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Dream Theater => Dream Theater => Topic started by: npiazza91 on December 14, 2018, 07:11:31 PM
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I started listening to DT a lot again lately after a really bad breakup (we're both in our mid 20s, I was close friends with her for two years, we had the greatest connection, nothing even slightly romantic between us, then one night something "happened", we lasted for three months before we self imploded. It might not sound like a big deal because "only 3 months", but you might as well say it was a two year relationship because I lost so much more than romance when we broke up, I didn't think my heart was going to survive it, I'm still not sure if it did). Dream Theater is such good therapy you have no idea, it's helped me so much. Anyway, after listening to pretty much all their albums and songs again I decided to think about how I would rank them, since they are all fresh in my mind. Keep in mind that my list is entirely subjective and will differ from yours. In fact, I hope our lists are as different as possible so we can get some good discussions going. So without further ado, here we go.
13. The Astonishing- The only DT album that I actively have no interest to listen to anymore. It's way too long, it's bloated, and it's so pretentious that it comes off as cheesy and makes me wanna roll my eyes. And worst of all, it's just boring. Dream Theater is so good at writing deep, emotional and intellectual songs that really resonate with you, so the story on this album just doesn't pull me in at all. There's a few tracks I like on here but the package as a whole is a stinker. The Gift of Music is the only song I go back to, it's a pretty good song.
12. When Dream and Day Unite- Dare I call this album...underrated? It's not great by any means, but it's good for a debut and pretty decent overall. This is an album that, in my opinion, is held back by Charlie Dominici's vocals. He just doesn't have the charisma or the passion that James Labrie has in my opinion, and his vocals sound too echoey and tinny, almost like he's in a tunnel far away. Vocals aside, it's clear that Dream Theater hadn't fully come into their own yet. The songs are solid, but they lack the tight writing and tight playing of what comes after. As a prog rock album, it's pretty good, it's just that Dream Theater hits such a high standard after it that it's hard to appreciate their "ok" debut album. For those of you that hate it, go back and give it a listen, it's really not that bad. A Fortune in Lies is king here in my opinion, great song, and The Ytse Jam is a great instrumental. The rest of the album is ok, but nothing else really stands out to me too much.
11. Systematic Chaos- A dark album that seems to lack a lot of focus and direction. This is an album that I do enjoy in short bursts, but it's hard for me to keep my attention throughout the whole thing. There's a few great songs on here, but there's also some weak stuff, and with not too many tracks on the album to begin with, the weak tracks really do hold it back. This album has always sounded muddy to me, as if it's moving in slow motion the entire time. I don't know, this one's not bad, but it's one of them that I go back to the least. It just doesn't have that signature Dream Theater charm to it. Constant Motion is my personal favorite song on this album, it sounds like Metallica and I love Metallica. Plus that solo is amazing. Forsaken is another standout. Kind of cheesy with the lyrics, but I love the piano and James sounds great here. Plus that second verse is just kickass. In the Presence of Enemies can be a bit long winded at times, but overall it's a pretty good epic. The rest of the songs are just ok to me.
10. Images and Word- Ok guys, let the flaming begin. Yes, I have Images and Words at number 10 in my ranking. Here's the thing. From a musical standpoint, this album is written extremely well. Musically, it's a near perfect album from beginning to end. But do I enjoy going back and listening to it? Yes, but not nearly as much as some of the other ones. The tone on this album is extremely light. It has a very 80s sort of synth sound to it, from the way the instruments sound to the way Labrie sings the lyrics. Half of this album I like a lot and I do go back and listen to, but the other half is kind of "meh" to me, and doesn't really do much for me. Overall, it's really the lighthearted tone of this album that doesn't do it for me. I'm a metal guy, I like my heavy tracks to be dark and heavy. I love ballads too though and thankfully the ballds on this album are standouts and it's one part that this album gets really right for me. A heavy song like Take the Time...yeah it's heavy, but it just sounds so fun and upbeat, and that has to do with the lighthearted sound of the instruments. This album is a but too Rush-esque, it lacks that ambient atmosphere that Dream Theater does so well. I like Rush, but they're not my first choice when I wanna listen to music. And yes, Metropolis is the most overrated Dream Theater song of all time. I agree 100% with Lost in Vegas' review, go watch their reaction, they say it better than I could. The song just doesn't work for me at all. Surrounded is a top tier Dream Theater song to me. It's the best way you can write a simple song in my opinion. It's so simple, yet so effective, and it I really do love the solo and how fast it is. Also James hits some insanely high notes and sounds great here. Another Day is one of James' best vocal performances ever. This song is emotional, sounds beautiful and really takes you on a journey. Take the Time is a great song. Yeah I wish it had a darker tone, but it's still a great tune and a lot of fun. Under a Glass Moon is another great track that has an awesome groove. The rest of the album is kind of "meh" to me. Pull me Under is boring and generic, Learning to Live feels like it's 30 minutes long despite being 11 minutes, and Wait For Sleep is forgettable. Overall, I do like this album, but I respect it much more than I actually enjoy it. It just doesn't "click" with me all that much. In my opinion, Dream Theater is at their best when they're dark, heavy, emotional, and deep.
9. Dream Theater- It was tough deciding between this one and Images and Words. But in the end I went with this album as an album that I enjoy more. The songwriting on here is...not the greatest. It's not terrible, but it's rather formulaic and a bit bland at times. However, I really like the darker atmospheric tone on this album, and there's a few tracks on here that are just outstanding in my opinion. Yeah there's some filler stuff there in the middle and overall the album doesn't really work as a whole package, but the tracks I do like a lot, I REALLY like a lot, so that's why it beat out Images and Words for me. The Bigger Picture was an instant classic for me. I love how the keyboard and guitar work together to make a sound that's both emotional and really heavy, love the atmopshere there. The verses are beautiful and the chorus is catchy as hell. Behind the Veil just sounds like Megadeth and Megadeth is my favorite band of all time. Plus the chorus is so catchy. The Looking Glass is a darker, heavier version of Limelight, and honestly it's catchier too. So it makes an already great song even better (though sorry Mangini, you can't beat Peart). The Enemy Inside is pretty standard, but I love the main riff and the chorus is really catchy, so I enjoy going back to this one. The rest of the album is pretty much filler to me, with some good moments, but also some "meh" moments. Illumination Theory is a waste of time in my opinion.
8. Falling Into Infinity- The most underrated Dream Theater album ever. I get why people have problems with this album, but if you look at it as something really unique in the band's lineup, and kind of just listen to it for what it is, it's a really good album. Yes there's some filler on here, but the highs are REALLY high for me. I'm not at all a fan of the poppy sounding production, but it is what it is. It doesn't ruin the album for me. Peruvian Skies might be a top 10 Dream Theater song for me. It's just so good. It has everything. Slow, dark first half, and a kickass thrashy sounding second half. The riffs in this song are some of the heaviest they've ever done, this song makes me feel like a complete badass. Hollow Years is a beautiful little ballad that really makes you feel good. I've always connected with that song. Anna Lee is in the same ballpark, but I really don't like when James sings high here in the second half of the song, I don't think he sounds good at all. But this was the first album where his voice got messed up, so I get it. Take Away My Pain is great as well. All three of these songs pretty much have the same effect on me, they're all emotional and sound good, I just prefer Hollow Years the most out of the three. New Millenium is a weird song at first, it has a very odd flow to it, but it grows on you, and I find it interesting because it's so unique sounding. Has a grunge feel to it too, which is cool. The rest of the album has a few decent spots, Burning My Soul isn't too bad. But I'm not a fan of the two epics on here, they sound awkward to me and never stuck with me. I can listen to Lines in the Sand 100 times and never remember how the song goes. Trail of Tears is better...but still not that great to me. Overall a bit of a mixed bag, but the highs are really high for me.
7. Octavarium- A very "middle of the road" album. It's got some really high highs, but also some filler there too. The production here is solid and the I think album does a good job at having a mix of softer songs and heavier songs. The title track is one of their best songs, easily, I don't even have to comment on that one. The Root of All Evil is a personal favorite of mine, it's just so damn good. So dark, so heavy, and James sounds great here. Panic Attack is a classic, not much to say there. It captures the feeling of anxiety perfectly. Sacrificed Sons is so underrated. It's a slow build up at first, but once it gets there you realize how much of a great song it is. I LOVE that last verse, and the chorus is really emotional, it's just a great song. I Walk Beside You is a very catchy song. The other three songs are decent, but not ones I go back to that much really. A very solid album, I want to call it a great album, but I think it falls JUST SHORT of greatness.
6. A Dramatic Turn of Events- The one issue I have with this album is the guitar tone. It sounds a bit dry to me, like it just needs a LITTLE BIT more oomph to make it sound really awesome. That being said, this is a great album. Lost Not Forgotten and Far From Heaven are really the only two tracks that I don't care for too much. The rest ranges from absolutely amazing to great. All three mini epics I can listen to from beginning to end and love every minute of them (maybe not the first minute of Bridges in the Sky lol), and the other two ballads on here hit me emotionally more than pretty much any other Dream Theater song, I can get lost in those songs and just feel the moment (Beneath the Surface and This is the Life helped me so much with my breakup it's not even funny). I hate putting this album in this spot, because it really is a great album. I just feel like it's slightly bloated at times, and that dry guitar tone on the heavier tracks...it bothers me slightly.
5. Metropolis Pr. 2: Scenes From a Memory- This is an album that I really do love, but it's also an album that I have to be in the mood for. It's a very deep album, and it's very story driven, so if I'm not in that specific state of mind I won't come back to this one as much. That being said, it's still a phenomenally written album. Fatal Tragedy is an absolute classic, so well written, so good. Strange Dejavu is a lot of fun and James sounds great on that one. Finally Free is a fantastic album closer. One Last Time is very underrated, and while it's not an epic song, James is at his best here post food poisoning. Home is great, Through Her Eyes is great, and who can forget The Dance Of Eternity? The rest of the album is still really good. Honestly, there's not a weak track on here. Every song ranges from good to incredible. It's just an album that I don't go back to as much as the four above it.
4. Black Clouds and Silver Linings- Man, this is such an amazing album. I really wanted to put this at number 3, but after thinking about it for so long, I decided against it. As amazing as this album is, it's just soooooo long winded, and it's hard for me to get through at times. That's why even though I had trouble deciding how to order numbers 2-4 on my list, I ended up putting this one at number 4. I'm just gonna say right now, there isn't a bad song on here. I guess the weakest might be The Shattered Fortress, but I even enjoy that one from time to time. The other five songs range from great to phenomenal. A Nightmare to Remember is one of my favorite Dream Theater songs of all time. A Rite of Passage is so good, so heavy, so catchy, and that breakdown thrash riff is so badass. Plus I love the solo section. I just love that song. Wither is just great, nothing outstanding about it, but nothing bad about it at all. I relate a lot to The Best of Times, seeing as how much my life has changed since I was a kid, and what I wouldn't give to be a kid again and have that innocence. Even though it's about Portnoy's father, I still relate to the "amazing moments I will never get back" aspect to it. Even though my dad didn't die, I still relate a lot to that song, and it's just such a beautiful song from beginning to end. The Count of Tuscany is really long winded, but it's still a great tune. So yeah...amazing album.
3. Awake- This album ALMOST made it to fourth place, but I decided to put it at third place instead. The reason why I was struggling with where to put this album is because I really don't like the first two songs at all. 6:00 is one of the worst Dream Theater songs in their discography, and Caught in a Web is generic and boring. That being said, can we all just take a moment to appreciate how good the atmosphere is on this album? This album is so dark sounding, it's incredible how they were able to achieve that sound, especially coming right off of Images and Words, because the two next to each other is literally like night and day. But it's not a dirty or harsh kind of dark, it's a beautiful, emotional kind of dark. Even songs like Lie or Lifting Shadows off a Dream...they're good but not great, but the atmosphere just carries them so well and makes them better than they should be. The main reason why this album is so high is because of the trifecta of greatness which is Voices, The Mirror and Scarred. Wow, just wow. Three songs that are so incredible that I'm almost sure they'd all make my top 10. From the vocals to the lyrics to the riffs, they're just really amazing. They're amazing songs already, but the atmosphere of the album just brings them up to God tier levels. Innocence Faded is a fun song (and a great example of a song that would have been "meh" on Images and Words, but because of the atmosphere becomes really good here), Erotomania is a ton of fun, The Silent Man is so calming and relaxing, and I've always had a special place in my heart for Space-Dye Vest. It can be a little boring, and I almost never listen to it all the way through, but I still really like that song a lot. The vibe in that song is just great. So yeah if you go song by song, this album actually has more flaws than a few of the albums below it. Other than the three songs I mentioned, another reason why this album is up so high for me is the atmosphere. It makes the songs that I don't like as much actually become enjoyable to listen to, and it brings the amazing songs up even higher. Sadly, it can't save 6:00 or Caught in a Web. Especially 6:00. God I hate that song.
