DreamTheaterForums.org Dream Theater Fan Site
Dream Theater => Dream Theater => Topic started by: npiazza91 on October 22, 2014, 10:23:58 AM
-
So I finally bought FII and have been listening to it for a couple months now. I made my Top 50 songs thread a couple months back, but I said it wasn't final and needed some work. Here's a breakdown of what I think of FII.
New Millenium: This one took a while to grow on me. When I first got the album I used to skip it. The verses were cool but the chorus never stuck with me...at least for a while. Now I think it's a highlight of the album. Great song.
You Not Me: Yeah, it's commercial. Yeah, it's whatever. Honestly, it's not BAD, it's ok I guess. I have nothing against it, it's a catchy rock song that doesn't really do much for me but the chorus is fun to sing along with.
Peruvian Skies: For the first few weeks or so, I kept thinking "why is this song so well liked by DT fans". It felt to me like an "Enter Sandman" rip off (at first) and I used to only listen to about the first 2 minutes or so and get bored. Then finally listened to the whole song and WOW the build up to what happens at the end is awesome. One of the best songs on the album for me now.
Hollow Years: I already knew this song going in. It's one of my favorites on the album. Sure it's commercial, but there's so much emotion in here that hits me.
Burning My Soul: Yeah it's cheesy, but it's not bad for a metal song. It's like TDEN of early DT. It's ok.
Hell's Kitchen: Pretty good instrumental, but I still think TDOE , Erotomania and Enigma Machine are better.
Lines in the Sand: I'm gonna get hate for this, but I find it one of the weakest on the album. The vocals are off here and the traditional DT chorus isn't here. The instrumental sections are cool, but nothing I haven't heard DT do before. I was excited for this one, and I ended up disappointed. It may grow on me still, but right now I don't care for it.
Take Away My Pain: Again, gonna get hate, but this is one of my favorites on the album. It seems like DT did much better here with the ballads. JL's voice in the chorus is so emotional and resonates really well. Amazing song.
Just Let Me Breathe: The worst on the album by far and one of DT's worst of all time. I really don't care for this song at all and have nothing more to say about it.
Anna Lee: Very good ballad and one of my favorites. I like how it slowly builds up throughout the song.
Trial of Tears: Another one that took time to grow, but I like it a lot now. The instrumental section is amazing and I still need to learn some parts. Overall, I like it much better than when I first heard it. I can't get the "it's raining" part out of my head.
Overall, it's a very underrated album and I have it at about 8th or 9th in my DT album rankings. Not the best by far, but definitely not the worst. It's nice to hear DT in a more commercial format and still, there's a lot of great DT to be had here.
-
Lines in the Sand: I'm gonna get hate for this, but I find it one of the weakest on the album. The vocals are off here and the traditional DT chorus isn't here. The instrumental sections are cool, but nothing I haven't heard DT do before. I was excited for this one, and I ended up disappointed. It may grow on me still, but right now I don't care for it.
OY VEY
-
When you say "8th or 9th" do you mean among DT albums, or your ENTIRE collection of music? Either way, congratulations for coming to the realization that it is a MUCH better album than most people on here give it credit for being. Who cares if a song sounds "too commercial?" either it's good and you like it, or it isn't and you don't.
-
Either way, congratulations for coming to the realization that it is a MUCH better album than most people on here give it credit for being. Who cares if a song sounds "too commercial?" either it's good and you like it, or it isn't and you don't.
Similar to the Signals discussion in the Rush Doscog thread, there's a huge difference between living through it at the time, and a newer fan going back through their catalog.
-
The cd contains 2 top ten DT songs for me - Lines in the Sand and Trial of Tears and two other songs that would make my top 25 songs in Peruvian Skies and Hells Kitchen. Plus the sound of this cd is wonderful. Love how you can hear all of the instruments clearly.
-
Get back to listening to LITS! It's a classic! :tup And JLMB too. Very underrated song, and the song that got me into FII.
The more I listen to FII, the more I love it even now, and it's a top 4 DT album for me.
