DT album ranking

[Dark Castle]

Guys, it's called an opinion.

[tofee35]

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Scenes from a Memory
*Train of Thought
Dream Theater
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Awake
Black Clouds and Silver Linings
Images and Words
Falling into Infinity
**Octavarium
When Dream and Day Unite
Systematic Chaos


*I absolutely despised this album at first
** I absolutely loved this album at first

[Outcrier]

It is always like that when a prog album is released. People overrate it a lot in the beginning. Anyone who looks at the new releases at progarchives knows what I am talking about.

True story.

[Viking of the Sagas]

Update: DT12 is just climbing up the ranks. Everything grows on me except Surrender to Reason.

01- Awake
02- Images & Words
03- Scenes From a Memory
04- DT12
05- Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
(all really close together)


06- Falling Into Infinity
07- A Dramatic Turn of Events
08- Octavarium
09- Train of Thought
10- Systematic Chaos
11- Black Clouds & Silver Linings
12- When Dream and Day Unite

[Nekov]

Updated with DT12

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

[Cygnus17]

In order:

1)Scenes From a Memory
2)Dream Theater
3)Train of Thought
4)A Dramatic Turn of Events
5)Octavarium
6)Six Degrees
7)Awake
8)I&W
9)Black Clouds & Silver Linings
10)Falling
11)Systematic Chaos
12)Dream and Day

[Dcrupi]

1. Images & Words
2. Awake
3. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
4. Scenes from a Memory
5. Octavarium
6. A Dramatic Turn of Events
7. Dream Theater
8. Falling Into Infinity
9. Train of Thought
10. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
11. WDADU
12. Systematic Chaos

[The Stray Seed]

Time to rethink my rankings...

Here we go (many ties):

1. Images & Words - just godly
2. Awake 10/10
3. Self Titled - Falling into Infinity 9.5/10
4. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 8.5/10
5. Scenes from a Memory - When Dream and Day Unite 8/10
6. A Dramatic Turn of Events 7.5/10
7. Octavarium 7/10
8. Train of Thought - Black Clouds & Silver Linings - Systematic Chaos 6.5/10

[Zook]

Something like this:

1. Images and Words
2. Awake
3. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
4. Scenes From a Memory
5. Dream Theater
6. Octavarium
7. Train of Thought
8. When Dream and Day Unite
9. Falling into Infinity
10. A Dramatic Turn of Events
11. Sytematic Chaos
12. Black Clouds & Silver Linings

[BanksD]

I posted one a while back but after getting to listen to DT more again, and reacquainting myself with the discog again after not listening for a few months I'd say it's something like this:


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

[krieger]

DT12 is climbing...

1. Images and Words
2. Awake
3. DT12
4. A Dramatic Turn of Events
5. Scenes From a Memory
6. Train of Thought
7. When Dream and Day Unite
8. Falling into Infinity
9. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
10. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
11. Octavarium
12. Sytematic Chaos

 

[mirko_metal_88]

Here we go...

1. Images and Words
2. Awake
3. Scenes From a Memory
4. When Dream and Day Unite
5. Dream Theater
6. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
7. Train of Thought
8. Octavarium
9. Sytematic Chaos
10. Falling into Infinity
11. A Dramatic Turn of Events
12. Black Clouds & Silver Linings

[jakepriest]

Here we go...

1. Images and Words
2. Awake
3. Scenes From a Memory
4. When Dream and Day Unite
5. Dream Theater
6. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
7. Train of Thought
8. Octavarium
9. Sytematic Chaos
10. Falling into Infinity
11. A Dramatic Turn of Events
12. Black Clouds & Silver Linings

Welcome to the forum, but judging by your album rankings we can't be friends.

[son_ov_hades]

Perfect albums:
1. Scenes From A Memory
2. Images And Words

Almost perfect:
3. Awake
4. When Dream And Day Unite

Great:
5. Falling Into Infinity
6. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
7. Dream Theater


Mostly good:
8. A Dramatic Turn Of Events
9. Octavarium

Equally parts good and bad:
10. Systematic Chaos

Mostly bad:
11. Black Clouds And Silver Linings
12. Train Of Thought.

[Sacul]

1- Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence



2- Scenes from a Memory
3- Awake
4- Train of Thought

5- Images & Words
6- Falling Into Infinity
7- DT12

8- Systematic Chaos


9- Black Clouds & Silver Linnings









10- A Dramatic Trun of Events
11- When Dream and Day Unite





11- Octavarium

[robwebster]

Kerpow! While since I've done one of these, not since before the last album came out, so on that note...

TIER 1
Images and Words
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Octavarium
Dream Theater
These are the elite, my go-to albums, the band at the absolute top of their game. Everything is beautiful.

TIER 2
Train of Thought
Systematic Chaos
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Amazing discs, loads to recommend, but ToT lacks the diversity, Systematic Chaos is a little off-centre, and Dramatic Turn plays it a little safe. Other than that, killer.