2. Train of Thought- Now we're at the top two. Quite honestly, my number 1 pick was very easy for me, it wasn't even close. However, from spots 2-4, the albums were pretty close for me and I had a hard time choosing the order that I wanted to go with them. Train of Thought is Dream Theater's heaviest album, and like I said I'm a metal guy, so naturally I'm drawn to this one right off the bat. This Dying Soul, Endless Sacrifice and In the Name of God are top tier Dream Theater for me. Probably top 10, and ITNOG is top 5, maybe even top 3 for me. As I Am is great, a little bit standard, but still great. Honor Thy Father I really like a lot, but that Labrie rap section in the second verse is so cringey that it does distract from the song for me. Vacant is ok, but it never really hooked me. I never got pulled in by Stream of Counsciousness either. But honestly it's the high of those three songs that brings this album up to number 2 for me. ITNOG alone is better than anything off of Awake, and the other two songs are on Voices/The Mirror/Scarred levels of Dream Theater. This album is very close to Awake for me, but Awake has 6:00. This album doesn't.
1. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence- And...it wasn't even close. This album is so close to perfection that it hurts my brain. It's SO CLOSE to being a perfect album, there's just one song that I don't care for and that's Disappear. The rest is utterly phenomenal from beginning to end. In fact, I'm gonna put on Blind Faith right now, I'm craving that song. Disc one doesn't have a bad or even "good" song on it except for Disappear, and the second disc is a pure work of art, it's simply a masterpiece. The tone of this album, the way they balance the heavy with the emotional. The psychological themes, the passion that James sings with, the almost schizophrenic ambience that plagues this album, it's just a masterpiece. I'm not gonna go through every song individually because there's no reason to, I seriously love them all (except Disappear), but this is far and away my favorite Dream Theater album and a complete and utter masterpiece. And the girl I was just with...she suffered from bi-polar disorder. It's why we didn't last. So I connect to About to Crash so damn well right now. I mean I loved the song before that, but it's really high for me now. I went through heaven and hell with her and I was with her every step of the way until the end. SDOIT as a whole is my favorite song of all time, and it's the closest thing to perfect a song has ever gotten for me. And with an amazing first disc that comes before it, there was no way any other album was gonna take this spot, and I don't think any other Dream Theater album ever will.
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So that's why you hate TA
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Following...
Oh wait, you're done. :lol
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Sorry about the break up. It’s not about the length of the relationship but the connection you have to the person. With that said, I don’t agree with your rankings.
I recently listen to every Dream Theater, beginning to end, no songs or sections skipped. However I started with the astonishing and made my way back to WDADU. I know it’s a matter of opinion, but The Astonishing is a better album than most people give it credit for. I was one of the first ones to say the album was too keyboard oriented and the story was too cheesy(the ending at least). But besides that, the whole album was written very well.
Plus you haves Images and words lower than Self Titled.
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1. A Dramatic Turn of Events
2. The Astonishing
3. Scenes from a Memory
4. Images and Words
5. Octavarium
6. Awake
7. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
8. Dream Theater
9. Systematic Chaos
10. Train of Thought
11. Falling Into Infinity
12. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
13. When Dream and Day Unite
Yay contrasts!
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We're doing this again? Very well. In any case I was planning on listening to their discography before the release of their new one.
It goes like this for me:
Brilliant:
1. Awake
2. Scenes From A Memory
3. Octavarium
4. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
5. Train of Thought
6. The Astonishing
Great:
7. A Dramatic Turn of Events
8. Dream Theater
9. Systematic Chaos
10. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
11. Images and Words
Good:
12: Falling Into Infinity
13: When Dream And Day Unite
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1. Scenes From a Memory
2. Images and Words
3. Six Degrees
4. Awake
5. Falling Into Infinity
6. The Astonishing
7. Train of Thought
8. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
9. Dream Theater
10. Octavarium
11. When Dream and Day Unite
12. Systematic Chaos
13. A Dramatic Turn of Events
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Ones I love: I&W, TOT, Awake, DT, WDADU, FII, SFAM
Ones I enjoy: ADTOE, SDOIT,
Ones I don't listen to: Black clouds, SC, TA, Octavarium
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After almost 3 years since my DT awakening, my latest ranking. It has changed several times.
1. ADTOE - I love every song
2. SFAM - close 2nd, but really over-played it at first. Sooo excited for the concert!
all the rest - I love them all!!!..and don't feel one more... or less.... the the other.
But
13. WDADU - just can't get into it. I do like YTSEJAM. Maybe it's all about the vocals
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The albums (not counting ACOS, which basically belongs with 1 and 2)
1. Images and Words
2. Awake
3. Falling Into Infinity
4. Scenes From a Memory
5. Train of Thought
6. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
>>>>Then the rest. I tried to rank them, and to be honest, DT just lost me starting with Octavarium. I've always followed them, and like songs here and there from everything, but only the albums above really are things that I go back to. I keep hanging in, hoping. But I am not sure what it is. I love a wide variety of rock and metal, but for some reason, DT's evolution just hasn't resonated with me. Truth be told, it really started going downhill for me with Jordan. I think Jordan is the best keyboardist, technically speaking, the band has ever had, and appreciate him and his talent. But even the band admitted that the chemistry in LTE was something they jumped on, and for me, that's not really appealing.
I felt there was a lot more soul and personality in I&W through FII. Once Jordan joined, the band's tone and overall sound shifted to something I personally haven't liked as much, although I am really at a loss to properly describe it. I did enjoy the first few records with Jordan, but after that, the band just became something I couldn't get behind all the time. But like I said, I still support them, and buy the records, hoping my ear picks up on something that opens up that door for me again with DT.
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This will probably be inconsistent with what I've done before.
1-3. SFAM, I&W and 6DOIT -- probably in that order, but they're largely interchangeable.
4. Awake -- excellent album, but not on the same level as the top 3.
5-8 (in chron order) TOT, 8VA, ADTOE and DT12 -- fairly interchangeable in terms of rankings; each has a couple of duds, but they're overall really strong albums.
9. BC&SL -- half of it is quite enjoyable (Wither, TSF and TCOT); the other half is forgettable.
10-12. WDADU, FII and SC -- each has a couple of bright spots, but they're overall hiccups in an otherwise excellent catalog.
Not ranked: The Astonishing -- if I did rank it, it would be in the bottom group, but I still don't feel like I've given it a reasonable chance, so I don't feel like it's fair to rank it.
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1. Images and Words
2. Scenes from a Memory
3. Awake
4. The Astonishing
5. Dream Theater
6. A Dramatic Turn of Events
7. When Dream and Day Unite
8. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
9. Falling Into Infinity
10. Octavarium
11. Train of Thought
12. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
13. Systematic Chaos
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OK..
1. Images And Words
2. Scenes From A Memory
3. Awake
4. A Dramatic Turn Of Events
5. When Day And Dream Reunite
6. The Astonishing
7. Six Degrees Disc 1
8. Train Of Thought
9. Systematic Chaos
10. Black Clouds And Silver Linings
11. Dream Theater
12. Octavarium
13. Falling Into Infinity
14. Six Degrees Disc 2
If I had to include Six Degrees as a single release, it would sit right behind BC&SL.
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1. Scenes from a Memory - My first "new" DT album after becoming a fan. The first album I participated in the hype and excitement for, and the first album I got to hear a long time before it was actually released to the public. And it just blew me away. The balance between the heavy, the progressive, the melodic and the soft. The story. In my eyes the magnum opus of DTs catalogue. This started my journey into the fandom of DT - becoming very strongly involved in the fan community of DT.net where I ran the official chat room for 8 years. We had a lot of VIP guests in the chat network, like MP, JR, CD, DS and even KM.
2. Images and Words - This didn't use to be as high for me, but it has increased in love for me year after year. Not a single boring moment on the CD. Another Day was actually my first real exposure to DT, as it was a part of a various artist collection called "even more power ballads" over here.
3. Distance over Time - Spoilers! ;) This is such a well balanced album. It's everything DT -is- in a great little package, with some of the heaviest, grooviest riffs I've ever heard from them. It also takes some unexpected turns which surprised me and made me grin of delight when I first heard it. It just oozes FUN. The bonus track is particularly a joy to hear, it just feels like a bunch of guys in a garage making a cool rock'n roll tune.
4. Falling into Infinity - My first DT album. My first DT tour. I love every song on this album, even the ones "everyone" seems to hate. Made me wanna play in a band. Never got any good though, and put down the guitar for like a decade.
5. Awake - Contains one of my least favorite choruses by DT ever (Innocence Faded), but the rest is just so good that it lifts it up beyond that. A serious mainstay in my playlist, although not as often as the others.
6. The Astonishing - I'm a huge fan of musicals and rock operas - shows like Jesus Christ Superstar, Les Miserables, Hamilton, War of the Worlds, Ayreons albums, Rocky Horror, Chess, Pink Floyd's The Wall, The Who's Tommy, the Disney musicals - this album is so clearly rooted in the world of musical theatre (which DT actually has strong connections to both as fans of, and for having family members working in the business). A lot of the criticisms from fans are seemingly attached to them not really having experience with musicals and their structure. That being said, every musical (even big hits like Hamilton) went through many revisions before the "set" version that is on stage today, and I'm pretty sure the same fate would've happened to DT if they'd actually tried to stage it - trim it a bit, and clarify some plot points.
7. Train of Thought - I love heavy (I was a Metallica fan before I was a DT fan), and there's a lot of damn cool riffs and solos in here. Did our first listening party for this album.
8. Octavarium - Loved it when it came out, Muse influences included (Absolution was my favorite album of 2003). Attached to extra special memoires for me, as this was the album that led to the tour where I was in charge of the Fan Club DVD project which turned into A Walk Beside The Band and Romavarium, as well as the Dark Side of the Moon DVD.
9. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - To me, this album was a disappointment when it came out. It contains some killer tracks, but it feels a bit unfocused to me. The start of the "cut and paste"-symptoms, where there's a lot of musical ideas that are recorded, but not necessarily thought out fully as to how the flow should be. And all the meandering experimental sections do nothing for me. Second disc contains some very good elements, but I feel it's far too disjointed to be actually considered a cohesive piece. Marks the time when I became involved in the inner workings of the fan clubs.
10. A Dramatic Turn of Events - First album with Mangini, a good album, but I simply do not return to it often. It just doesn't connect to me on the same level, and it is attached to some bittersweet personal memories for me as well.
11. Dream Theater - loudness war disaster. Very hard to listen to at first, took a while to get into the songs, and is not an album I return to very often. Good songs though, just not that interesting in the long run.
12. Systematic Chaos - Lots of great melodies, but the album seems a bit unfocused and wavering. Contains my least favorite DT track - Ministry of Lost Souls, a 4 minute song stretched out in content to last a whopping 15 minutes.
13. Black Clouds and Silver Linings - I initially liked this album, but I had a few reservations. The lyrics juxtaposed with the actual music was jarring at times, and this album exemplified some of the staleness I had felt with DT - formulaeic song writing where the formula became more important than the actual songs, leading to a lot of extended instrumental sections that just went on too long for no reason.
14. When Dream and Day Unite - Not a bad album, but the mix is so muddy, and the music is unpolished. Best track for me is Ytse Jam - not because I dislike Charlie (I like his vocals), but it just resonates with me.
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This list is constantly changing, as it's hard to really choose.
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1. Scenes from a Memory - My first "new" DT album after becoming a fan. The first album I participated in the hype and excitement for, and the first album I got to hear a long time before it was actually released to the public. And it just blew me away. The balance between the heavy, the progressive, the melodic and the soft. The story. In my eyes the magnum opus of DTs catalogue. This started my journey into the fandom of DT - becoming very strongly involved in the fan community of DT.net where I ran the official chat room for 8 years. We had a lot of VIP guests in the chat network, like MP, JR, CD, DS and even KM.
