Your Controversial Opinions on DT

[erwinrafael]

I don't think Awake is crap, I just don't think it's aged well. Compared to other DT albums it doesn't hold up as well

When I try DT albums on non-DT regular listeners, most find I&W more dated than Awake, reminding them of 1980s. Awake, however, fits in with the angsty 1990s sound which many still listen to.

Personally, the reason why Awake is my #2 DT album is because of that 1990s vibe, the era which has most of my favorite albums. The part starting from The Mirror, especially, is amazing.

[Zook]

Innocence Faded is great. Plus it has amazing misheard lyrics.

[jakepriest]

Innocence Faded is great. Plus it has amazing misheard lyrics.

IF used to be one of my all time favourite songs from DT. The only thing I was never a big fan of was the outro. It remains my favourite LaBrie performance to date. The "Some will transcend spinning years" prechorus gives me chills everytime. 
Also... that clean guitar tone. #praisetheibanez

[BlobVanDam]

I think IF is one of the better songs from Awake, definitely top half. Good melodies throughout and a catchy chorus, and that killer bridge.
Awake does sound slightly dated in that I can tell what era it's from, but much less dated than most of the grunge/alt rock from the era. IaW is definitely more dated sounding. I don't consider it a negative in either case, they're just a snapshot of the era they were made.

[IDontNotDoThings]

This is based on memory & I haven't heard FII in a while, but I never really got the hype behind its production. Sure, the quiet parts are really atmospheric & do a good job setting the mood, but it never really feels like the song "takes off" in the louder parts of the album, so it can be pretty anticlimactic. Hell's Kitchen I remember being really bad with this.

[nikatapi]

This is based on memory & I haven't heard FII in a while, but I never really got the hype behind its production. Sure, the quiet parts are really atmospheric & do a good job setting the mood, but it never really feels like the song "takes off" in the louder parts of the album, so it can be pretty anticlimactic. Hell's Kitchen I remember being really bad with this.

The thing with FII is that it has a very organic and dynamic production. Every instrument is audible, there is space in the mix and it's a very natural sounding album. This is why i believe many of us love the sound.

[genome]

+1

The album just breathes beautifully. A good part of that is down to the arrangements themselves too, it's a much less dense album that most of the rest of the catalogue.

[Evai]

Every song on ToT is twice as long as it should be

David Prater had the right idea. The drum sound on I&W is really cool cause it gives that electronic sound, natural drums sound kinda boring

[Logain Ablar]

This is based on memory & I haven't heard FII in a while, but I never really got the hype behind its production. Sure, the quiet parts are really atmospheric & do a good job setting the mood, but it never really feels like the song "takes off" in the louder parts of the album, so it can be pretty anticlimactic. Hell's Kitchen I remember being really bad with this.

The thing with FII is that it has a very organic and dynamic production. Every instrument is audible, there is space in the mix and it's a very natural sounding album. This is why i believe many of us love the sound.

I agree - it sounds great. The clarity of each instrument is excellent.

I think Peruvian Skies definitely "takes off" - for me, the change from the softer first section to the "terror by night" section just before the solo is very dynamic. Then it steps up another notch with the heavy riff section after the solo. I personally love these different transitions.

[ReaperKK]

Just got through the whole Dt discography and TA is my least favorite album.

[jakepriest]

Just got through the whole Dt discography and TA is my least favorite album.

Well according to DTF that might not be very controversial. 

[BlobVanDam]

Just got through the whole Dt discography and TA is my least favorite album.

Well according to DTF that might not be very controversial. 

I think DTF is the main place where that would be controversial.

I'd place it bottom 3, with WDADU and DT12 being the other contenders.

[Dublagent66]

Where does DTF rank TA amongst the other albums?  I can't find the album rankings in the latest DT The League.

[Kotowboy]

Where does DTF rank TA amongst the other albums?  I can't find the album rankings in the latest DT The League.

Upper Mids for me. Behind Octavarium, Scenes From a Memory & Six Degrees.


Edit : that doesn't mean that The Astonishing is 4th - just that I rank those 3 higher than it and I don't know about 4th and 5th place.

[Siddhartha]

Second from the bottom. (DT12 last place)

[jakepriest]

4th or 5th. I never listen to it anymore tho because I just don't have the time for it.

[ReaperKK]

It's on the bottom for me.

