Octavarium is my number two, but many days it could just as easily be number one.
Talk about a 'grower'!!!
I enjoyed this album when it first came out, but it didn't necessarily 'wow' me in the way that TOT did. All these years later, it remains one of the only DT albums that I am still actively listening to on a routine basis.
In retrospect, I think it's more about me growing into this album.
Over the years, the lyrical content has continued to resonate with me in different ways. And now, at soon-to-be-42, I am still finding new ways to appreciate what is the band's best lyrical outing (for me, at least—yes, that includes 'Never Enough')
Musically, this album felt similar to FII in that it contrasts with darkness and heaviness of its predecessor. I appreciate the mixture of shorter songs and epics. I also like the mix and production overall in that it feels completely different from the rest of their catalog (again, like FII).
James sounds fantastic, JP mostly plays in the pocket (for probably the last time), Jordan elevates everything and JM and MP sound great as well.
Above all else, however, is the way I feel when I listen to this record. At this point, I've realistically listened to 8VM a couple hundred times (maybe a bit less, but somewhere around there). The fact that each subsequent listen still manages to practically reduce me to tears at points is a testament to both the record and my attachment to it.
On a previous thread I spoke about how I viewed Score as the peak of DT's abilities, and this record benefits from said peak in so many ways.
I'm not surprised by anything I've read thusfar—DT has a large, varied body of work that has inspired multiple generations of fans. If anything, the diversity of opinions throughout this countdown speaks to the band's incredibly consistent output over the past thirty-five years.