2. Images and Words - This didn't use to be as high for me, but it has increased in love for me year after year. Not a single boring moment on the CD. Another Day was actually my first real exposure to DT, as it was a part of a various artist collection called "even more power ballads" over here.
3. Distance over Time - Spoilers! ;) This is such a well balanced album. It's everything DT -is- in a great little package, with some of the heaviest, grooviest riffs I've ever heard from them. It also takes some unexpected turns which surprised me and made me grin of delight when I first heard it. It just oozes FUN. The bonus track is particularly a joy to hear, it just feels like a bunch of guys in a garage making a cool rock'n roll tune.
4. Falling into Infinity - My first DT album. My first DT tour. I love every song on this album, even the ones "everyone" seems to hate. Made me wanna play in a band. Never got any good though, and put down the guitar for like a decade.
5. Awake - Contains one of my least favorite choruses by DT ever (Innocence Faded), but the rest is just so good that it lifts it up beyond that. A serious mainstay in my playlist, although not as often as the others.
6. The Astonishing - I'm a huge fan of musicals and rock operas - shows like Jesus Christ Superstar, Les Miserables, Hamilton, War of the Worlds, Ayreons albums, Rocky Horror, Chess, Pink Floyd's The Wall, The Who's Tommy, the Disney musicals - this album is so clearly rooted in the world of musical theatre (which DT actually has strong connections to both as fans of, and for having family members working in the business). A lot of the criticisms from fans are seemingly attached to them not really having experience with musicals and their structure. That being said, every musical (even big hits like Hamilton) went through many revisions before the "set" version that is on stage today, and I'm pretty sure the same fate would've happened to DT if they'd actually tried to stage it - trim it a bit, and clarify some plot points.
7. Train of Thought - I love heavy (I was a Metallica fan before I was a DT fan), and there's a lot of damn cool riffs and solos in here. Did our first listening party for this album.
8. Octavarium - Loved it when it came out, Muse influences included (Absolution was my favorite album of 2003). Attached to extra special memoires for me, as this was the album that led to the tour where I was in charge of the Fan Club DVD project which turned into A Walk Beside The Band and Romavarium, as well as the Dark Side of the Moon DVD.
9. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - To me, this album was a disappointment when it came out. It contains some killer tracks, but it feels a bit unfocused to me. The start of the "cut and paste"-symptoms, where there's a lot of musical ideas that are recorded, but not necessarily thought out fully as to how the flow should be. And all the meandering experimental sections do nothing for me. Second disc contains some very good elements, but I feel it's far too disjointed to be actually considered a cohesive piece. Marks the time when I became involved in the inner workings of the fan clubs.
10. A Dramatic Turn of Events - First album with Mangini, a good album, but I simply do not return to it often. It just doesn't connect to me on the same level, and it is attached to some bittersweet personal memories for me as well.
11. Dream Theater - loudness war disaster. Very hard to listen to at first, took a while to get into the songs, and is not an album I return to very often. Good songs though, just not that interesting in the long run.
12. Systematic Chaos - Lots of great melodies, but the album seems a bit unfocused and wavering. Contains my least favorite DT track - Ministry of Lost Souls, a 4 minute song stretched out in content to last a whopping 15 minutes.
13. Black Clouds and Silver Linings - I initially liked this album, but I had a few reservations. The lyrics juxtaposed with the actual music was jarring at times, and this album exemplified some of the staleness I had felt with DT - formulaeic song writing where the formula became more important than the actual songs, leading to a lot of extended instrumental sections that just went on too long for no reason.
14. When Dream and Day Unite - Not a bad album, but the mix is so muddy, and the music is unpolished. Best track for me is Ytse Jam - not because I dislike Charlie (I like his vocals), but it just resonates with me.
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This list is constantly changing, as it's hard to really choose.
Wow!!! D / T in third position ;D
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3. Distance over Time - Spoilers! ;)
Still has that new album smell, eh?
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Been listening for a month now, heard it a lot of times, but sure - new album smell is a valid thought.
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As of today . . .
1. D/T (hopefully)
2. Images & Words - back at the top due to TA’s production
3. The Astonishing
4. Scenes
5. Six Degrees
6. ADTOE
7. WDADU
8. Dream Theater
9. Awake
10. Black Clouds
11. Train of Thought
12. Octavarium (was 13th but SC is just so stupid)
13. SC
14. FII - always last by a lot, just not what I wanna hear from them
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Dream Theater is one of the few bands I can honestly say I enjoy every song they've recorded.
Tier 1 - IAW, Awake, MP2:SFAM, SDOIT, ADTOE. These are the most consistent albums. Everything clicks.
Tier 2 - 8VM, DT12, ToT. Very good, very solid albums. Each album has a few songs that aren't quite as strong as the best ones but are still remarkably consistent.
Tier 3 - BC&SL, SC and FII. These are the hit and miss albums for me. They each contain some brilliant songs, including some of my all time favorites, but as whole albums are inconsistent.
WDADU and TA. Don't mistake my ranking these separately as my way of bashing them. I'm not. Honestly, I enjoy both of these albums. The early installment weirdness on WDADU is jarring, Dominici is talented but lacks the chemistry that makes Labire fit with DT so well, IMO. The Astonishing is just to different for me to really compare to other DT albums.
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Updated, after the initial "shock and awe" effect of TA has worn off.
1. Awake
2. Dream Theater
3. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
4. A Dramatic Turn of Events
5. The Astonishing
6. Scenes from a Memory
7. Images and Words
8. Octavarium
9. Train of Thought
10. Falling Into Infinity
11. Systematic Chaos
12. Black Clouds and Siliver Linings
13. When Dream and Day Unite
In terms of songs:
1. Breaking All Illusions
2. Illumination Theory
3. Trial of Tears
4. Our New World
5. Scarred
6. In The Presence of Enemies Part 2 (oh my, this song finally clicked with me this year)
7. The Mirror
8. Peruvian Skies
9. Surrounded
10. These Walls
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I'm more on the proggy side of loving DT and less the metal... so I literally have every 90's DT album +SDOIT ranked ahead of every album following it and then the Astonishing closely following.
I am noticing that others with similar tastes have ADTOE up there with the early stuff. I personally have that last.
What am I missing with that album? Its the only album in their catalogue that actually bores me. I just don't have much interest in returning to it ever.
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GREAT:
1. Scenes from a Memory
2. Images and Words
3. Awake
Excellent:
4. Train of Thought
5. Falling Into Infinity
6. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Very Good:
7. A Dramatic Turn of Events
8. Octavarium
Good:
9. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
10. Systematic Chaos
11. Dream Theater
Decent:
12. When Dream and Day Unite
Disappointing:
13. The Astonishing
.......mic drop!
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If Impermanent Resonance was a DT album where it would rank for you.
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GREAT:
1. Scenes from a Memory
2. Images and Words
3. Awake
Excellent:
4. Train of Thought
5. Falling Into Infinity
6. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Very Good:
7. A Dramatic Turn of Events
8. Octavarium
Good:
9. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
10. Systematic Chaos
11. Dream Theater
Decent:
12. When Dream and Day Unite
Disappointing:
13. The Astonishing
.......mic drop!
It will be the first time I have agreed with you, As I Am. Your first six album ranking almost mirrors mine except that I would put SFAM 3. For the rest BC&SL, SC and 8vm would be in the disappointing section and TA 7 I think.
B.Lee
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1. Awake
2. Scenes from a Memory
3. Images and Words
4. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
5. The Astonishing
6. A Dramatic Turn of Events
7. Falling into Infinity
8. Dream Theater
9. Train of Thought
10. Octavarium
11. When Dream and Day Unite
12. Systematic Chaos
13. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
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1. Awake
2. Scenes from a Memory
3. Images and Words
4. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
5. The Astonishing
6. A Dramatic Turn of Events
7. Falling into Infinity
8. Dream Theater
9. Train of Thought
10. Octavarium
11. When Dream and Day Unite
12. Systematic Chaos
13. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
This is basically my rankings to a tee. 6 degrees is likely amongst the 4-8 group which can interchange a bit. And black clouds is my least favourite by quite a margin, even though there are some nice moments
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Today....
1. Octavarium
2. Scenes From A Memory
3. Images and Words
4. Awake
5. Dream Theater
6. Train of Thought
7. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
8. A Dramatic Turn of Events
9. Falling Into Infinity
10. The Astonishing
11. When Dream and Day Unite
12. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
13. Systematic Chaos
I don’t think the top 4 will ever be touched. With the exception of Lie from Awake, they are flawless albums with nothing I ever skip.
The self titled has grown on me tremendously, and it is the only album from the Mangini era that I am always coming back to because of the smile it puts on my face every time.
Train of Thought is a bit one dimensional, but considering that the goal was to create a front to back “metal classic” in the vein of Master of Puppets, I think it accomplished exactly what it was meant to.
The Glass Prison and the title track of Six Degrees is PERFECTION. Blind Faith and Misunderstood are solid. Great Debate and Disappear are meh.
Dramatic is a nice return to form, and I enjoy the “IAW but not IAW” hoodwink. I think it’s a nice artistic exercise for an artist to revisit a previous pattern from time to time as long as it’s not overdone. There are moments when it feels a bit stiff...like it hadn’t quite gelled yet...
Falling Into Infinity has aged extremely well. You Not Me suffers from DCs input, Burning My Soul doesn’t hold up as a stand-alone track (the original idea incorporating Hell’s Kitchen was better) and I never much cared for the chorus in Lines in the Sand. But everything else on the album is solid.
The Astonishing on the other hand, has aged very poorly. I LOVED the idea, and the balls that it took to try the idea. I don’t even mind that it’s a bit “Disney” in places. (It is supposed to be a musical after all) But too many ideas feel almost unfinished. Almost like it wanted to be a 3-disc story that they chickened out and hacked up for time purposes. For all of its tracks, there’s really only about a half dozen stand alone songs. I still say it’s an excellent and under appreciated album. It just doesn’t feel finished somehow. If you were to flesh out the story, and turn more of the ideas into actual songs, this could have been DTs finest hour. But it falls way short.
When Dream and Day Unite is purely a production issue. It sounds like it was recorded in a cave with a single microphone at the mouth of the cave. It just sounds far away, distant, and echo-y. Terry Date produced Metal Church’s Blessing in Disguise at almost the same time, and it suffers from the same problem, so I don’t know what Terry was smoking in 1989.
BCASL is two great Dream Theater songs, with a lot of boring stuff in the middle. Rite of Passage is great on the first listen, but after the 5th spin I didn’t really need to hear it again. Same with Wither. Best of Times should have been amazing and somehow fell flat. And Shattered Fortress sounds great at the end of the 12SS, but sounds like a mish mash by itself.
SC is what I consider to be the only truly BAD Dream Theater album. I never revisit it anymore. It’s just terrible. The worst epic DT has ever done (part 1 is good, part 2 is a disaster). And the rest of it makes me laugh more than it makes me listen. The Dark Eternal Night is (ironically) the only bright spot. Everything else is either laughable (Forsaken, Constant Motion, Prophets of War) or boring (Repentance, MoLS). Maybe I’ll spin it again one day, but this album actually hurts to listen to. It’s just a dumpster fire.
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I don't care if you like SFAM, or 6DOIT, or TA
I don't care if you hate I&W or Awake
I don't care if you LOVE BC&SL or SC
or if you think DT12 and WDADU are perfect.
Because I hate this band and their entire discography. :biggrin: :biggrin:
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My top 6:
1. Awake
2. Scenes From A Memory
3. Images And Words
4. Falling Into Infinity
5. A Dramatic Turn Of Events
6. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
The rest would be aprox like:
7. Train Of Thought
8. When Dream And Day Unite
9. Systematic Chaos
10. Dream Theater
11. Octavarium
12. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
13. The Astonishing
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1. Images & Words
2. Awake
3. Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory
4. Train of Thought
5. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
These are the albums I still listen to on occasion, mainly the first 2-3 on the list on a semi-regular basis, but if I had to make a top five this is what it would look like.
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1. Scenes From A Memory
2. Images and Words
3. Octavarium
4. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
5. A Dramatic Turn of Events
6. Awake
7. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
8. When Dream and Day Unite
9. Falling Into Infinity
10. Train of Thought
11. Systematic Chaos
12. DT
No number 13 as I just can't even bear to listen to that record and prefer to pretend that it never existed or at least, wasn't a DT release!