[JaceTestify]

The Astonishing for me got better each time I listen to it, but it is still near the bottom for me... 3rd or 2nd last...

[krands85]

Where does DTF rank TA amongst the other albums?  I can't find the album rankings in the latest DT The League.

These are the rankings from the recent DT survivor:

Warm-Up Survivor - The Studio Albums

01, Scenes From A Memory
02. Images And Words
03. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
04. Awake
05. A Dramatic Turn Of Events
06. Octavarium
07. Train Of Thought
08. The Astonishing
09. Falling Into Infinity
10. Systematic Chaos
11. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
12. Dream Theater
13. When Dream And Day Unite

Personally, I have it about 7th or 8th.

[mikeyd23]

That's about where I figured it would fall - somewhere in the middle of the catalog.

[PowerSlave]

Where does DTF rank TA amongst the other albums?  I can't find the album rankings in the latest DT The League.

These are the rankings from the recent DT survivor:

Warm-Up Survivor - The Studio Albums

01, Scenes From A Memory
02. Images And Words
03. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
04. Awake
05. A Dramatic Turn Of Events
06. Octavarium
07. Train Of Thought
08. The Astonishing
09. Falling Into Infinity
10. Systematic Chaos
11. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
12. Dream Theater
13. When Dream And Day Unite

Personally, I have it about 7th or 8th.

My controversial opinion is related to this. Most of the fanbase shits on WDaDU. If I had to rank it, it would be mid-pack. If the band had faded into obscurity rather than finding success afterwards, fans of other progrock/metal would have found the album later down the line, and would have been lauding it as ahead of it's time, and asking what could have been...

The album is ignored because of it's poor production instead of being celebrated for the quality of music.

[Zook]

The Astonishing is 8 for me as well. Last time I posted my rankings it moved up 2 spots. Now it's down 2 again.

1. Images and Words
2. Awake
3. Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory
4. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
5. Train of Thought
6. Octavarium
7. Falling Into Infinity
8. The Astonishing
9. Dream Theater
10. When Dream And Day Unite
11. A Dramatic Turn of Events
12. Systematic Chaos
13. Black Clouds and Silver Linings

[gzarruk]

Where does DTF rank TA amongst the other albums?  I can't find the album rankings in the latest DT The League.

These are the rankings from the recent DT survivor:

Warm-Up Survivor - The Studio Albums

01, Scenes From A Memory
02. Images And Words
03. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
04. Awake
05. A Dramatic Turn Of Events
06. Octavarium
07. Train Of Thought
08. The Astonishing
09. Falling Into Infinity
10. Systematic Chaos
11. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
12. Dream Theater
13. When Dream And Day Unite

Personally, I have it about 7th or 8th.

My controversial opinion is related to this. Most of the fanbase shits on WDaDU. If I had to rank it, it would be mid-pack. If the band had faded into obscurity rather than finding success afterwards, fans of other progrock/metal would have found the album later down the line, and would have been lauding it as ahead of it's time, and asking what could have been...

The album is ignored because of it's poor production instead of being celebrated for the quality of music.

I agree with most of this. WDADU is a great album and, you're right, given other circumstances, the album could be very differently perceived now. As for me, I really like it, I just happen to like the other 12 albums more than this one.

[Evai]

Yeah I don't get the WDaDU hate either, it mostly boils down to 'lol I don't like his voice'

[jakepriest]

Yeah I don't get the WDaDU hate either, it mostly boils down to 'lol I don't like his voice'

That's a pretty valid point if you can't stand hair metal type vocalists.
I find Dominici's voice unbearable, even if he's a pretty good singer.

Also the production is terrible and even then the music is not my cup of tea.
Ytse Jam is okay I guess, I don't ever want to hear the other songs again.

[PowerSlave]

Quite possibly because of my age, and when I developed an appreciation for music, I don't hate Charlie's vocals as much as many other people do. I still think that JLB is the superior vocalist, but Charlie did a great job on that album, in my opinion. Someone mentioned "hairspray vocals", but I don't think that applies to him anymore than it could JLB. Winter Rose, high octave range ect. ect...

For me there are some absolutely stellar songs on that album. I personally enjoy it more than the last four albums combined. Then again, I've almost completely lost touch with anything that the band has done in recent years. The last album that I enjoyed was SC.

[ReaperKK]

I never hated Charlie's vocals, I think they worked well on when dream and Day unite.