TIER 3
Awake
Falling Into Infinity
Scenes from a Memory
Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Ace, but flawed. Dependable, and full of excellent songs, but they come with big caveats that keep me from counting them among my favourites. BCSL's bloaty, FII slows down too much, etc.

TIER 4
When Dream and Day Unite
Great, but not quite there. The band hadn't found that thing that I love about them. A Fortune in Lies, Ytse Jam and Only a Matter of Time are all killer, though, and Light Fuse and Get Away's pretty cool, too. The Ones Who Help to Set the Sun is the only one I truly wouldn't miss.

Just listed chronologically within each tier, because there's no meaningful difference. It'll basically change with my mood.

[wasteland]

A couple of weeks ago I suddenly realized how pointless it is to make lists of favourite albums, especially when it comes to Dream Theater. As a direct consequence of that realization:

1. Images And Words
2. Awake
3. Dream Theater
4. Scenes From A Memory
5. A Dramatic Turn Of Events
6. Six Degrees
7. Falling Into Infinity
8. Octavarium
9. BC&SL
10. WDADU
11. Systematic Chaos
12. Train Of Thought

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

1. Awake

the rest

[ThatOneGuy2112]

Eh, why not?

1. Scenes From a Memory
2. Images and Words
3. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
These albums are pretty much perfect in every way, and if not, then they're pretty damn close to it.

4. Train of Thought
5. Awake
6. Dream Theater
Spectacular albums with some notable flaws here and there, but nonetheless stunning.

7. A Dramatic Turn of Events
8. Octavarium
9. Systematic Chaos
10. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Pretty great albums with interesting ideas and a lot to offer, but without quite getting there.

11. Falling Into Infinity
12. When Day and Dream Unite
Solid albums with some both throw-away tracks and great pieces.

[mirko_metal_88]

Here we go...

1. Images and Words
2. Awake
3. Scenes From a Memory
4. When Dream and Day Unite
5. Dream Theater
6. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
7. Train of Thought
8. Octavarium
9. Sytematic Chaos
10. Falling into Infinity
11. A Dramatic Turn of Events
12. Black Clouds & Silver Linings

Welcome to the forum, but judging by your album rankings we can't be friends.

Hahahaha, thank you...i'm just more into rush/fates warning/queensryche than into lamb of god/muse & so on...that's why i prefer these records

[jammindude]

I'm not even going to peek...but I'm wondering how close my current list is to the one I posted several months ago...


 

1. Octavarium
2. Scenes From a Memory
3. Awake
4. Images and Words
5. Dream Theater

 

6. Train of Thought
7. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulance
8. A Dramatic Turn of Events

 

9. Falling Into Infinity
10. When Dream and Day Unite

 

11. Black Clouds and Silver Linings






















 

12. Systematic Chaos



EDIT:   I know that 1 and 12 have not changed in a long time...nor are they likely to.   8V is Dream Theater perfection, and SC was just stinky. 

[erwinrafael]

Awake
DT12
SFAM
SDOIT Disc 2 (I really have to make this distinction, because Disc 1 has one of the songs that is really meh for me)
I&W
ADTOE
ToT
ACOS
8VM
FII
SDOIT Disc 1
BC&SL
WDADU
SC

[philippaopao]

1. Dream Theater
2. Six Degrees
3. Images And Words
4. Scenes From A Memory
5. Octavarium
6. Falling Into Infinity
7. Awake
8. A Dramatic Turn Of Events
9. Train Of Thought
10. Systematic Chaos
11. BC&SL
12. WDADU

[bl5150]

I've listened to them all in the last 4 weeks or so - updated ratings as follows.

Note that due to the size of my music collection and the need to try and be much clearer on what I like and what I don't I've been making an effort to mark my albums much tougher so as to spread the ratings out more.........so 60% is still a half decent mark.

Anyway................the scale equates to something like this

<60%:  aside from the odd good track (if applicable) I have no need to hear it again
60-70:  decent to good album but (aside from strong individual songs) no need to have on rotation with any regularity
70-79:  very good album and deserves semi-regular rotation
80-89: excellent album and deserves regular rotation
90-100: an all time classic
My ratings:

1. Images and Words: 99%
2. DT12 93%
3. A Dramatic Turn of Events: 84%
4. Awake 82%
5. When Dream and Day Unite 80%
6. Falling Into Infinity 73%
7. SDOIT 70%  (Disc 1=62%, Disc 2= 76%)
8 .Octavarium 70% (Octa -rated)
9. BC&SL 67%
10. Scenes From A Memory 62%
11. Systematic Chaos 58%
12. Train of Thought 54%


If I included Cleaning Out The Closet it would get about 73%

[jakepriest]

I don't understand this % ranking system at all. How do you decide whether an album is 75% or 77%?

[bl5150]

I don't understand this % ranking system at all. How do you decide whether an album is 75% or 77%?

I was just trying to give an idea of what the numbers might mean to me in a general sense.  The actual figures are done by collating song ratings and then adjusting (4-5 points leeway either way) for overall album experience, flow, production etc...

[Laughingplace56]

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

[BlobVanDam]

5. When Dream and Day Unite 80%
10. Scenes From A Memory 62%

You're not allowed to give me shit about my opinions anymore, bud.