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No number 13 as I just can't even bear to listen to that record and prefer to pretend that it never existed or at least, wasn't a DT release!
Sure thing buddy.
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No number 13 as I just can't even bear to listen to that record and prefer to pretend that it never existed or at least, wasn't a DT release!
Sure thing buddy.
Apologies for having my own opinion about a record, I could have sworn this was a "DT albums ranking" thread but I guess I was wrong. OK, I'll try again, move everything down a place and put TA as my new number 1. Is that better?
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No number 13 as I just can't even bear to listen to that record and prefer to pretend that it never existed or at least, wasn't a DT release!
Sure thing buddy.
Apologies for having my own opinion about a record, I could have sworn this was a "DT albums ranking" thread but I guess I was wrong. OK, I'll try again, move everything down a place and put TA as my new number 1. Is that better?
Well, that escalated quickly
Chill, bro! :facepalm:
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I forgot how touchy people are on the internet. Better green text everything nowadays. :neverusethis:
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It's hard for me to go past a top 3, so here is my top 3.
1)Awake - This album was one that showed me DT was for real. I didn't know about WDADU until a lot later, so for the longest time i thought this was their 2nd. For weeks, a station in NYC that is all classic rock now was playing 'Lie' for weeks, but i didn't know it was DT for awhile. When the DJ said it was DT, i couldn't believe i didn't recognize them.
My most memorable moment from this is the first time i heard the transition from 'The Mirror' into 'Lie.' I was walking through a courtyard where i live. I had a Sports Walkman with this on. When Lie popped in after that ending, i flipped out. I was like 'Oh sh_ _!, that was dope!
2)Metropolis 2: Scenes from a memory - A very emotional album that caught this emotional persons eye very quickly. Luckily for me, back then, this album helped me find out about Eddie Trunk's radio shows. MP was doing 3 or 4 Tri-State(NY)area radio stations to promote. One station, WSOU, is an iconic college rock station that i knew of already. Then he did a Long Island station, and then finally WNEW-FM. I was able to hear at least 2 interviews, and found a great deep track rock radio show in the process. I was shocked that Eddie was such a knowledgeable rocker, because he was a DJ on Q-104.3, which played modern rock before they went to classic. I always thought Ed over enunciated, and wasn't that great an on-air voice. Well, it's almost 20 years of listening to him and it's great to see what he became.
Another key thing is one of my sister's lived with me around this time with her daughter, who became my favorite niece. When they moved out i was sad, but always remembered that this album was played over and over by me when they lived there.
3)Falling into infinity - This one made my top 3 and could easily be #2. Nothing can touch Awake to me, btw!
Back when this was out, i was lucky enough to have a cool manager, working the opening shift at McDonalds. He was Asian, and at that time knew a way to wire the 'musak' system in the store, so that we could plug in a Walkman, or I-pod, or CD player and play our music throughout the whole store, before we opened for business. Problem is, he kept playing the theme to Titanic over, and over, and over!!! As soon as it ended, it would start again!! One day, after we were getting tired of that song, i asked if i can hook up my Walkman and play my stuff. The first thing i put on was this album. The morning cashier heard 'Burning my soul' and right away said to the mgr, 'Now that's a great song, not that 'Once, more, you opened the door' over and over!' I knew i hit the motherlode, because any other morning mgr let me put on this. We had a female manager named Elsie, who always had heartbreak in her life, so one time i could tell she was into 'Trial of tears.' She wouldn't say it, but i knew. I sprinkled in some other groups from time to time, but this album was always played start to finish, or until it was time to put the regular crap musak on for the customers in that Canal St. McDonalds.
I can't explain how big this was. I would go to the basement to do stock up and there was D F-ing T blasting downstairs, and of course the whole store.
That makes this an untouchable #3 for me. I can't explain how great this time was!
'Sorry about the short set' as James would say. I say 'sorry about the long post.' Haven't posted in awhile!
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Here's mine, with the top 5 often jockeying a little for positions. I always like to think of each album as having its own unique feel to it, usually bought about by cover art plus common occurrences throughout some of the songs. Just a silly, fun little thing I like to do. In any case:
Awake - The "Space" Album
Scenes - The "Masterpiece" Album
Falling Into Infinity - The "Water" Album
Dramatic Turn Of Events - The "Sky" Album
Images & Words - The "Regal" Album
The Astonishing - The "Musical" Album
6 Degrees - The "Experimental" Album
Train Of Thought - The "Black" Album
DT - The "Slick" Album
8V - The "Nuggets" Album
Systematic Chaos - The "Fantasy" Album
BCASL - The "Ambitious" Album
When Dream & Day Unite - The "Beginning" Album
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13- WDADU
12- TA
11- SC
10- DT12
9- ToT
8- FII
7- 8V
6- ADTOE
5- Awake
4- BCaSL
3- Scenes
2- I&W
1- 6DoIT
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Geez, almost been 2 years since posting on the forum. I'll be honest, I haven"t really listened to DT at all for a good minute, but the upcoming release of the new album and then this thread urged me to revisit their music. I was surprised by how differently I now feel about some of them.
13. The Astonishing
Not exactly controversial, I know. I was never a fan of this one on my first listen, and nearly 3 years on, that hasn't changed. It's simply too long for it's own sake, with little in the way of memorable songwriting. I get second-hand embarrassment listening to some of these lyrics.
12. When Dream and Day Unite
A decent debut record with some good tunes on it. What kills it are the shoddy production and Dominici's vocals. While he's competent, he's not as versatile or iconic as LaBrie.
11. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Probably their most inconsistent. Has some really good moments, but just as many bad ones too. I forgot just how long this one could feel.
10. Dream Theater
I remember constantly trying to defend this album, and while I still enjoy it to an extent, it does have glaring flaws looking back on it. The production is pretty unbearable, and overall it just feels like DT by the numbers, and has no strong identity of its own.
9. Systematic Chaos
Enjoyed this album more than I had ever used to. It has a grit that is pretty uncommon for DT, some of these tracks are just blistering. But it's also a bit inconsistent, with some pretty weak tracks as well.
8. A Dramatic Turn of Events
Probably only this high by virtue of BAI. This album is a mixed bag for me, but mostly ranges from meh to decent. Few tracks have had real staying impact since the album's release.
7. Falling Into Infinity
Was not expecting this to land so high. Another DT mixed bag. It's two epics are great, but has a few other tracks that bog it down. Goddammit, I can't not like Hollow Years though.
6. Octavarium
All around a pretty consistent DT album. Title track is great and I wouldn't call any of the others weak either, just not many I'd call amazing.
5. Train of Thought
While a consistently heavy DT project would sound tiresome to some, I quite like it. It's dark, aggressive, and bitter. I know some of the rapping sounds corny, but I really wish DT weren't afraid to do stuff like that these days.
4. Awake
While other DT albums are similarly dynamic and varied, this one truly does it well with good songwriting throughout. While some songs are better than others, there's not a bad one here. And Scarred is fantastic.
3. Images & Words
Yeah, yeah, we all know this one's good. I don't think it's a perfect record, but nearly every song here is a DT staple, and some of their most praised as a whole. MP1 is still one of my absolute favorites in their entire discography, and LTL is not far behind.
2. Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory
This used to be my unchanging, all time #1 from DT, and while I still love it, maybe distance/time has let me look at it more honestly. Some of the lyrics are very direct and blunt but not always in a way that is compelling or impactful. The story of the album itself is also pretty bare thin and lackluster over the course of a 77 minute runtime, all things considered. But where this album really shines for me is in its memorable and dramatic songwriting. Strong melodies, fire solos and instrumentals, and LaBrie's warm and powerful vocals. It's just the band in peak form and this album really shows it.
1. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
This was the DT we never knew we needed. What happens when you let outer influences and ideas marinate with the typical DT norm? You get a mastapiece. Each song is inspired, each one meaningful, each one distinct and unique from the next. The risks they took on this one paid off, and it's something I wished they'd do more often. It's gritty, solemn, and deranged at points and I love it.
Kudos to anyone who actually read all my drivel. With all that said, I do look forward to D/T.
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1. Images and Words
2. Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory
3. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
4. A Dramatic Turn Events
5. Awake
6. Falling Into Infinity
7. Dream Theater
8. Octavarium
9. Train of Thought
10. When Dream and Day Unite
11. The Astonishing
12. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
13. Systematic Chaos
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No analysis here. These are listed based on how much I listen to each one, because I figure the ones I listen to the most are my favorites. Also, this changes often. These are top to bottom:
SDoIT
I&W
SFAM
Awake
ADToE
8VM
ToT
BC&SL
FII
SC
Ast-ing
DT
WDADU
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From best to worst:
Images And Words
Scenes From A Memory
Awake
When Dream And Day Unite
Octavarium
The Astonishing
Falling Into Infinity
Dream Theater
Train Of Thought
A Dramatic Turn Of Events
Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Systematic Chaos
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Here is mine. In reality I love so much of what the do but only a couple are like solid top to bottom to me
Some of my favorite tunes to me are on some of the most inconsistent overall albums for me - Count of Tuscany, Trial of Tears, Illumination Theory, Our New World.
1) Scenes from a Memory - this one every single song is awesome in my opinion. The list is in tiers of awesomeness to me, from no flaws to some flaws.
2) Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
3) A Change of Seasons - just epic
4) Train of Thought
5) Octavarium
6) Images and Words
7) Dramatic Turn of Events
8) Awake
9) Falling to Infinity
10) Systematic Chaos
11) Black Clouds
12) Self Titled
13) Day and Dream Unite
14) Astonishing (too long, too many Disney moments for me). If this was half as long (without the Disney vibe moments) it would be 9th or 10th for me.
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My top tier albums. Perfect or near perfect.
1. Awake
2. SDOIT
3. MP2:SFAM
4. IAW
My second tier favorites. Each album is great but not quite as consistent as the top tier ones.
5. ADTOE
6. 8VM
7. DT12
8. ToT
The patchier albums. These albums are more mixed. Some great songs, some OK ones and a few that are "meh", IMO.
9. BC&SL
10. SC
11. FII
12. WDADU
The oddball album.
13. The Astonishing. This isn't me trying to dump on the album but it's simply too different for me to compare to other DT releases. There are some strong songs but with 34 tracks there are just too many that don't stand out for me. I appreciate what Petrucci tried to do here.
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1: Octavarium
Not a perfect album: there's a few songs that could have been better (namely the two ballads which, while far from the band's worst ballads, are still pretty unremarkable), but the highs are so high that they make up for all the lows, especially the title track, which is still my favorite song of all time. Plus, the album has a great flow, has a cool concept and is incredibly cohesive, which makes it more than the sum of its parts.
2: Train Of Thought
I love the heavier, more extreme sound of this album, and the first run of songs from As I Am to Honor Thy Father is almost perfect. I feel like the album starts to drag around Stream Of Consciousness though. Honor Thy Father is a great closer, but not a highlight of the album for me like it is for many people.
3: Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
I have a very clear top two, but from this point onward my ranking start getting a bit more hazy. This album and the following one are very close, but I'm going to give the nod to this one because it has higher highs and is a bit more interesting, if not as consistent. I'm really not a fan of the second disc aside from The Test That Stumped Them All, but the first disc is pretty spectacular. With the one-two punch of The Glass Prison and Blind Faith, it definitely has the best beginning of any of their albums. Misunderstood and Disappear are also great songs that stick out in the band's catalog because they really don't have any other songs like them. The experimentation and evolution of the band's sound on this album is definitely its biggest strength and elevates it above their more predictable-sounding albums.
4: Scenes From A Memory
This is a great concept album that's very consistent in quality throughout, with the exception of Through Her Eyes which had the honor of being my least favorite song by them, at least until The Astonishing came out. That said though, pretty much every other record of theirs has at least one song that's better than anything this album has to offer, so it doesn't quite make my absolute favorites.
5: Black Clouds & Silver Linings
I think I have a soft spot for this album by virtue of it being the first of their albums that I really got into. Yeah, it has some cringe-inducing moments, but overall I think the songwriting is actually a lot better than many of their other albums. The two epics are among their finest, Wither is one of their best ballads, and The Shattered Fortress is a great capstone to the 12-Step Suite that has some really clever moments where it recontextualizes motifs from the previous movements. It's far from a perfect album, but it's one of the band's most underrated, if you ask me.