[TheCountOfNYC]

Where does DTF rank TA amongst the other albums?  I can't find the album rankings in the latest DT The League.

These are the rankings from the recent DT survivor:

Warm-Up Survivor - The Studio Albums

01. Scenes From A Memory
02. Images And Words
03. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
04. Awake
05. A Dramatic Turn Of Events
06. Octavarium
07. Train Of Thought
08. The Astonishing
09. Falling Into Infinity
10. Systematic Chaos
11. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
12. Dream Theater
13. When Dream And Day Unite

Personally, I have it about 7th or 8th.

My controversial opinion is related to this. Most of the fanbase shits on WDaDU. If I had to rank it, it would be mid-pack. If the band had faded into obscurity rather than finding success afterwards, fans of other progrock/metal would have found the album later down the line, and would have been lauding it as ahead of it's time, and asking what could have been...

The album is ignored because of it's poor production instead of being celebrated for the quality of music.

Agreed. Songs like Afterlife, Only a Matter of Time, and especially The Killing Hand laid the groundwork for what Dream Theater and progressive metal were to become. Much like Kill 'Em All is to thrash metal, WDaDU is a great but flawed starting point for progressive metal.

[erwinrafael]

I wouldn't give much thought about the results of those Survivor rounds. The League results appear to be much better,

[BlobVanDam]

Yeah I don't get the WDaDU hate either, it mostly boils down to 'lol I don't like his voice'

That's a pretty valid point if you can't stand hair metal type vocalists.
I find Dominici's voice unbearable, even if he's a pretty good singer.

Um, I love hair metal type vocalists, and that he is definitely not, otherwise I'd like it! JLB on IaW is what I'd call a hair metal type vocalist. Dominici sounds like a nasally wannabe prog vocalist on WDADU, which clearly didn't suit his natural voice (which is not bad at all when he's singing in his natural register).

I still maintain that the production/vocalist thing is mostly a scapegoat for the other major problems of the album. Once you look past that stuff, it's just a weak album from a young band that hadn't developed their songwriting skills yet. The difference in songwriting quality from WDADU to IaW is complete night and day.

[PowerSlave]

Yeah I don't get the WDaDU hate either, it mostly boils down to 'lol I don't like his voice'

That's a pretty valid point if you can't stand hair metal type vocalists.
I find Dominici's voice unbearable, even if he's a pretty good singer.

Um, I love hair metal type vocalists, and that he is definitely not, otherwise I'd like it! JLB on IaW is what I'd call a hair metal type vocalist. Dominici sounds like a nasally wannabe prog vocalist on WDADU, which clearly didn't suit his natural voice (which is not bad at all when he's singing in his natural register).

I still maintain that the production/vocalist thing is mostly a scapegoat for the other major problems of the album. Once you look past that stuff, it's just a weak album from a young band that hadn't developed their songwriting skills yet. The difference in songwriting quality from WDADU to IaW is complete night and day.

No argument that I&W is a better album. My problem is that WDaDU is almost an after thought in many people's opinion. Of course, they're completely entitled to that opinion, but I think that the hatred is misplaced. There's a rawness and energy on that album that I find lacking in much of the band's later output. For me A Fortune in Lies, Afterlife and Only a Matter of Time are absolutely top-notch DT songs. In fact, as you've mentioned I&W, I'd take those three songs over Surrounded.

[V_R11]

Yeah I don't get the WDaDU hate either, it mostly boils down to 'lol I don't like his voice'

That's about the deal with it for me. I like YtseJam though. I've tried more than once but to this day I haven't heard full WDaDU. I just don't like Charlie's voice

[King Postwhore]

Yeah I don't get the WDaDU hate either, it mostly boils down to 'lol I don't like his voice'

Sometimes, that's all it takes.

[Kotowboy]

It's like when non DT fans slag off the whole band coz LaBrie " sucks ".

Like " DT are ok but the singer sucks of course "

Like it's a well established fact.


When there are far worse singers who get a fraction of the hate like Dave Mustaine & Axl Rose.

[PowerSlave]

It's like when non DT fans slag off the whole band coz LaBrie " sucks ".

Like " DT are ok but the singer sucks of course "

Like it's a well established fact.


When there are far worse singers who get a fraction of the hate like Dave Mustaine & Axl Rose.

The only thing that I don't like about JLB is his diction, and it's not a huge issue. Otherwise, the man is amazing.