[Tom Bombadil]

I doubt this has changed very much since last time, but I'll give it another go.

1. Awake
2. Images & Words
3. Six Degrees
4. Cleaning out the Closet ( yes, you read that right)
5. Falling Into Infinity
6. Train of Thought
7. Scenes From a Memory
8. ADTOE
9. Octavarium
10. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
11. DT 12
12. When Dream and Day Unite
13. Systematic Chaos

[Daso]

Didn't look for it in more than one page of posts, but I didn't find my ranking and I guess it's time to do it again anyways.

Images and Words
Awake
Dream Theater

A Dramatic Turn of Events
Falling Into Infinity
Scenes From a Memory
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

Systematic Chaos
When Dream and Day Unite
Octavarium

Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Train of Thought

Top 3 are absolutely phenomenal, flawless albums. I could listen to them every single day and they would still amaze me. Second tier are great albums, but they become stale after a while or have songs that I don't really care about (not that I dislike them, though). SC is in the third tier because of Prophets of War which I absolutely despise and Forsaken, which isn't a bad song but I consider it below average; WDaDU's horrible production places it there and Octavarium has Panic Attack and Never Enough which lack any elements that would even make me consider them sub-par. BC&SL has good songs which are dragged down by certain sections, and those sections are partly guilty of making the songs too long, which makes the album become tiring, and ToT has Honor Thy Father and This Dying Soul: both songs, with the exception of the solos, are painful for me to listen (as bad as PoW).

[jonny108]

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

[Volante99]

Images & Words - Truely a masterpiece of metal/rock. Completely original with tracks that both stand on their own and flow together. Love the reoccuring themes of light/dreams/day/night/sleep.

Awake - Amazing album, all the songs are killer. In my opinion it's not as cohesive as Images & Words, and (I know I'm in the minority in saying this), excessive use of JLB's vocal range.

Scenes From a Memory - This album saved the band from the disaster that was FII. Classic, influential prog album that has been intimidated by many bands. A couple songs drag on a bit and Through Her Eyes sounds terribly dated.

Train of Thought - Vastly underrated by the fans. It's amazing they wrote this album as quickly as they did. Every song is quality, and Mike Portnoy is just on fire for the whole album. Some of the songs suffer from overlength, however.

A Dramatic Turn of Events - One of DT's most consistent album. Also contains their two best "ballads" with Beneath the Surface and Far from Heaven. Suffers from poor production and a couple dud songs including one of their worst, Build Me Up.

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - Great album, interesting concept. My only gripe is that it suffers from a slightly high cheese factor - even for DT.

Octavarium - Contains some of DT's best songs. Unfortunately, there is definite filler here, and some awful, cheesefest songs. 

DT12 - Overall a consistent album, it feels a bit derivative though. DT has never been about keeping with the times but this album has an overall archaic, dare I say washed up feel. The members have expressed that this was meant to be a statement about the band, unfortunately it seems like they didn't have much to say.

Black Clouds & Silver Linings and Systematic Chaos (tie) - Not bad albums, but to me they were both steps backwards for DT. This to me is when the band started playing it safe, focusing more on sounding like other bands, and create paint by numbers DT songs. That said, Count of Tuscany and Nightmare to Remember are classic.

When Dream & Day Unite - I can't judge this album very harshly, some of these songs were written when DT were teenagers. A great preview of things to come but doesn't really hold up on it's own.

Falling Into Infinity - Worst they've done, by a long shot. Production is bad, songs are forgettable, cheesy, derivative. I'm surprised DT actually survived this album. And, no, Hollow Years is not a good song.

[Grizz]

DT12 - Overall a consistent album, it feels a bit derivative though.

Black Clouds & Silver Linings and Systematic Chaos (tie) - Not bad albums, but to me they were both steps backwards for DT. This to me is when the band started playing it safe, focusing more on sounding like other bands, and create paint by numbers DT songs.

Falling Into Infinity - Worst they've done, by a long shot. Production is bad, songs are forgettable, cheesy, derivative.

Really? The first two are backwards IMO, but when reversed both valid complaints. And I think the production is FII's best aspect and the one thing that positively sets it apart from other albums, with the exception of the drum sounds. No warmth, pinstripes, and everything is too bright.

[Phoenix87x]

1. I&W
2. SFAM
3. Awake
4. TOT
5. FII
6. WDADU

7. The rest

[ToT-147]

1. Train of Thought (5,50 / 6)

2. Black Clouds and Silver Linings (5,00 / 6)

3. Octavarium (4,93 / 6 )

4. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (4,77 / 6 )

5. Systematic Chaos (4,75 / 6)

6. Dream Theater (4,62 / 6 )

7. Metropolis pt2: Scenes from a Memory (4,54 / 6 )

8. A Dramatic Turn of Events (4,27 / 6 )

9. Awake (4,20 / 6 )

10. Images and Words (4,16 / 6 )

11. When Dream & Day Unite (3,53 / 6 )

12. Falling into Infinity (3,09 / 6 )