6: Dream Theater
This is the only album from the Mangini era so far that I think is legitimately good. I don't have much to say about it other than it just has a lot of great songs, and that's really all it needs. That said, I feel like there's something missing from the band's most recent albums. Some magic that's not quite there any more. Even though I like this album a lot, it doesn't quite have that "Dream Theater quality" to it that I love about the above records so much.
7: Images And Words
This is a good album. Do I love it as much as most other people? Definitely not, considering it's right in the middle of my rankings. It's an enjoyable listen throughout, and Learning To Live is definitely one of my favorite songs by them, but for whatever reason I never fell in love with this album like many others have.
8: A Dramatic Turn Of Events
Here's where we start getting into the albums that I think are flawed or okay at best. Given the circumstances surrounding this album's creation, it makes sense that the band wanted to play it safe with this album, but they went way too far. This is probably the most uninspired, by-the-numbers Dream Theater album I can think of. It's got its highlights for sure, but as a whole it just feels so unremarkable and bland that I can't say that it's a good album. The terrible production and the numerous Images And Words parallels don't help its case much either.
9: Systematic Chaos
The excellence of In The Presence Of Enemies and Constant Motion save this album from being among their absolute worst for me. The rest of the songs range from okay to flat-out bad. Moving on.
10: Falling Into Infinity
This album has virtually no middle ground. It's either fantastic or some of the worst stuff the band has ever put out. If you took out the bad songs and made Hollow Years as great as its Live At Budokan rendition, this would easily make at least the top half of the band's discography for me. Sadly, this is the album we got, and it's safe to say that I'd be completely happy with never listening to this album in its entirety ever again.
11: Awake
Yeah yeah, I know. I know a lot of people love this album, but I just don't get it. I think 6:00 and The Mirror are fantastic, and there's a few other songs here that I think are decent, but the rest is just... meh. Not bad, but nothing I ever feel the desire to listen to. Compared to the above few albums in my rankings, this album has less music that I'd consider bad, but also a lot less that I'd consider great, which is why it's among their worst for me. Outside of a few songs, this album may as well not exist for me.
12: When Dream And Day Unite
While this album is pretty amateurish and mediocre overall, there aren't really any songs on it that I'd consider among their absolute worst. Light Fuse And Get Away comes pretty close, but outside of that it's... inoffensive at worst.
13: The Astonishing
Their debut would have likely remained my least favorite album by them forever, were it not for this mess. I just don't like it. At all. There's soooo much of its painfully long runtime that's bad and barely any of it that's good. So many sappy ballads, cringe-inducing lyrics and undeveloped songs, and I hate how front-and-center the story is. Scenes From A Memory is a concept album done right; the story provides some nice context to the songs and lightly guides the overall flow of the album, at at its core it's still the music that matters the most. Here, it feels like the music is ball-gagged and chained to an incredibly unremarkable story that dictates everything it does. I appreciate the band trying something new but execution-wise I don't think they could have possibly dropped the ball any harder than they did here, and I'll just leave it at that.
Curious to see how Distance Over Time will fit in. I might return to this and give it an update after it releases and I let it sit for a while.
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(quoted instead of modifying by accident)
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Took a quick stab at this.
SFAM
6 Degrees
Awake
8V
ToT
ADTOE
I&W
TA
DT12
FII
BC&SL
WDADU
SC
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I&W - The first one I've heard. Will always be my favorite. I love all the songs.
SFAM - A great album, maybe the best (but it will not get the first place :biggrin:). But the story does nothing for me. Although it's funny that it fits perfectly with spiritism.
6DOIT - An incredible record. I love the experimentalism and how the album sounds so different from start to finish.
ADTOE - Not exactly an innovative album, but it came at the right time and gave me back the plesure of listening to DT. I like a lot of songs. BAI is fantastic.
Awake - A very good album too, but I don't like all the songs (I hate Lie!). Although no one comments, awful drum sound.
WDADU - I really think they did a great job, despite being a beginner's thing.
DT12 - Lots of interesting tracks. I like the fact that they tried to escape from the comfort zone in songwriting.
TA - The moust courageous album. I like the fact that it's genuinely a rock opera, with a musical vibe. But it's not perfect. Silly story.
FII - Great songs! and some awful too. Unfortunately several very good songs had to be cut off. The demo version is better.
8V - Cool concept. Some songs pull the album down, like Never Enough, Sacrificed Sons, etc. The title track is amazing!
TOT - It seemed like a good idea, but then it lost its meaning. Some good moments and lots os excesses. I hate the legacy of this album!
SC - Pretty bad.
BC&SL - The most lazy DT album. Half of songrwriting are just jams. TSF was the worst idea they had to finalize the 12 step suit. Only TCOT saves.
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The terrible production
Couldn't disagree more. ADTOE is my ideal production for DT's music. :sadpanda:
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I understand music is subjective. I understand different eyes see different things and different hearts beat on different strings. (Sorry). And I REALLY don't mean to offend those who fall under this category.
Now with that being said, IMHO, anyone that does not have SDoIT in their top 5 just cannot be a very big fan of Dream Theater. I've said it and am ready for the backlash.
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I understand music is subjective. I understand different eyes see different things and different hearts beat on different strings. (Sorry). And I REALLY don't mean to offend those who fall under this category.
Now with that being said, IMHO, anyone that does not have SDoIT in their top 5 just cannot be a very big fan of Dream Theater. I've said it and am ready for the backlash.
But there are times, for you and me, when all such things agree
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I don't want to get my hopes up for D/T, but DT12 is my second favorite DT album, and right now I have a modified playlist composed of DT12 songs with UA replacing TEI and FitL replacing Enigma Machine, and I already like it more than DT12.
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I understand music is subjective. I understand different eyes see different things and different hearts beat on different strings. (Sorry). And I REALLY don't mean to offend those who fall under this category.
Now with that being said, IMHO, anyone that does not have SDoIT in their top 5 just cannot be a very big fan of Dream Theater. I've said it and am ready for the backlash.
I fall in this category, I am not offended, but I do am a big fan of DT :)
I think SDoIT is an ok album but:
- All of the songs of CD1 (with the exception of Disappear) are waaaaay too long and full of boring fillers. E.g. Misunderstood Radio Edit is way better than the original
- In particular, The Glass Prison has a nice riff and I love the arpeggios (great guitar exercise), but the rest of the song is IMHO useless and boring
- CD2 is nice, but the only parts I really love are the "about to crash" melodies and part of "goodnight kiss" melodies. All the rest is pretty meh from all perspectives (technique, creativity, melodies,...) . All "hard" sections are below average. Overall, I think The Astonishing is way better than CD2, by far
- The (not so) grand finale is not grand at all.
Anyway, I think it's the last CD with Portnoy I still love, notwithstanding the above comments.
Well, given that I am here...my current ranking would be..
1) Images and Words
2) Awake, SFAM
4) The Astonishing, A Dramatic Turn of Events
(Distance / Time)- prediction
6) SDoIT
7) Dream Theater
8) Train of Thoughts (only thanks to Vacant and In the Name of God)
9) Octavarium (just for the title track)
10) Systematic Chaos, Falling into Infinity, Black Clouds and Silver Linings
13) When day and Dream Unite (but with James it would have probably been a top 5)
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I love 6DoIT, but I can understand the issue on CD1's songs' lenght. It's a fine example of the songs being so long for the sake of being so long.
On CD 2, I resoundingly disagree.
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I love 6DoIT, but I can understand the issue on CD1's songs' lenght. It's a fine example of the songs being so long for the sake of being so long.
On CD 2, I resoundingly disagree.
BTW, our rankings are quite similar...:)
You just like SDOiT more than TA, for me it's the opposite...:) + minor other "adjustments" and WDADU that I would place as you do if James had been there..
But honestly, when I try to listen the old catalogue I skip all of SDOiT expect the About To Crashes...I really don't like to listen back to The Test or War Inside ..not even to the full CD as a whole..
while I still enjoy TA with just minor skips, and this is for me a good indication of the "long lasting" love that I have for a CD.
But of course, de gustibus...:)
:xbones :xbones
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I love 6DoIT, but I can understand the issue on CD1's songs' lenght. It's a fine example of the songs being so long for the sake of being so long.
On CD 2, I resoundingly disagree.
BTW, our rankings are quite similar...:)
You just like SDOiT more than TA, for me it's the opposite...:) + minor other "adjustments" and WDADU that I would place as you do if James had been there..
But honestly, when I try to listen the old catalogue I skip all of SDOiT expect the About To Crashes...I really don't like to listen back to The Test or War Inside ..not even to the full CD as a whole..
while I still enjoy TA with just minor skips, and this is for me a good indication of the "long lasting" love that I have for a CD.
But of course, de gustibus...:)
:xbones :xbones
Nice!
I think I've heard CD2 more often than CD1, even today.
In fact, from the whole discography, I really only dislike SC and BCSL. :D
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Easy to rank:
1. Images and Words
2. Scenes From A Memory
3. Awake
4. Distance Over Time
5. Dream Theater
6. Octavarium
7. The Astonishing
8. Falling Into Infinity
9. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
10. A Dramatic Turn of Events
11. Train of Thought
12. When Dream and Day Unite
13. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
14. Systematic Chaos
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My list
1 Awake
2 Train of Thought
3 Falling Into Infinity
4 Scenes From A Memory
5 Images and Words
6 Octavarium
7 Systematic Chaos
8 A Dramatic Turn of Events
9 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
10 Black Clouds and Silver Linings
11 The Astonishing (it’s ok but nothing special but I’m totally in operas and so it’s kind of cheesy for me)
12 Dream Theater(I just don’t like it it’s boring for my taste)
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Mine:
Rank Year Title
1 1999 Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory
2 2002 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
3 2009 Black Clouds & Silver Linings
4 1992 Images and Words
5 1997 Falling into Infinity
6 1994 Awake
7 2003 Train of Thought
8 2016 The Astonishing
9 2007 Systematic Chaos
10 1998 Once in a Livetime
11 1995 A Change of Seasons
12 2005 Octavarium
13 2007 Falling into Infinity Demo
14 2013 Dream Theater
15 1989 When Dream and Day Unite
16 2011 A Dramatic Turn of Events
? 2019 Distance over Time
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Being a forum noob (and a DT fan since 2003), I feel obligated to do this.
List first, commentary later.
(DoT's placement is not driven by the excitement of the new release. I have been there for all past DT albums's releases since ToT and they were never placed this high immediately. In fact their ranking has barely changed since then. I have enough of listening experience to make the distinction between a fleeting infatuation with an album and a lasting quality)
1. Scenes From a Memory
2. Images and Words
3. Awake
4. Distance Over Time
5. Falling Into Infinity
6. Train of Thought
7. The Astonishing
8. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
9. A Dramatic Turn of Events
10. Dream Theater
11. Octavarium
12. When Dream and Day Unite
13. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
14. Systematic Chaos
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Here's my ranking:
1. Distance Over Time
2. Awake
3. Train of Thought
4. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
5. Images and Words
6. Scenes From a Memory
7. Octavarium
8. A Dramatic Turn of Events
9. Falling Into Infinity
10. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
11. Dream Theater
12. The Astonishing
13. Systematic Chaos
14. When Dream and Day Unite
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Updated rankings - subject to change when the new album has settled a bit.
1) Scenes From a Memory
2) Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
3) Distance Over Time
4) Octavarium
5) Images and Words
6) A Dramatic Turn of Events
7) The Astonishing
8) Systematic Chaos
9) Awake
10) Train of Thought
11) Dream Theater
12) Black Clouds and Silver Linings
13) Falling Into Infinity
14) When Dream and Day Unite
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Oh, it's been a while. I warn you, DoT is still very fresh and its rating here might be driven by the excitement for the new release.
