One thing I've noticed about Octavarium (NO NUGGETS)...

[Plasmastrike]

Wow, I agree with BRGM's mental album lumping.

[King Postwhore]

I've always loved th album.  I think the title song and SS are the best 1-2 punch ever.  Yes there are some weaker songs and some albums are a bit stronger but I like the sound they were going for on this CD.

[BRGM]

Wow, I agree with BRGM's mental album lumping.

Ofc you do  We both got curly hair! 

[setrataeso]

Logic leaps FTW!

[hefdaddy42]

I actually think the title track is DT's best written song.

Yes, but take that song off, and this album plummets farther, faster, and longer than removing any other single song from any other album.

[toro]

I actually think the title track is DT's best written song.

Yes, but take that song off, and this album plummets farther, faster, and longer than removing any other single song from any other album.

Exactly.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

I actually think the title track is DT's best written song.

Yes, but take that song off, and this album plummets farther, faster, and longer than removing any other single song from any other album.

Very true. Well except maybe if you remove aCoS from it's album.

[BRGM]

Why would we remove 23 mins from an Album anyways? :S that's like TCoT and Wither or ITNOG and SOC etc etc and so and so

[hefdaddy42]

I actually think the title track is DT's best written song.

Yes, but take that song off, and this album plummets farther, faster, and longer than removing any other single song from any other album.

Very true. Well except maybe if you remove aCoS from it's album.

That's not an album.  It's an EP.  It's like a single of ACOS, with some bonus live tracks.

[KevShmev]

Why would we remove 23 mins from an Album anyways? :S that's like TCoT and Wither or ITNOG and SOC etc etc and so and so

I think hef's point was that if you take the best song off of every DT album and then ranked the albums, OV would sit at the bottom.  Hard to argue with that, although it might still beat SC.

[TAC]

Hef..yes
Kev..no
 

[orcus116]

Nah it'd still beat SC. ITPOE Part 1 and Repentance are more music timewise but I'd take TROAE and These Walls over them.

[Perpetual Change]

I actually think the title track is DT's best written song.

Yes, but take that song off, and this album plummets farther, faster, and longer than removing any other single song from any other album.

Good thing that track accounts for about 1/3rd of the album!

[Global Laziness]

Although I know it's been said, personally I find that The Answer Lies Within and I Walk Beside You really don't hold much ground against many of Dream Theater's other lighter and shorter songs in their catalogue (both prior to and after the album was released). The Root of All Evil and Panic Attack, while good, are very standard mid-length Dream Theater songs with very little to differentiate them from other mid-length songs. Sacrificed Sons and Octavarium both drag on in the first half or so and feel somewhat inflated (again, this is my personal opinion) and Never Enough is widely seen as borrowing too heavily from Muse's style.

So yeah, on the whole Octavarium comes across as weaker than Dream Theater's other albums, and as such, it is my least favourite album that they have released. That isn't to say that it doesn't have its strong and even amazing moments, only that there are fewer of them than Dream Theater's other outputs.

[MykeHavoc]

Why would we remove 23 mins from an Album anyways? :S that's like TCoT and Wither or ITNOG and SOC etc etc and so and so

I think hef's point was that if you take the best song off of every DT album and then ranked the albums, OV would sit at the bottom.  Hard to argue with that, although it might still beat SC.

I still disagree. It's an interesting thing to theorize though: if you removed your favorite song from each record, would the ranking change? I smell a new thread...and I'm too lazy to start, so one of you do it

[7StringedBeast]

I love octavarium to death.  Besides scenes, it is the album I listen to the most.  It also houses the greatest song they have ever written, and my favorite song of all time.  I consider it to be a part of the SFAM - 8vm era.  SC started this whole new era with signing with roadrunner.  Once they signed with roadrunner they got this new stereotypical metal look and feel about the band.  It was like a whole attitude change.  They strayed from the prog side and went down the metal side. 

So I think there is a clear cut line where one era ended and then another began.  To me 8vm is right up there with scenes, images and words, and ToT for my favorite albums.

[SystematicThought]

I love octavarium to death.  Besides scenes, it is the album I listen to the most.  It also houses the greatest song they have ever written, and my favorite song of all time.  I consider it to be a part of the SFAM - 8vm era.  SC started this whole new era with signing with roadrunner.  Once they signed with roadrunner they got this new stereotypical metal look and feel about the band.  It was like a whole attitude change.  They strayed from the prog side and went down the metal side. 

So I think there is a clear cut line where one era ended and then another began.  To me 8vm is right up there with scenes, images and words, and ToT for my favorite albums.

Yeah, I'll agree with the eras aspect.

Octavarium will always hold a special place in my mind because it was the second DT album I bought. Nothing will change that.