click" for me one day like BC&SL eventually did.  I haven't given up on it yet.  Seeing how much some of you guys enjoy View makes me question what I'm missing and makes me more willing to give it a chance going forward

[JeopardousRaven]

The epic is just so "blah."  Maybe it will "click" for me one day like BC&SL eventually did.  I haven't given up on it yet.  Seeing how much some of you guys enjoy View makes me question what I'm missing and makes me more willing to give it a chance going forward

View was probably the Dream Theater album that took the longest to grow on me. It's definitely a very dense album and many of the songs, particularly Sleeping Giant and the title track, took more than a few listens to really 'stick' in my brain. Nowadays I rank it as the best of the Mangini-era alongside ADTOE.

[crystalstars17]

Latest two, by a LANDSLIDE. A View (along with its title track) is their crowning achievement to date. And I love Distance Over Time.

I do enjoy BCSL (Wither, TCOT) but SC ranks very low (despite Forsaken and Ministry of Lost Souls). The highs are very high and the lows are abysmally low on these (especially SC).

The newer albums have it. They are consistently good, even stellar (in the case of AVFTTOTW) albums that I want to hear as a whole album, not just a good song here and there.

[lightningbolt]

The epic is just so "blah."  Maybe it will "click" for me one day like BC&SL eventually did.  I haven't given up on it yet.  Seeing how much some of you guys enjoy View makes me question what I'm missing and makes me more willing to give it a chance going forward

View was probably the Dream Theater album that took the longest to grow on me. It's definitely a very dense album and many of the songs, particularly Sleeping Giant and the title track, took more than a few listens to really 'stick' in my brain. Nowadays I rank it as the best of the Mangini-era alongside ADTOE.

Hopefully that will eventually be the case for me.  I didn't enjoy BC&SL until around 2017.  So, it would be par for the course for me with some of DT's material.

[hefdaddy42]

I didn't enjoy BC&SL until around 2017. 

I still don't.

[lightningbolt]

I didn't enjoy BC&SL until around 2017. 

I still don't.

One of my two best friends, the one who got me into DT, still can't stand it.