1. Images And Words
2. Awake
3. Scenes From A Memory
4. Distance Over Time
5. Falling Into Infinity
6. SDOIT
7. A Dramatic Turn Of Events
8. Train Of Thought
9. Octavarium
10. The Astonishing
11. Dream Theater
12. BCSL
13. Systematic Chaos
14. WDADU
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1. Images
2. Scenes
3. Awake
4. FII
5. Six Degrees
6. Train of Thought
7. Octavarium
8. BCSL
9. ADTOE
10. D/T
11. WDADU
12. The Astonishing
13. DT12
14. Systematic Chaos
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1. Images and words
2. ToT
3. Scenes
4. FII
5. Awake
6. WDADU
7. DT
8. Six Degrees
9. ADTOE
10. SC
11. DoT
12. Octavarium
13. The Astonishing
14. Black clouds
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1 Awake
2 Train of Thought
3 Falling Into Infinity
4 Scenes From A Memory
5 Distance over Time
6 Images and words
7 Octavarium
8 Systematic Chaos
9 A Dramatic Turn of Events
10 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
11 Black Clouds and Silver Linings
12The Astonishing (it’s ok but nothing special but I’m totally in operas and so it’s kind of cheesy for me)
13 Dream Theater(I just don’t like it it’s boring for my taste)
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My personal take:
1. Scenes from a Memory - My introduction to the band (and to concept albums in general). Fantastic songwriting, production and playing.
2. Systematic Chaos - IMO every tune on here smokes.
3. Distance Over Time - I know it may seem like recency bias, but this is basically everything I’ve ever wanted out of a Dream Theater album. It’s got the right balance of prog vs. metal, fantastic production, better arrangements, and fun concise (for DT) songs. Mangini’s best album as well.
4. DT12 - This was the path that led to DoT, a little more proggy with more concise songs.
5. Images and Words - I consider this to be the band-as-we-know-it’s debut album. 50% of the songs are absolutely incredible, 50% are average Dream Theater to me.
6. Train of Thought - Fantastic when it’s not going out of the way to be too metal
7. 6DOIT - Love the experimental vibes. Fantastic production too
8. ADTOE - I think this album suffered from lack of input from other band members. Drums sound too basic. But still some fun songs, and a step in the right direction after Portnoy’s departure
9. 8va - The first new album DT released during my fandom. It feels like a random collection of songs that don’t really go together to me.
10. BCSL - I love Portnoy’s playing, but his over-influence on this album kills it for me, especially his rapping on ANTR.
11. Awake - Just never connected with this album outside of a handful of songs.
12. Falling Into Infinity - Again, never really connected with this album outside of a song or two.
13. TA - Too long for its own good. There’s some great work in there, but I find it tiring to sit through all of the fat in order to find it.
14. WDADU - Production suffers, vocals are not great, songwriting is immature for the most part. My least listened to DT album.
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at the moment...
Images and Words
Scenes From a Memory
Distance Over Time
The Astonishing
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Dream Theater
Awake
Falling Into Infinity
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Train of Thought
Octavarium
Systematic Chaos
Black Clouds and Silver Linings
When Dream and Day Unite
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I understand music is subjective. I understand different eyes see different things and different hearts beat on different strings. (Sorry). And I REALLY don't mean to offend those who fall under this category.
Now with that being said, IMHO, anyone that does not have SDoIT in their top 5 just cannot be a very big fan of Dream Theater. I've said it and am ready for the backlash.
Not in my top 5 : come at me! It's number 6 actually... :biggrin: before I rank D/T.
B.Lee
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1) Images and Words
2) Awake, SFAM
4) The Astonishing, A Dramatic Turn of Events
6) SDoIT
7) Distance Over Time
8) Dream Theater
9) Train of Thoughts (only thanks to Vacant and In the Name of God)
10) Octavarium (just for the title track)
11) Systematic Chaos, Falling into Infinity, Black Clouds and Silver Linings
14) When day and Dream Unite (but with James it would have probably been a top 5)
Well, after several spins I've consolidated my view on the album.
I certainly like it, but not as much as the classics and I don't see any space for significant further improvements..
Still it's in my top half of the ranking.
I've started to like a lot PBD, and now my song ranking would be:
- Top 10 overall DT: none
- Strong like: At Wit's End, Paralyzed, Pale Blue Dot
- Like: Untethered angel, Fall Into the Light, Barstool warrior, S2N
- Sufficient: Viper King, Out of Reach
- Interesting but not my cup of tea: Room 137
- Bad: none
Highlights of the album:
- Morricone section in Fall Into the Light
- Barstool Warrior piano break + solo
- At Wit's End chorus
- First 3+ minutes of PBD
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Well, here we go since DoT is out. (Warning: This is early DoT affect. This ranking may change)
1- Awake
2- Images & Words
3- Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulance
4- Scenes From A Memory
5- Falling Into Infinity
6- Distance Over Time
7- Train Of Thought
8- The Astonishing
9- Octavarium
10- When Dream & Day Unite
11- A Dramatic Turn Of Events
12- Systematic Chaos
13- Dream Theater
14- Black Clouds Of Silver Linings
I don't think it'll go down in time. But can't decide now if FII is better or not.
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Here's my list :
1- I&W
2- Awake
3- SFAM
4- D/T
5- ToT
6- FII
7- 6DoIT
8- TA
9- ADToE
10- DT12
11- 8vm
12-SC
13- BC&SL
14- WDaDU
WDaDU could have been higher but I absolutely can't stand the sound of it, so much so that I haven't listened to it in ages.
B.Lee
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1. Awake 10/10
2. Images and Words. 10/10
3. Falling Into Infinity 9.5/10
4. When Dream and Day Unite 9.5/10
5. Black Clouds And Silver Linings 9/10
6. Distance Over Time 9/10
7. Octavarium 8.5/10
8. Scenes From a Memory 8.5/10
9. Systematic Chaos 8/10
10. A Dramatic Turn of Events 8/10
11. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 8/10
12. Dream Theater 7.5/10
13. Train of Thought 7/10
14. The Astonishing 6/10
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Awake
SDOIT
I&W
D/T
ADTOE
FII
ToT
SC
SFAM
WDADU
DT12
8V
BCSL
Not sure where to put The Astonishing because I haven't had time to sit down and listen to it all the way through.
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01 Awake
02 A Change of Seasons (EP)
03 Train Of Thought
04 Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulance
05 Black Clouds & Silver Linings
06 Systematic Chaos
07 Octavarium
08 Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From A Memory
09 Falling Into Infinity
10 Images And Words
11 Distance Over Time
12 A Dramatic Turn Of Events
13 Dream Theater (self-titled)
14 The Astonishing
15 When Dream And Day Unite
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SFAM
I&W
SDOIT
Awake
D/T
FII
The Astonishing
TOT
DT
BC&SL
WDADU
Octavarium
ADTOE
SC
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It's hard to do, but I'd have to break the albums down to four tiers:
Images and Words
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Awake
Scenes From a Memory
--
Distance Over Time
The Astonishing
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Falling Into Infinity
--
Dream Theater
Train of Thought
Octavarium
Systematic Chaos
--
When Dream and Day Unite
Black Clouds and Silver Linings
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Changes, often, but here's mine:
Tier 1 (Incredible):
Awake
Images & Words
Tier 2 (Fantastic):
SFAM
Train of Thought
Distance over Time
Tier 3 (Great):
Six Degrees
The Astonishing
Tier 4 (Good):
ADToE
Dream Theater (ST)
Tier 5 (Meh):
Octavarium
BC&SL
Falling Into Infinity
Tier 6 (Bleh):
Systematic Chaos
WDaDU
Besides Awake being my solid #1 and SC/WDaDU being at the bottom, these shift around quite a bit from year to year of listening.
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01) Images & Words
02) Awake
03) Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
04) Scene's From A Memory
05) A Dramatic Turn of Events
06) Dream Theater
07) Systematic Chaos
08) Falling Into Infinity
09) Train Of Thought
10) Octavarium
11) The Astonishing
12) Black Clouds & Silver Linings
13) When Dream and Day Unite
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Don’t have D/T yet?
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As of right now...although this could change in a few months once I’m used to D/T.
01: Scenes From a Memory
02: Octavarium
03: Images and Words
04: Distance Over Time
05: A Dramatic Turn of Events
06: Awake
07: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
08: Train of Thought
09: The Astonishing
10: Black Clouds & Silver Linings
11: Dream Theater
12: When Dream and Day Unite
13: Systematic Chaos
14: Falling Into Infinity
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May be subject to change if my thoughts on the new record change in the future. As of now:
Fantastic - 9/10
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Scenes From a Memory
Images & Words
Great - 8 or 7/10
Awake
Octavarium
Train of Thought
OK or Decent - 6/10
Falling Into Infinity
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Distance Over Time
Dream Theater
Systematic Chaos
Meh or Dislike - 5/10 or below
Black Clouds & Silver Linings
When Dream and Day Unite
The Astonishing
For now it sits comfortably between ADTOE and DT12. I think if not for BAI, DoT would easily be the best album in the Mangini-era.
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1. Images and Words
2. Scenes From a Memory
3. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
4. Octavarium (yes, I have it THAT high)
5. A Dramatic Turn of Events
6. Distance Over Time
7. Train of Thought
8. Awake
9. Systematic Chaos
10. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
11. The Astonishing
12. Dream Theater
13. Falling Into Infinity
14. A Change of Seasons (ranked this low because of all of the covers, which are cool, but...)
15. When Dream and Day Unite
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01. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence [10/10]
02. Awake [10/10]
03. Images and Words [10/10]
04. Train of Thought [9.8/10]
05. Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory [9.7/10]
06. Octavarium [9.5/10]
07. Black Clouds & Silver Linings [9.2/10]
08. Distance Over Time [8.5/10]
09. A Dramatic Turn of Events [8.2/10]
10. Falling Into Infinity [7.9/10]
11. Systematic Chaos [7.3/10]
12. Dream Theater [6.2/10]
13. The Astonishing [5/10]
14. When Dream and Day Unite [4.5/10]
DOT has potential to move up in rating, but might not move up in ranking.
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Ooh, this is fun! My current ranking, from favorite to least favorite.
1 - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
2 - Images & Words
3 - Awake
4 - Distance Over Time
5 - Scenes From A Memory
6 - Systematic Chaos
7 - The Astonishing
8 - A Dramatic Turn of Events
9 - Octavarium
10 - Falling Into Infinity
11 - self-titled
12 - Train of Thought
13 - Black Clouds and Silver Linings
14 - When Dream and Day Unite
Well, that was a little more difficult than I expected. The only album I truly do not enjoy is WDaDU. BC&SL is super low, but I absolutely love The Count of Tuscany. TOT I think is marginally stronger overall, although there isn't a similar standout track to me off of that album. I honestly haven't spun TOT in probably 8 years and should give it another listen. Since joining this forum, I get the sense that lots of people love TOT.
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It's been awhile since I've done a ranking and it has probably changed since the last time.
Brilliant
Images and Words
Falling Into Infinity
Scenes from a Memory
Six Degrees
Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Great
A Change of Seasons
Octavarium
Systematic Chaos
Dramatic Turn of Events
Good
Train of Thought
The Astonishing
OK
When Dream and Day Unite
Dream Theater
Don't Care For
Awake
Distance Over Time
Let the flaming begin.....
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Amazing
I&W
SFaM
Very very good
The Astonishing
D/T
aDToE
ToT
Awake
Can listen skipping some few songs
DT
SC
Octavarium
Can listen a couple songs from
WDaDU
FII
SDoIT
Can't listen
BCaSL
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My ranking and ratings:
1. Images and Words (5/5)
2. Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory (5/5)
3. Awake (4.5/5)
4. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (4/5)
5. Train of Thought (4/5)
6. Octavarium (3.5/5)
7. Black Clouds & Silver Linings (3/5)
8. Falling Into Infinity (3/5)
9. Distance Over Time (3/5)
That's all. Not a fan of other albums, I would rate them below 3 stars.
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It's hard for me to rank them all since a lot of them fall into ( the light ) the "pretty good" tier.
But my #1 is still Octavarium and my least fave is probably WDADU.
Top 3 :
1.Octavarium
2.Scenes
3.Six Degrees
Bottom 3 :
12. Awake ( Yes I just find it boring )
13. Systematic Chaos
14. WDADU
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Images and Words (1992)
Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999)
Octavarium (2005)
Awake (1994)
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002)
A Dramatic Turn of Events (2011)
Systematic Chaos (2007)
Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009)
Falling into Infinity (1997)
Distance over Time (2019)
Train of Thought (2003)
Dream Theater (2013)
The Astonishing (2016)
When Dream and Day Unite (1989)
The first couple and last couple are clearly where they are, and that won't likely change. I'll always say I&W is one, just out of loyalty, WDADU will always be last, simply because of the vocals. But within the little groups, things could change on any given day. Two through five are very close (Awake will never be two, and Octavarium and Metropolis will never likely be five, but still that whole group is virtually equal). The next two groups are, within themselves, basically interchangeable. I couldn't really rate which is better, SC or BC&SL.
