Thanks again for all the feedback. Moving on to the next batch...
20.
Lines in the SandJust to get it out of the way early, holy shit that guitar solo is awesome. Often cited as Petrucci’s greatest solo (or at least a contender for that title), this solo deserves every ounce of praise it deserves, because it’s awesome. In fact, this is one of the few songs where the guitar solo was a determining factor for me, because they usually don’t matter as much to me as they do to some people – but this song would be a good ten places lower on the list without that solo. To address another common point, I know a lot of people have a lot of issues with some of the vocals, especially in the chorus, especially with the guest vocalist. I’ll admit, I don’t think I’d be too happy if they went back to this style and that guest frequently, but for this one song, I think it worked perfectly. I actually really like the chorus of this one, and the vocals overall. And the lyrics are pretty great. And there’s some awesome keyboard work to be found.
Come to think of it, I like just about everything about this song. It’s one of those cases where it should be ranked higher, except I happen to love 19 other songs even more.
19.
The Glass PrisonThis is arguably Dream Theater’s best and purest metal song. I don’t personally agree with that title for it, actually, but it’s definitely a damn good metal song, and a great song overall to boot. It says a lot about it that half of my favorite parts of the AA Suite are either in this song, or bits of this song reprised in other songs. They introduced some awesome riffs and melodies here. It’s basically packed with awesome riffs and solos, providing Petrucci with a great stage to showcase his god-tier guitar skills. Vocals are also a really cool element of this song; I love the call-and-response style exchanges with Portnoy on backing vocals. And I also have to mention to keyboard work here, which I think is often overlooked, because it’s kind of subtle at times. This song doesn’t have the most flamboyant keyboard parts by any means, but they still add a ton to the atmosphere and power of the song. And I would have to suggest that this song contains some of the best examples of Portnoy’s drumming.
In a nutshell, the song is a beast. As a metalhead, I think the most accurate and eloquent way of putting it is,
.
18.
OctavariumBefore I go into hiding and/or get maimed, allow me to explain.
To put it plainly, the second half of the song is too awesome for the first half.
This song basically goes crazy at 12:15. That is the timestamp where this song becomes truly awesome for me. That keyboard work is incredible (by the way, do we count that keyboard section as part of Medicate or Full Circle? I’ve never been sure), and from there on in just gets better. Those instrumentals are awesome. I love the entirety of Full Circle to pieces, both musically and lyrically – I know some people think the lyrics are a bit too blatantly derivative, but I think it’s a really cool section with some fun and clever wordplay and a uniquely catchy chorus. After that, the following instrumental section is amazing, and it leads to Intervals, which contains what I consider to be one of the greatest climaxes in the history of music. And then we march forward into Razor’s Edge, which is the perfect ending to the song, with a great epic-yet-winding-down feel and a marvelous guitar solo.
Truly, if I could rank 12:15 – 24:00 as a song, it would be in my top five, and a contender for first place even without a proper intro.
On the other hand, Someone Like Him and Medicate are cool. Just, cool. There’s nothing wrong with them – in fact, if they were separate songs, they might still make this list at a lower number. I’d say it’s a bit like Wait For Sleep and Learning to Live: sure, WFS is a cool song all on its own, and sure, it sets up for LTL well, but there’s little doubt that LTL is much better, and sometimes you just want to listen to LTL. That’s how I feel about parts I and II of Octavarium: something I sit through in order to get to the good stuff. And sometimes I don’t even bother sitting through them, but just fast-forward to 12:00ish.
Anyway, sorry I’m rambling.
TL;DR version: Second half phenomenal, first half good, overall places at 18 for me, please don’t maim me.
17.
Breaking All IllusionsI’ve been listening to each song as I type about it, and when I turned this one on, a smile spread across my face and I sighed contentedly. This song almost always has that initial effect on me. What an incredible intro melody! I love it. I’m not going to waste your time listing everything I like about this one, because I like everything about it. It would actually be higher on my list, except I don’t feel like it’s the most cohesive song in the world. Each individual part is amazing in its own right, but I don’t think it has a very smooth progression. Some of the transitions between segments are still pretty jarring for me, having listened to it a hundred times by now. I don’t know if it’s just me (it probably is; I’m weird), but BAI feels less like one complete song than several really cool musical ideas stitched together somewhat haphazardly. That being said, don’t get me wrong: it is a GREAT song, and I do love every part of it. I just think it could be a lot better if they’d added just a minute or two of extra transitional passages to smooth things over a bit. Still an incredible listen, though.
16.
The Count of TuscanyNot going to linger here very long, partly because I’ve been rambling too much and partly because I have nothing new to say. The only difference between me and the average DT fan on this song is that I actually like the vocal melodies – the lyrics are irksome, but the melodies themselves range from ‘cool’ to downright lovely. And everything else is great. So, yeah. Short write-up. Sue/thank me.
Topic: Official DT Top 50 Thread Mark II (bss4life15 up now - starting page 79) (Read 245869 times)