-
When you say "8th or 9th" do you mean among DT albums, or your ENTIRE collection of music? Either way, congratulations for coming to the realization that it is a MUCH better album than most people on here give it credit for being. Who cares if a song sounds "too commercial?" either it's good and you like it, or it isn't and you don't.
I meant 8th or 9th in my DT albums, not of all time. Here's my DT album order in case anyone's interested. It changed a bit in the last few months.
1. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
2. Awake
3. Train of Thought
4. Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From a Memory
5. A Dramatic Turn of Events
6. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
7. Octavarium
8. Falling Into Infinity
9. Dream Theater
10. Images and Words
11. Systematic Chaos
12. When Dream and Day Unite
-
I find it too hard to rank DT albums since SFAM - Octavarium are all pretty much top tier for me.
Also i can never decide whether I prefer Black Clouds or Systematic Chaos.
-
You have I&W too low in the mix. Come on, it isn't JM.
-
You have I&W too low in the mix. Come on, it isn't JM.
I'll make write ups I guess just for the heck of it.
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence: Pretty much perfect from beginning to end. This album is almost entirely comprised of "growers", but the growers are the songs that end up to be the best. Not much to complain about here.
Awake: A couple weak songs near the beginning, but it picks up once "Erotomania" hits and is almost flawless from there on out. I guess you could say "Lie" is a bit weak, but not much to complain about overall.
Train of Thought: 3/7 of these songs are in my top 10, the other 4 are hit and miss. This album is a bit inconsistent for me, but those 3 songs make the album as high as it is.
Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From a Memory: A couple songs I don't care for on here, but really this album works best listened as one full song, so in that respect I have nothing bad to say about it. The story is great, the themes are great. I guess it just doesn't doesn't "wow" me as much as the other 3. But there are still amazing songs on here to be heard.
A Dramatic Turn of Events: I feel like if the guitar had more energy, this album would have been a bit better. Still, BITS, TITL and BAI are the ones that make this album and the other songs aren't bad either. I just wish it had more energy overall.
Black Clouds and Silver Linings: This used to be my favorite album, but I think I overrated it because ANTR is my #1 DT song. To be honest though, the others aren't bad, the album is just very bloated and I can't listen to the songs all the way through besides ANTR, Wither and maybe TCOT.
Octavarium: The title track is my #2 DT song, and Sacrificed Sons is a top 15 songs for me. TROAE is probably a top 30 song, and the others are alright. The second half definitely beats the first half, though. Not a bad album, but mostly hit and miss.
Falling Into Infinity: I covered this in my original post. This almost made #7, but nothing on here even comes close to Octavarium (the song) so this is where it goes. Still an underrated album, though.
Dream Theater: I personally feel like this album was over produced. It doesn't sound authentic to me. Either way, there's some great songs to be had here, but I think IT is overrated and overall, I was a bit disappointed with this album. Not bad, but could have been better.
Images and Words: Yeah, this is going to get hate. Hear me out. The songs themselves aren't bad. However, I am mostly a metal guy. I enjoy ballads as much as the next guy but 9 times out of 10 I prefer a metal song. Early DT just didn't have that metal in them yet. Awake is one of my favorites because it was dark and heavy while still keeping the progressive music. It worked for me. However, that being said, I do enjoy a few of the songs quite a lot and Surrounded is actually in my top 15. Like I said, not bad, but I think it's extremely overrated.
Systematic Chaos: Yeah, this one's weird. For one, it has ITPOE, but that's about all it has going for it. There's some great stuff in here if you dig a little, but overall the album comes across as bloated, uneven, and not knowing the direction it wanted to take. The name of the album fits it well.
When dream and Day Unite: Who knows, this album may be above SC one day, because it gets SLIGHTLY better every time I listen to it. But I'm still not a fan of Dominici's voice. A Fortune in Lies is a great song, though, but the others come across as "just another prog band" and not the DT we all know and love.
-
It's all right. You can rank these albums any way you see fit.
