I have a feeling this will be a pretty controversial group. It wouldn't surprise me at all if I'm told that these all need to be ranked higher.
25.
Finally FreeI originally told myself that in these write-ups, I would stick to discussion of the individual merits of each song, without talking about their roles on their albums or anything like that. In the case of Finally Free, I have to break that resolution; the song’s role on SFAM is simply too big a part of why I love it so much.
As an individual song, Finally Free isn’t necessarily a favorite of mine, but in the context of listening to SFAM, it is an obvious standout. This is the song that brings the story to a close and fills in all the gaps. It does an excellent job of wrapping everything up and tying the whole album together, both musically and conceptually. In terms of storytelling, it is simply marvelous, with the ‘Open your eyes, Victoria/Nicholas’ segments never failing to give me chills, and the ‘then came a shot out of the night’ line coming with an ominous sense of dread it’d be difficult to put into words. Truly, this is the climax of the story, and it is executed absolutely brilliantly.
In its own right, putting SFAM aside, this song also has an excellent build-up and a singularly great chorus, each repetition of it changing slightly to match the tone of the story in a way that adds a really cool layer to the continuity of the song. Pretty much everyone in the band is on fire in this one. So, though it is at its best as a closer to SFAM, this song shines no matter how you look at it. Great, great song.
24.
SurroundedAh, Surrounded. It’s really a shame this song doesn’t get more attention. I mean, I never really see anyone with anything bad to say about it, but I also don’t often see it getting much praise. Maybe it just gets overlooked sometimes, being surrounded by greatness on Images and Words – I don’t know. What I do know is, this little gem of a song is absolutely positively gorgeous. I remember the first time I listened to Images and Words, this was one of the songs that really jumped out at me. Because as I listened, I kept thinking, “Wow, that’s beautiful.” There’s not a single moment in this song that isn’t at least pretty to me, and for a shorter song, it packs a ton of moments that simply take my breath away. The opening notes are very pretty – and they inspire beauty even by their disappearance, because I’ve always felt that the moment when the intro melody fades away is really lovely. I adore the soothing guitar tones when the song starts to pick up the pace a little bit. And then when the song really comes to life at around the 1:50 mark, the way the melody just sort of explodes… utterly beautiful. That’s what this song is throughout: utterly beautiful. Great lyrics, great vocals (“Light to dark, dark to light…”), fantastic instrumental work all around… A truly dazzling song.
23.
Trial of TearsI’m going to go out on a limb and say that this might be Myung’s best work overall. Of the songs with JM lyrics, this isn’t my favorite song, but it does contain some of my favorite lyrics of his – and besides that, he is incredible on bass here. He adds a LOT to this song with his grooves, and… well, JM’s just terrific in this song. Of course, that’s not to take anything away from the other members of the band. This contains arguably one of Petrucci’s greatest guitar solos, and a couple of truly excellent keyboard solos from Derek. And Labrie is pretty great here, too; he managed to cater his voice really well to the sort of majestic tone the song strives for. He’s also magnificent at the ‘welcome to the wasteland…’ line. So, everyone does great in this song, and the result is a really great piece of music. I guess I don’t rate it quite as highly as some people do, but it’s still a damn good song. Also, I have to give special mention to the chorus, which I adore to pieces.
22.
In the Presence of EnemiesTo clarify, I’m listing it as a whole, parts one and two included. For a long time I didn’t like part two much, but at this point I really think it’s a lot better than most people give it credit for. The Heretic section contains some of Labrie’s best vocal work from the era. Admittedly the dark master section is pretty cheesy lyrically, but musically it’s still captivating. The Slaughter of The Damned is awesome to me, with a really cool rapid-fire feel to it. Even The Reckoning is… okay, well, admittedly, that section is weaker. I don’t think it’s necessarily bad, but it does disrupt the flow of the song. But then, at the same time, one of my favorite parts of the whole song is the moogy reprise of the melody from part one, and I think part of the reason that moment is so epic is because of the wacky instrumental leading up to it – without The Reckoning, I don’t think the reprise would have quite the same impact. So, I forgive The Reckoning’s shortcomings because of what it leads to: Salvation. The closing movement of ITPOE is, in my opinion, incredible. And all this is just part two. Getting back to part one, we’re talking about a fantastic intro and instrumental section followed by some really solid vocal work, with Petrucci and Rudess on fire all over the place.
I’m trying not to throw words like ‘masterpiece’ and ‘epic’ around too much, but this one truly is both of those, for me. ITPOE has its flaws, which is why it’s not ranked higher, but nevertheless it is an amazing piece of music.
21.
Six Degrees of Inner TurbulenceYeah, I don’t rank this is as highly as some people do. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a wonderful piece of music – a masterpiece, really – and it arguably showcases Dream Theater’s various styles better than any other individual DT song. But for me, that’s a double-edged sword. I’m a person who likes to listen to different music depending on my mood – and for all its merits, SDOIT is
not mood music. Because it’s a rollercoaster of different moods and emotions. Which is great, don’t misunderstand. It’s incredibly cool that they managed to accomplish so many different feelings with a single piece of music that flows so well. But at the same time, it also means that if I’m in the mood to listen to a specific style, SDOIT as a whole isn’t going to be what I turn to. Basically, its variety makes it a masterpiece, but also restricts it for me, because I only really listen to it as a whole when I’m just in the mood for ‘good music’.
Now, if I were to split the song up into its individual tracks, this list might look a lot different, with some sections placing much higher and others not quite making the list at all. But as it is, as a whole package, SDOIT just barely misses my top twenty. Still, I can’t stress the point enough: there is some truly wonderful music in this song.
If anyone needs me, I’ll be hiding from BlobVanDam and FlyingBIZKIT.
Topic: Official DT Top 50 Thread Mark II (bss4life15 up now - starting page 79) (Read 245873 times)