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Well, talk about a bump!
I can do a top 3, maybe a top 5 if I try hard enough. My tastes are always changing but my top 3 is pretty much going to always stay the same.
1. Images & Words
2. Awake
3. Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory
4. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
5. Train of Thought
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Images and Words (1992)
Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999)
Octavarium (2005)
Awake (1994)
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002)
A Dramatic Turn of Events (2011)
Systematic Chaos (2007)
Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009)
Falling into Infinity (1997)
Distance over Time (2019)
Train of Thought (2003)
Dream Theater (2013)
The Astonishing (2016)
When Dream and Day Unite (1989)
Why is Train of Thought so low?
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Images and Words (1992)
Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999)
Octavarium (2005)
Awake (1994)
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002)
A Dramatic Turn of Events (2011)
Systematic Chaos (2007)
Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009)
Falling into Infinity (1997)
Distance over Time (2019)
Train of Thought (2003)
Dream Theater (2013)
The Astonishing (2016)
When Dream and Day Unite (1989)
Why is Train of Thought so low?
I more or less agree with this list, but yea, I would put ToT in the bottom of the 2nd tier, it's one of their best albums, and maybe switch SC and BC&L and move ADTOE a little lower.
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It just doesn't click with me; I'm a metal guy, I guess, but that's not what I listen to Dream Theater for. When they devolve into Metallica territory, they lose me. I'm a melody guy, too. You'll notice that the albums around it are in the top tier, and unapologetically so.
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This will probably be inconsistent with what I've done before.
1-3. SFAM, I&W and 6DOIT -- probably in that order, but they're largely interchangeable.
4. Awake -- excellent album, but not on the same level as the top 3.
5-8 (in chron order) TOT, 8VA, ADTOE and DT12 -- fairly interchangeable in terms of rankings; each has a couple of duds, but they're overall really strong albums.
9. BC&SL -- half of it is quite enjoyable (Wither, TSF and TCOT); the other half is forgettable.
10-12. WDADU, FII and SC -- each has a couple of bright spots, but they're overall hiccups in an otherwise excellent catalog.
Not ranked: The Astonishing -- if I did rank it, it would be in the bottom group, but I still don't feel like I've given it a reasonable chance, so I don't feel like it's fair to rank it.
I don't think anything has changed here except that TA firmly occupies the #14 spot, and I'd probably move WDADU out of the bottom group with FII and SC. DOT does not crack the 5-8 group, so I'd put it in the 9-11 group with WDADU and BC&SL.
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1A) & 1B) Images and Words (1992) & Awake (1994)
3) Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999)
4) Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002)
5) A Dramatic Turn of Events (2011)
6) Train of Thought (2003)
7) Dream Theater (2013)
8)Falling into Infinity (1997)
9) Octavarium (2005)
10) The Astonishing (2016)
11) Distance over Time (2019)
12) Systematic Chaos (2007)
13) Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009)
14) When Dream and Day Unite (1989)
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It just doesn't click with me; I'm a metal guy, I guess, but that's not what I listen to Dream Theater for. When they devolve into Metallica territory, they lose me. I'm a melody guy, too. You'll notice that the albums around it are in the top tier, and unapologetically so.
The only obviously Metallica inspired thing they do is the opening track. Sure, there's more emphasis on heaviness and riffs, but there's tons of great melodies throughout the album as well and quite a variety of sounds (and Myung has never been so present in the mix without a distorted sound since.)
Then you have Vacant, one of their most beautiful songs, and ITNOG, one of their best shorter epics.
To me, the "metuul" sound is forced after Octavarium, and the power and bigness of their post-Scenes metal sound (TGP, all of ToT, Panic Attack, etc..) was lost when MP left, MM just doesn't fill the sound behind JP and JM like MP did.
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1- Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
2- Images & Words
3- A Dramatic Turn of Events
4- Scenes From A Memory
5- Awake
6- Train of Thought
7- Black Clouds and Silver Linings
8- Octavarium
9- Systematic Chaos
10- Falling Into Infinity
11- Dream Theater
12- Distance Over Time
13- When Dream and Day Unite
14- The Astonishing
Some qualifications: SDOIT and I&W often move back and forth in these lists, but I haven't heard anything from this band to topple either one of those from where they are now. Who knows what the future will bring? I never thought Fates Warning would make my favorite album of theirs (Theories of Flight) more than 30 years after my previous favorite, No Exit. Long Day Good Night is very solid too, not quite the masterpiece that is ToF but I'd put it right up there with Fates Warning's best albums. Definitely a top 5 album for me and they've been around for closing in on 40 years now. That gives me hope that Dream Theater still have another SDOIT or I&W in them. And no, I'm not asking for clones of those albums, I am referring strictly to the quality of the albums in general.
What is sort of new(ish) for me in this list is that over time and as Dream Theater has now released 3 more albums after ADTOE, that album has continued to age extremely well for me. I think it's easily the best music they've produced post-Portnoy. Yes, the production is a bit lackluster compared to what came before AND after it, but musically, for my money that album delivers the goods every time I listen to it. It's exactly the kind of music I listen to Dream Theater for and what pulled me under in to becoming a fan way back in '92 when I first heard Pull Me Under.
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I haven't ranked the albums in years. My list goes probably something like this...
1. Metropolis pt 2: Scenes from a memory
2. Images and words
3. Awake
4. A Dramatic turn of events
5. The Astonishing
6. Six degrees of inner turbulence
7. Systematic chaos
8. Train of thought
9. Black clouds & silver linings
10. Octavarium
11. Distance over time
12. Dream Theater
13. When dream and day unite
14. Falling into infinity
Even most of the ones at the bottom are fairly good, though. At this point, if a new album doesn't end up in the bottom five, I am happy. ;D
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1 - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
2 - Scenes From A Memory
3 - Images & Words
4 - Octavarium
5 - A Dramatic Turn of Events
6 - Train of Thought
7 - Distance Over Time
8 - Black Clouds and Silver Linings
9 - Awake
10 - Falling Into Infinity
11 - Dream Theater
12 - Systematic Chaos
13 - The Astonishing
14 - When Dream and Day Unite
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It pleases me greatly to see all the love that ADTOE is getting. I think it's Dream Theater's best songwriting since 6DOIT
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It pleases me greatly to see all the love that ADTOE is getting. I think it's Dream Theater's best songwriting since 6DOIT
Agreed
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(https://i.imgur.com/Idrmy9Q.png)
95+: Classic - Must Have
85-95: Very good - Must Have for DT Fan
75-85: Good - Worth having
65-75: Meh - for collectors
<65: Bleh - for completionists only
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Everything after 6DOIT is "For collectors"? That seems a bit harsh, even for a non-fan. Even if it's not your favorite, just the title track makes Octavarium more than just "for collectors".
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Everything after 6DOIT is "For collectors"? That seems a bit harsh, even for a non-fan. Even if it's not your favorite, just the title track makes Octavarium more than just "for collectors".
I find it odd that 74/100 only qualifies as "meh - for collectors." Even more odd is that albums scoring 65, 75, 85 and 95 would fall, simultaneously, into two different categories. In other words, an album scoring a 75 is both "meh - for collectors" AND "good - worth having." Awake is, at the same time, both "good - worth having" and "very good - must have for DT fan."
FII and SDOIT are only 1-2 points into the "good - worth having" range. Otherwise, MHStrawn seems to think only three albums (plus side 1 of ACOS) are worth much of anything.
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Everything after 6DOIT is "For collectors"? That seems a bit harsh, even for a non-fan. Even if it's not your favorite, just the title track makes Octavarium more than just "for collectors".
I find it odd that 74/100 only qualifies as "meh - for collectors." Even more odd is that albums scoring 65, 75, 85 and 95 would fall, simultaneously, into two different categories. In other words, an album scoring a 75 is both "meh - for collectors" AND "good - worth having." Awake is, at the same time, both "good - worth having" and "very good - must have for DT fan."
FII and SDOIT are only 1-2 points into the "good - worth having" range. Otherwise, MHStrawn seems to think only three albums (plus side 1 of ACOS) are worth much of anything.
You: So, what do you think of the new (name your band) album?
Me: It's good! Definitely worth having!
You: Oh, so you don't think it's worth much of anything.
Me: Um....that's pretty much the opposite of what I said but....if that's what you take from it.
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Everything after 6DOIT is "For collectors"? That seems a bit harsh, even for a non-fan. Even if it's not your favorite, just the title track makes Octavarium more than just "for collectors".
I find it odd that 74/100 only qualifies as "meh - for collectors." Even more odd is that albums scoring 65, 75, 85 and 95 would fall, simultaneously, into two different categories. In other words, an album scoring a 75 is both "meh - for collectors" AND "good - worth having." Awake is, at the same time, both "good - worth having" and "very good - must have for DT fan."
FII and SDOIT are only 1-2 points into the "good - worth having" range. Otherwise, MHStrawn seems to think only three albums (plus side 1 of ACOS) are worth much of anything.
You: So, what do you think of the new (name your band) album?
Me: It's good! Definitely worth having!
You: Oh, so you don't think it's worth much of anything.
Me: Um....that's pretty much the opposite of what I said but....if that's what you take from it.
I'm not sure snark is warranted; you've got two pretty smart people (well, one and me) and we had questions. You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but rest easy, if it was that clear one of us would have figured it out on our own. ;)
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With Dream Theater is it so hard to rank albums, because... the ones I do not enjoy that much, are obviously ones that I don't listen to enough. Listening carefully is the perfect cure to raise the value of an album. Having said, if I had to rank them now, I'll throw them in some groups, to follow a perfect example from the first page.
Good: Falling into Infinity / Systematic Chaos / The Astonishing / Distance over Time
Great: When Dream and Day Unite / Images & Words / Awake / Scenes from a Memory / Octavarium
Brilliant: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence / a Dramatic Turn of Events / Dream Theater
Perfect: Train of Thought & Black Clouds & Silver Linings
The EP Change of Seasons would be 'good', the song thought, is perfect. If I had to rank live albums, it would be like this...
Good: Live at the Marquee / Once in a Livetime
Great: Live Scenes from New York / Score / Chaos in Motion / Distant Memories
Brilliant: Live in Budokan / Breaking the Fourth Wall
Perfect: Live in Luna Park
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Perfect: . . . Black Clouds & Silver Linings
There's two things that have rarely, if ever, been put together.
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Perfect: . . . Black Clouds & Silver Linings
There's two things that have rarely, if ever, been put together.
Ya, that got a major Spock eyebrow from me as well.
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Everything after 6DOIT is "For collectors"? That seems a bit harsh, even for a non-fan. Even if it's not your favorite, just the title track makes Octavarium more than just "for collectors".
I find it odd that 74/100 only qualifies as "meh - for collectors." Even more odd is that albums scoring 65, 75, 85 and 95 would fall, simultaneously, into two different categories. In other words, an album scoring a 75 is both "meh - for collectors" AND "good - worth having." Awake is, at the same time, both "good - worth having" and "very good - must have for DT fan."
FII and SDOIT are only 1-2 points into the "good - worth having" range. Otherwise, MHStrawn seems to think only three albums (plus side 1 of ACOS) are worth much of anything.
You: So, what do you think of the new (name your band) album?
Me: It's good! Definitely worth having!
You: Oh, so you don't think it's worth much of anything.
Me: Um....that's pretty much the opposite of what I said but....if that's what you take from it.
Actually it's more like:
Forum: Rank The Dream Theater Albums
You: 6+7x(24 x 8)-(24x7)=7/8∞450 > 11 = Good --but-- 6+7x(24 x 8)-(24x7)=7/8∞450 > 11 = Meh
Forum: wut?
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Everything after 6DOIT is "For collectors"? That seems a bit harsh, even for a non-fan. Even if it's not your favorite, just the title track makes Octavarium more than just "for collectors".
Not totally on topic here, but for the most part, for newbs to this kind of music I only recommend I&W and Scenes- at that point you’re either a fan or not. If someone actually likes those albums I would recommend they check out the entire discography, because it’s all worth a listen. If they aren’t digging it, then it’s unlikely any of the other albums will convert them.
