DreamTheaterForums.org Dream Theater Fan Site
Dream Theater => Dream Theater => Topic started by: ASacrificedSon on January 29, 2016, 08:53:46 AM
-
I just wanted to know your opinion of this album.
For me, it's a meh. Are there anyone who thinks this is the best?
-
I voted second favourite, the song Octavarium itself is my favourite SONG of all time, but The Astonishing just became my favourite ALBUM of all time
-
It's the first Dream Theater album I ever bought and listened to, so it holds a special place for me. Not sure if I'd say it's my favourite, but that keeps changing.
-
I voted second favourite, the song Octavarium itself is my favourite SONG of all time, but The Astonishing just became my favourite ALBUM of all time
Hmm really? Root is the only reason why it's even in my list.
-
I voted second favourite, the song Octavarium itself is my favourite SONG of all time, but The Astonishing just became my favourite ALBUM of all time
Hmm really? Root is the only reason why it's even in my list.
Root is also a fantastic song
-
It's not one of DT's absolute best albums to me, but I still consider it one of DT's great albums, probably the last of their great albums imo. Bottom of the top half of their discography, with everything since being below it.
-
I have the album ranked third behind IaW (second) and SFaM (first). The title track however is my favorite song of all time.
-
Not in the masterpiece class (IaW, Awake, SFAM, SDOIT, TA?), but a great album non the less. The title track is up there in my top 10.
-
I actually never understood why some people don't like it, it's one of my faves
-
Overall, mediocre.
-
Up there.
-
It used to be my favourite, but nowadays i only listen to the title track (wich is the best song of all time). If it wasn't for that final song, i would rank this album the lowest out of all their albums.
-
Love this album, it's my #6 DT album, mainly caused by Sacrificed Sons being one of my favorite DT songs, but I think it's a really solid album overall, title-track is also up there, probably a top 20 song for me.
-
My 5th favorite album. Absolutely love it.
-
We're missing a middle option there. :lol
It's not their best, 2nd best or even one of their best, but it's much better than mediocre. Still one of my least favorites, but still really good.
-
Octavarium is definitely my favourite DT song. I really like the rest of the album too, but it's not as great as SFAM or IaW
-
Personally I think they spent some time on the title track but really mailed in the rest. Dream Theater at its least inspired.
Its been a steady improvement with each ensuing album though leading the awesomeness of the Astonishing.
Octavarium<Systematic Chaos<BC&SL<ADTOE<DT<The Astonishing
-
In my rankings, Octavarium sits somewhere in the middle, but in my ratings, I'd grade it relatively well. Good album.
-
My #1 Dream Theater album at the moment.
Astonishing may overtake it in the long run.
-
It's up there!
Six degrees is my fave. at the moment, the Scenes, but the title track Octavarium is in my top 5 DT Tracks of all time.
-
We're missing a middle option there. :lol
It's not their best, 2nd best or even one of their best, but it's much better than mediocre.
This guy gets it.
-
I think it is a good album. However, since DT has made quite some albums I love it is not "up there", but still very far from being mediocre. Sooo, I didn't vote ;)
-
This was the first album going backwards from release order that I found to have 'filler', or should I call them skippable tracks as they're obviously not filler in the context of the 'Octavarium' concept (the whole octave thing I think is fantastic). But yeah, at least 2-3 songs I genuinely didn't like (These Walls and I Walk Beside You come to mind), eventually these tracks grew but I didn't find an album more inconsistent until FII.
That being said, I still listen to it as a full album and I now love TROAE, TALW, NE and PA, and the title track is pretty cool if not a bit of slow start. I can't even think of the track I haven't mentioned, and just went to check on my phone and turns out that was the album I deleted recently to make more space for TA. :biggrin:
EDIT: Oh yeah Sacrificed Sons. I do kind of like this now actually, but it was one of those songs I only liked 'bits' of so felt like a chore to get through the rest of it. So I guess it's a tad forgettable with some memorable parts (bridge section, third verse standout).