Personally I HATE ranking albums from "BEST to WORST."
Mostly because most of the albums have at least one or two songs that I don't like.
But if I DID rank them I would likely cause a lot of people's HEADS to explode, because "Falling Into Infinity" and Systematic Chaos" would BOTH be in my top FIVE, maybe even my top THREE.
And "When Dream and Day Unite" would ALSO get a higher position than most people would give it.
Again, Maybe top 5 or 3!
-
We have the same top 4! The only difference is that I switch the first two. After that, they are almost complete opposites.
-
I picked it up yesterday, haven't listened to it for a long time.
I remember liking it before, but now i absolutely love it. The whole thing.
Except for Take Away My Pain.
The title of the song itself told what should have been done with it :D
-
... there's a huge difference between living through it at the time, and a newer fan going back through their catalog.
I thought it wasn't good when I bought it when it came out. I can't imagine thinking it was any better if I bought it now.
-
^^^Are you the exact same person you were 17 years ago? If so then you probably still won't like it. But going in with a new perspective, and a lot of time passing can reflect a surprising amount of change. So you're probably not exactly the same as you were 17 years ago? (I don't think many people would be) Then there's always the chance you can hear it with new ears. ;)
Of course, if you heard it back then, you're still carrying all the associations and impressions you had back then. So there's a difference between an old fan re-experiencing it, and an old or new fan discovering it. Still, just wanted to respond to your comment because our perspectives aren't always set in stone. And I could imagine thinking differently about something I hadn't experienced for a long time.
-
holy crap, you're right, it's been 17 years. I can still remember cranking the CD in my dorm room stereo the day I bought it. The groove near the end of New Millennium right before the final chorus shook the cabinets and I"m sure the ones in the rooms next door as well. How is that 17 years ago?? Yeah, I guess I have those positive associations.
Still, for a more concise writing style for many of the songs, it's still a lot better than DT12.
-
You have I&W too low in the mix. Come on, it isn't JM.
Images and Words: Yeah, this is going to get hate. Hear me out. The songs themselves aren't bad. However, I am mostly a metal guy. I enjoy ballads as much as the next guy but 9 times out of 10 I prefer a metal song. Early DT just didn't have that metal in them yet. Awake is one of my favorites because it was dark and heavy while still keeping the progressive music. It worked for me. However, that being said, I do enjoy a few of the songs quite a lot and Surrounded is actually in my top 15. Like I said, not bad, but I think it's extremely overrated.
It might be a matter of perspective because I don't know your age and what other music you listen to, but... at the time that the album was released the majority of those songs were very "metal". The album was a game changer so to speak, and that's probably the reason that it gets so much love from the community. There was prog before that album. There was even progressive metal. But I think it's safe to say that most (if not all) of us had never heard anything like that album before.
-
You have I&W too low in the mix. Come on, it isn't JM.
Images and Words: Yeah, this is going to get hate. Hear me out. The songs themselves aren't bad. However, I am mostly a metal guy. I enjoy ballads as much as the next guy but 9 times out of 10 I prefer a metal song. Early DT just didn't have that metal in them yet. Awake is one of my favorites because it was dark and heavy while still keeping the progressive music. It worked for me. However, that being said, I do enjoy a few of the songs quite a lot and Surrounded is actually in my top 15. Like I said, not bad, but I think it's extremely overrated.
It might be a matter of perspective because I don't know your age and what other music you listen to, but... at the time that the album was released the majority of those songs were very "metal". The album was a game changer so to speak, and that's probably the reason that it gets so much love from the community. There was prog before that album. There was even progressive metal. But I think it's safe to say that most (if not all) of us had never heard anything like that album before.