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I’ve been a fan since IAW was first released, and I think 8V is their masterpiece. I always refer newbs to that album specifically. It is the perfect cross-section of every facet of the band’s sound.
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There's two things that have rarely, if ever, been put together.
I know they're not much out there who feel the same. But to me a Nightmare is a absolute masterpeace. A Rite of Passage and Wither are great songs, but especially the Shattered Fortress brings a perfect closure to the Twelve Step Suite. And than, the Count of Tuscany will forever be in my top 3 Dream Theater songs. So therefore, this album is truly special for me. Only Best of Times I do not like that much, althought that fact that Portnoy played it for his daddy close before he died, is very nice and emotional.
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I’ve been a fan since IAW was first released, and I think 8V is their masterpiece. I always refer newbs to that album specifically. It is the perfect cross-section of every facet of the band’s sound.
I agree with you that Octavarium has a lot of variety, but if I can push back just a bit ;), even though I like (not love) both songs, I don't think I would want The Answer Lies Within and I Walk Beside You to be two of the first four songs a potential new fan hears by Dream Theater, which is why 8V is not an album I'd recommend as a starter, but that's me. First impressions are always important, IMO.
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I’ve been a fan since IAW was first released, and I think 8V is their masterpiece. I always refer newbs to that album specifically. It is the perfect cross-section of every facet of the band’s sound.
I agree with you that Octavarium has a lot of variety, but if I can push back just a bit ;), even though I like (not love) both songs, I don't think I would want The Answer Lies Within and I Walk Beside You to be two of the first four songs a potential new fan hears by Dream Theater, which is why 8V is not an album I'd recommend as a starter, but that's me. First impressions are always important, IMO.
I like TALW, but I think IWBY is probably a bottom 10 DT song, so I agree with that and would also add Never Enough (if for no other reason than it would necessitate talking about all of the history behind the crybaby lyrics).
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There's two things that have rarely, if ever, been put together.
I know they're not much out there who feel the same. But to me a Nightmare is a absolute masterpeace. A Rite of Passage and Wither are great songs, but especially the Shattered Fortress brings a perfect closure to the Twelve Step Suite. And than, the Count of Tuscany will forever be in my top 3 Dream Theater songs. So therefore, this album is truly special for me. Only Best of Times I do not like that much, althought that fact that Portnoy played it for his daddy close before he died, is very nice and emotional.
I'm with you. I actually think TBOT is great, and I actually find BC&SL to be a flawed masterpiece, and like a bad movie that's so bad it's good, I like BC&SL for its flaws and for its greatness, whereas I really do not like the flaws of Mangini-era albums. My main issue with BC&SL is it's the hardest album to hear the bass, and many of the vocal melodies run parallel to what the other instruments are playing, instead of being independent of what everyone else is playing. This album is the last classic JLB album, as after this his vocals have become drenched in effects on the studio albums.
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I’ve been a fan since IAW was first released, and I think 8V is their masterpiece. I always refer newbs to that album specifically. It is the perfect cross-section of every facet of the band’s sound.
I agree with you that Octavarium has a lot of variety, but if I can push back just a bit ;), even though I like (not love) both songs, I don't think I would want The Answer Lies Within and I Walk Beside You to be two of the first four songs a potential new fan hears by Dream Theater, which is why 8V is not an album I'd recommend as a starter, but that's me. First impressions are always important, IMO.
I like TALW, but I think IWBY is probably a bottom 10 DT song, so I agree with that and would also add Never Enough (if for no other reason than it would necessitate talking about all of the history behind the crybaby lyrics).
I don't have the energy to litigate the validity of the lyrics in Never Enough again :lol, but I will just say that a first time listener likely wouldn't figure out immediately what the song is about, unless they somehow knew the backstory beforehand.
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There is absolutely nothing wrong with the lyrics to Never Enough.
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I’ve been a fan since IAW was first released, and I think 8V is their masterpiece. I always refer newbs to that album specifically. It is the perfect cross-section of every facet of the band’s sound.
I agree with you that Octavarium has a lot of variety, but if I can push back just a bit ;), even though I like (not love) both songs, I don't think I would want The Answer Lies Within and I Walk Beside You to be two of the first four songs a potential new fan hears by Dream Theater, which is why 8V is not an album I'd recommend as a starter, but that's me. First impressions are always important, IMO.
I think they are important. Not only to the album, but as a part of what Dream Theater IS.
One of the first things that completely hooked me about this band was the 1-2 “punch” of Pull Me Under to Another Day. If you are going to like this band, you need to know right out of the gate that you are going to get “Metallica” one minute, and “Kenny G” the next.
Going from TROAE, to TALW, to TW, to IWBY is a perfect cross section of all the different sounds that DT is capable of manifesting.
EDIT - in fact, I challenge you to name a DT album with more variety in the first four songs than the one I just mentioned. IAW comes close but still isn’t quite as varied as the first 4 from 8V
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For me, even though I love 8V, they not only overutilized inspiration corner, they actually tried to mimick other bands. Even in the way James was asked to sing. Mike was mesmerized by Muse back then.
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I’ve been a fan since IAW was first released, and I think 8V is their masterpiece. I always refer newbs to that album specifically. It is the perfect cross-section of every facet of the band’s sound.
I agree with you that Octavarium has a lot of variety, but if I can push back just a bit ;), even though I like (not love) both songs, I don't think I would want The Answer Lies Within and I Walk Beside You to be two of the first four songs a potential new fan hears by Dream Theater, which is why 8V is not an album I'd recommend as a starter, but that's me. First impressions are always important, IMO.
I think they are important. Not only to the album, but as a part of what Dream Theater IS.
One of the first things that completely hooked me about this band was the 1-2 “punch” of Pull Me Under to Another Day. If you are going to like this band, you need to know right out of the gate that you are going to get “Metallica” one minute, and “Kenny G” the next.
Going from TROAE, to TALW, to TW, to IWBY is a perfect cross section of all the different sounds that DT is capable of manifesting.
EDIT - in fact, I challenge you to name a DT album with more variety in the first four songs than the one I just mentioned. IAW comes close but still isn’t quite as varied as the first 4 from 8V
I am not challenging the variety, but variety for variety's sake when the songwriting isn't very good is not necessarily a good thing. Pull Me Under and Another Day work as a great 1-2 punch as a starter because both songs are awesome (and the fanbase by and large agrees). The "Kenny G" song on 8V, The Answer Lies Within, is not highly regarded by the fanbase (by and large). I totally get the logic of giving a new potential fan an album with lots of variety, but I think high quality is needed as well, and, IMO, you don't get that on a consistent level at the start of 8V.
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For me, even though I love 8V, they not only overutilized inspiration corner, they actually tried to mimick other bands. Even in the way James was asked to sing. Mike was mesmerized by Muse back then.
Very true. Actually I think the first 4 songs from ADTOE has amazing variety. That would be my #1 pick on that topic.
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EDIT - in fact, I challenge you to name a DT album with more variety in the first four songs than the one I just mentioned. IAW comes close but still isn’t quite as varied as the first 4 from 8V
I don't know if it's actually more variety, but Six Degrees, with Glass Prison / Blind Faith / Misunderstood and the Great Debate - to me - is splended variety as well. Every aspect of the band is involved in these four songs.
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As much as I like Octavarium, the variation on that album comes off to me as more imitation than integration, in regards to how it connects to the band's wider sound. If I was trying to recommend Dream Theater to someone, I wouldn't go with a song like Never Enough because that wouldn't really show if they like Dream Theater, it'd probably show if they like Muse instead. It's like their Hail to the King in that sense. I think albums like ADToE and SDoIT strike closer to the band's signature identity as a band, while still remaining broad.
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I’ve been a fan since IAW was first released, and I think 8V is their masterpiece. I always refer newbs to that album specifically. It is the perfect cross-section of every facet of the band’s sound.
I agree with you that Octavarium has a lot of variety, but if I can push back just a bit ;), even though I like (not love) both songs, I don't think I would want The Answer Lies Within and I Walk Beside You to be two of the first four songs a potential new fan hears by Dream Theater, which is why 8V is not an album I'd recommend as a starter, but that's me. First impressions are always important, IMO.
I like TALW, but I think IWBY is probably a bottom 10 DT song, so I agree with that and would also add Never Enough (if for no other reason than it would necessitate talking about all of the history behind the crybaby lyrics).
I don't have the energy to litigate the validity of the lyrics in Never Enough again :lol, but I will just say that a first time listener likely wouldn't figure out immediately what the song is about, unless they somehow knew the backstory beforehand.
I'm not suggesting the feelings that led to the lyrics weren't valid. The verses display all the maturity of a teenage YouTuber, and that's apparent whether or not one knows the back story.
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Scenes from a Memory A++
Images and Words A+-
Awake A+
Train of Thought A
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence A-
Octavarium B++
Falling into Infinity B+
A Dramatic Turn of Events B
Systematic Chaos B-
Black Clouds and Silver Linings B--
When Dream and Day Unite C
Dream Theater C-
Distance over Time C--
The Astonishing F-----------------------------------
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Welcome to DTF DTwwbwMP!
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Been away a long while ;)
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Were you someone else before?
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hmmmm....perhaps ;) :P :laugh: :justjen :huh:
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Great :
1. Octavarium
2. Scenes From A Memory
3. Six Degrees
4. Distance Over Time
5. Train Of Thought
Good :
6. The Astonishing
7. Dream Theater
8. A Dramatic Turn of Events
9. Falling Into Infinity
10. Images And Words
Not my favourites :
11. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
12. Awake
13. Systematic Chaos
14. When Dream & Day Unite
The 'Epics'
1. Octavarium
2. Six Degrees
3. The Count Of Tuscany
4. Illumination Theory
5. In The Presence Of Enemies
6. A Change OF Seasons
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Great:
1. Scenes From A Memory
2. Images & Words
3. Awake
4. Train Of Thought
5. Six Degrees
VERY Good:
6. Octavarium
7. Falling Into Infinity
8. A Dramatic Turn of Events
Good:
9. Systematic Chaos
10. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
Average:
11. When Dream and Day Unite
12. Dream Theater
13. Distance over Time
DO NOT LIKE AT ALL (other than 3 songs - TGOM, ANB & ONW)
14. The "un" Astonishing :facepalm:
The 'Epics'
GREAT:
1. A Change OF Seasons
2. Octavarium
3. Six Degrees
VERY GOOD
4. The Count Of Tuscany
5. In The Presence Of Enemies
6. Illumination Theory
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Were you someone else before?
He was Nicholas.
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Were you someone else before?
He was Nicholas.
....or maybe Victoria :P
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Scenes From a Memory
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Awake
Images and Words
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Falling Into Infinity
DT12
Octavarium
Distance Over Time
A Change of Seasons
Train of Thought
Systematic Chaos
Black Clouds and Silver Linings
The Astonishing
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Slightly off topic, but went for a run yesterday, and just shuffled my DT library. A bunch of songs came up in random order from "The Astonishing", and I thoroughly enjoyed them. All good if some don't connect with it, but for me, that album really has some great music on, with some real gems.
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There's two things that have rarely, if ever, been put together.
I know they're not much out there who feel the same. But to me a Nightmare is a absolute masterpeace. A Rite of Passage and Wither are great songs, but especially the Shattered Fortress brings a perfect closure to the Twelve Step Suite. And than, the Count of Tuscany will forever be in my top 3 Dream Theater songs. So therefore, this album is truly special for me. Only Best of Times I do not like that much, althought that fact that Portnoy played it for his daddy close before he died, is very nice and emotional.
This is what I love about the band. Black Clouds is at the bottom of the rankings for me: I find Nightmare a hot mess other than the beautiful agony section, A Rite of Passage and Wither are real bottom tier "mailing it in" tracks for me, Shattered fortress is not bad if a bit unnecessarily bloated and long, Best of times I never revisit and just does zero for me other than the Rush-inspired solo intro and I have always loved the Count. I dont write this to be argumentative or negative, just to point out that what doesn't work for me, someone else sees beauty in and there are so many stories like that from so many DT albums. It's terrific we can all get some joy out of the band in so many different ways and through different songs/albums :tup
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jayvee3, couldn’t agree more. There’s so much out there to (re)discover. To me, I’m currently more into the lyrics and that brings a whole new level of beauty in some tracks. For example the Ministry of Lost Souls, beautiful writings in there.
The more I find out and discover, the more my respect and love for the band have grown.