-
Recently listened to Octavarium a couple more times, and it's actually quite the visceral experience when listening to it from beginning to end. The build up and payoff are amazing. Even though not every song is particularly amazing, I never get tired of listening to this one.
It used to be very low-mid for me when ranking all the albums, but I'd put it in my top 6-7.
-
I think if the penultimate mini-epic had been a lot better, the album as a whole would be a lot better, but Sacrificed Sons kind of drags it down at the point when it should be building towards the epic closer. SS isn't a bad song, but it's just kind of there.
-
I'm honestly not too keen on the album itself but the song is so fucking amazingly incredible and emotional and badass that it puts the album itself up there with my favorites. The only other song that has given me dem feels like Octa is ACoS.
-
Only the second half of the title track is any good, really
-
Only the second half of the title track is any good, really
Not Root?
-
I love it all. < of the title track.
-
I have said many times that The Root of All Evil is one of my all-time favorite songs. Period. I also really like Sacrificed Sons and These Walls. Panic Attack is pretty okay too.
But...
I don't rate the title track NEARLY as high as most of you seem to. I don't HATE it, and I especially like the second half, but the first half should be half as long and twice as fast. It's too slow, and REALLY drags the song DOWN.
I agree with what KevSchmev said about how there should be an option IN-BETWEEN "It's up there" and "mediocre."
If I knew someone who had never HEARD of DT but otherwise liked the same kind of prog and metal that I do, TRoE is probably the song I would use to INTRODUCE them to the band.
-
My favorite album has to be Octavarium- it's the perfect mix that I would want from a Dream Theater album; it has great riffs, melodies, harmonies, long songs, short songs, an epic, metal, ballads,prog and a great concept to tie it all together. And the production is perfect too. :o :o :justjen
:hefdaddy :hefdaddy(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/96/Dream_Theater_-_Octavarium.jpg)
-
Only the second half of the title track is any good, really
Not Root?
No, to be honest
-
Middle, I'd say. Some incredible stuff, lot of good stuff, little bit of fairly unimpressive stuff. Overall, really solid album, just not quite good enough to be in the upper pantheon.
Probably my favorite DT album cover, though, apart from SDOIT. Pretty simple, but still very striking.
-
I don't rate the title track NEARLY as high as most of you seem to. I don't HATE it, and I especially like the second half, but the first half should be half as long and twice as fast. It's too slow, and REALLY drags the song DOWN.
These are my thoughts to a tee. Love the outro and the second half build up, but the first half just drags a bit for my liking. People may think it's blasphemous to say, but I far prefer Illumination Theory.
Overall, I put middle, although it technically could be a touch lower in my book. Many songs seem to have good parts, but lose some steam. I do like Sacrificed Sons tho, a little underrated IMO. Of course this is in relation to other DT work - i'd take it any day over 95% of the shit I have to endure at work on a daily basis. But it's just not an album that gives me a great desire to hear it that often. The 5/8 stuff is nice, but I agree some of the songs feel like filler. IWBY was great on Score though.
-
Are you telling me there's a whole album named Octavarium and it's not just a song?
-
With a song like Octavarium, the album would be a masterpiece even if the rest of the tracks were NOMAC noise.
-
It used to be "up there", but honestly the past 3 albums occupied my top 5 list along with I&W and SFAM. So I suppose 8VM is currently just in the "middle" for me, as the 6th album from the top?
I'll vote for "up there", just because benefit of the doubt. I really do love this album.
-
Why did you change the poll option names after some of the people had already voted on it? :lol
-
I voted middle, but I really love the album and I return to it once every few months. What makes the album special is the increased focus on more conventional, sometimes poprock / Beatlesque songwriting. I dig that. Back in 2005 I was disappointed they weren't as heavy as Train of Thought anymore, but now I can appreciate DT not making the same record twice. That said, the album's still fairly heavy in places. It's also one of the last albums with what I consider to be good production. Love MP's natural-sounding drum kit on this album.