I'm 23, born in 1991. Yeah, I first got into DT about 3 years ago, so I was very late to the party. I guess the reason why I&W didn't blow me away was because I didn't grow up with it. It was a game changer to you at the time, but now to a relatively new listener, it wasn't a big deal. I mean, it was the first album I heard by them and it got me into DT to keep listening, but it was the more heavy albums like ToT and Awake that really solidified them as an awesome band for me. Still, my favorite band before DT (and still is, but in a different way) was Megadeth, so I've always been a thrash guy from Metallica, Megadeth, Kreator, Testament, even NWOBHM like Maiden and Priest. About 5 years ago, if it was fast and had shredding solos, it was good enough for me (just not metalcore ugh). But DT opened my eyes a bit to some strange fusion I had never heard before. Coming off thrash and heavy metal, I&W was never really going to "wow" me. But I liked it enough to give their other albums a shot. It paid off, since DT is now tied for my favorite band with Megadeth, just in a different way. Like I said, it's still a really good album, just overrated in my opinion.
For the record, I think Countdown to Extinction is insanely overrated and falls in my bottom three for Megadeth albums. Endgame, Peace Sells and Youthanasia are my top three favorites.
-
Trial of Tears still remains my Favorite DT song out of them all. Actually in 2007 there was a special session called in to order where the top three scientists, scholars, philosophers and musicians from all countries met for three days locked away in the 'Chancellor Room' at the Holiday Inn on the outskirts of Fresno.....and after multiple strenuous tests it was concluded that Trial of Tears was the best song ever written.....ever.....by anyone or any band.
-
Either way, congratulations for coming to the realization that it is a MUCH better album than most people on here give it credit for being. Who cares if a song sounds "too commercial?" either it's good and you like it, or it isn't and you don't.
Similar to the Signals discussion in the Rush Doscog thread, there's a huge difference between living through it at the time, and a newer fan going back through their catalog.
There's a Rush Discog thread? Send me a link.
-
Either way, congratulations for coming to the realization that it is a MUCH better album than most people on here give it credit for being. Who cares if a song sounds "too commercial?" either it's good and you like it, or it isn't and you don't.
Similar to the Signals discussion in the Rush Doscog thread, there's a huge difference between living through it at the time, and a newer fan going back through their catalog.
There's a Rush Discog thread? Send me a link.
It's in the General Music Discussion section.
-
It's all right. You can rank these albums any way you see fit.
Personally I HATE ranking albums from "BEST to WORST."
Mostly because most of the albums have at least one or two songs that I don't like.
But if I DID rank them I would likely cause a lot of people's HEADS to explode, because "Falling Into Infinity" and Systematic Chaos" would BOTH be in my top FIVE, maybe even my top THREE.
And "When Dream and Day Unite" would ALSO get a higher position than most people would give it.
Again, Maybe top 5 or 3!
I rank albums based on how many of the songs I actually like. After that, I determine which of those I like the most. For example, I rank FII higher than DT12 because I like most of the songs on FII and none of them are skipable (yeah, even YNM). On the other hand, I only like 3 songs on DT12 and most of everything else is skipable.
-
Trial of Tears still remains my Favorite DT song out of them all. Actually in 2007 there was a special session called in to order where the top three scientists, scholars, philosophers and musicians from all countries met for three days locked away in the 'Chancellor Room' at the Holiday Inn on the outskirts of Fresno.....and after multiple strenuous tests it was concluded that Trial of Tears was the best song ever written.....ever.....by anyone or any band.
Wait...Really?
Not sure if you're joking.
The specifics you provided make it seem like you aren't joking, so apologies in advance if I'm being a naive sucker.
At any rate, I wish I could like this song somehow. Bores me to the gills.
-
We don't joke here at DTF.
-
DTF is serious business.
-
You have I&W too low in the mix. Come on, it isn't JM.
When dream and Day Unite: Who knows, this album may be above SC one day, because it gets SLIGHTLY better every time I listen to it. But I'm still not a fan of Dominici's voice. A Fortune in Lies is a great song, though, but the others come across as "just another prog band" and not the DT we all know and love.
But at the time it didn't sound like "just another prog band". There wasn't much else out there like it in 1989.
-
I just finally listened to this album all the way through recently, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. In my opinion, it's in the top 3 of my favorite Dream Theater albums at the moment.