The Root of All Evil
Is one of my favorite rockers from the band and also my 2nd favorite AA-suite track. I wouldn't change a thing about it. 10/10
The Answer Lies Within
Has its place within the DT discography, including a pretty good performance on SCORE. The melody of the string quartet is very beautiful. JLB's vocal performance is sympathetic but also somewhat awkward in the beginning of the song. Not his strongest genre to sing I guess. 6.5/10
These Walls
DT emulating the Linkin Park nu-metal sound. On paper, that seems horrible, but what a great song. The chorus is excellent, I love the atmosphere in the verses and what an amazing drum performance by MP. The lyrics are pretty relatable for many people I guess, but maybe it could've been a bit less obvious here and there. Love the restrained, soulful JP solo, and the outro just rocks. 9/10
I Walk Beside You
Sounds like U2, and I'm not that big on U2. But still, pretty good song. I warmed up to it especially because of its prominent spot on the SCORE DVD. The bridge is really what drives the song home. Just classic songwriting. People often accuse DT of being virtuosic instrumental wankers, but this is just a very well-written and well-performed poprock song. Not what gets my blood pumping, but I don't see many things wrong with this track. 7.5/10
Panic Attack
Ballsy track, fast, energetic. Love how nasty MP's drums and JM's bass sound together here. Love JR's orchestrations on the track, great use of piano too. The Muse-inspired bridge is actually pretty good. Too bad the manic instrumental part just doesn't really deliver the goods, but the subsequent unison section makes things alright again. 8/10
Never Enough
Maybe one Muse-influenced track had been enough. The riff is rocking, but the chorus feels very drawn out for the sake of delivering the entire lyric. Not bad, but not very good either. 6/10.
Sacrificed Sons
Definitely not one of their most 'fun' tracks. It's a bit heavy on the heart and takes quite a lot of patience before it finally kicks into full gear. The vocal melodies work on my nerves a bit, but the instrumental section and especially that verse with Petrucci's staccato riff rock. 7.5/10
Octavarium
The best song on the record, and one of DT's greatest achievements overall. 24 minutes is a long time, but how the band builds up the intensity over these 24 minutes is pure musical and conceptual genius. It takes me somewhere, that's for sure. 10/10
-
Middle for me. First DT album I began to skip tracks on. The title track is awesome, but the rest is hit or miss for me. And I know I'm gonna be flamed for this, but I don't like These Walls at all.
B.Lee
-
Wonderful album, among their very best.
The heavy songs are great, and in a style that suits them, not too exagerated on the chugga chugga grrrr side of things, the mellow songs are convincing as well, the instrumental wankery is kept to a minimum and Octavarium is a monster of a song and one of their absolute masterpieces.
It's not without faults, Never Enough is really too much Muse-ish to try to forget about it, and Sacrificed Sons has an instrumental section that goes on far too long and far too distant from the mood the music did set, but when you get to the end of the album and there's that majestically wonderful Petrucci solo... whoah, goosebumps. Which I actually had at the live shows, hearing the ending of Octavarium live was one of my most fulfilling experiences at a live show, I'll never forget those moments.
Also, hurray for These Walls (one of their best concise songs they've ever written!) and I Walk Beside You (Should have been a breakaway hit, this is the arena anthem Petrucci wanted The Looking Glass to be) !
-
I've been shitting on octavarium the album since it came out. However I just listened to it again and it's actually pretty good. It's still one of my least favorite dream theater albums but I don't think these guys are capable of making a bad album.
Even dream theaters worst is better than most. I still rank it at the bottom with sc and ADTOE but it provides an enjoyable listening experience nonetheless.
What this proves to me is that dream theater is just amazing. The astonishing continues to floor me and is a definite dt Classic, the first since sdoit in my opinion
-
I find Octavarium to be mediocre. If not for the title track, it would definitely rank near the bottom of their discography for me.
-
Even dream theaters worst is better than most. I still rank it at the bottom with sc and ADTOE but it provides an enjoyable listening experience nonetheless.
Just for curiosity, why do you dislike Octavarium AND Systematic Chaos? one is very melodic and light, the other is very dark and heavy, one would assume that two albums so different would not be rated the same, be it good or, in your case, bad.
-
Honestly Octavarium rubbed me the wrong way immeditately. I don't like the production, its not typical slicked up DT production although I am not an engineer so I will struggle to explain why I don't like the production. I honestly even went back to the record store to see if I had a broken copy! This is not a joke, sounds pathetic in hindsight haha.
While songs like "I walk beside you" and "Never Enough" are decent tracks, they are just so derivative (U2, Muse) and I don't like those bands
While it may be lighter than TOT or SC it does not sound like progressive rock to me at all. The bands that influenced them on albums like I&W, SFAM, SDOIT were early 70's prog bands combined with 80's metal. Octavarium all sounds very modern to me so its just not my thing.
The title track is good and I listen to that quite a bit but even the first half just kind of plods along and doesn't seem to have the power or vision of a song like Change of Seasons.
Anyways, I hope that at least provides some reasons as to why I don't like it. I don't think its a bad album and like I said I actually just enjoyed it today. Its just not my style and personally doesn't represent the things I love about the band.
-
Yeah, I can see why someone would not like Octavarium... I'm just glad I totally do! :biggrin:
About the "derivative" songs I can enjoy I Walk Beside You for what it is, as I said it's kinda hard instead to forget about Muse when listening to Never Enough. A pity 'cause it's a song I actually enjoy, but imagine that Muse start doing bad albums and fade out of relevance, going back to Octavarium people will listen to this song and think "Meh, they copied a band that lasted 10 years or less".
-
Definitely one of their best for me probably top 3 and at least top 4. The only song I ever had any issue with was "I Walk Beside You" and I've kind of grown to that one over time. Among their best IMO.
-
Besides the great music on this CD, except for Never Enough, everything that went into the making of it was brilliant. The way everything lines up, including the multitude of nuggets hidden throughout the music and lyrics, really makes this an unbelievable piece of work. There are probably a few nuggets we've yet to discover.
-
I'm in love with the mix of this album and the last 2 songs blow me away.
-
Itīs not my favorite album, but its a great one, TROAE rocks :metal
-
Besides the great music on this CD, except for Never Enough, everything that went into the making of it was brilliant. The way everything lines up, including the multitude of nuggets hidden throughout the music and lyrics, really makes this an unbelievable piece of work. There are probably a few nuggets we've yet to discover.
I actually really dig Never Enough. The riff is drop D tough! Sacrificed Son's is the weak point on the album for me..
-
Sacrificed Son's is the weak point on the album for me..
:omg: :omg: :omg:
-
Every time I start listening to I Walk Beside You, I think to myself "Hey this sounds good" then the chorus comes and I nope out of there.
Strangely those are pretty much the same feelings I have for Our New World.
-
Besides the great music on this CD, except for Never Enough, everything that went into the making of it was brilliant. The way everything lines up, including the multitude of nuggets hidden throughout the music and lyrics, really makes this an unbelievable piece of work. There are probably a few nuggets we've yet to discover.
I actually really dig Never Enough. The riff is drop D tough! Sacrificed Son's is the weak point on the album for me..
The beginning of Sacrificed Sons drags for a bit, but once the riffs come in it becomes one of the best songs on the album.
-
The beginning of Sacrificed Sons drags for a bit, but once the riffs come in it becomes one of the best songs on the album.
This. I don't quite enjoy the slow section, but it's my favourite song from the album, and I have fun playing the guitar riffs after the 2nd chorus and up to the end.
Besides the great music on this CD, except for Never Enough, everything that went into the making of it was brilliant. The way everything lines up, including the multitude of nuggets hidden throughout the music and lyrics, really makes this an unbelievable piece of work. There are probably a few nuggets we've yet to discover.
Also this.