DT album ranking

[aprilethereal]

Okay, I thought you were talking about WDADU being a concept album

[PixelDream]

1-7 all have the real 'Dream Theater' feeling for me. The ranking is there, but I love 'em all pretty much equally. 8-11 are albums I like, but are missing something severely.

1. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

2. Images & Words

3. Awake

4. Scenes from a Memory

5. Train of Thought

6. Falling Into Infinity

7. Octavarium

-------------------------------------------

8. Black Clouds & Silver Linings

9. A Dramatic Turn of Events

10. Systematic Chaos

11. When Dream and Day Unite

[Dream Team]

1. I&W
2. ADTOE
3. SDOIT
4. SFAM
5. WDADU
6. Awake
7. TOT
8. BCSL
9. OV
10. SC
11. FII

[adamack]

Okay, I thought you were talking about WDADU being a concept album

Oh no, sorry for the confusion...should have worded it differently. 

[The Stray Seed]

1. Images and Words

2. Awake

3. Falling into Infinity

4. Six Degrees

5. When Dream and Day Unite

6. Scenes

7. A Dramatic Turn of Events

8. Train of Thought

9. Octavarium

10. Systematic Chaos

11. Black Clouds

[aprilethereal]

Okay, I thought you were talking about WDADU being a concept album

Oh no, sorry for the confusion...should have worded it differently. 

No problem

[Flurokazoo]

From best to worst:

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

[KevShmev]

And as for what I said about WDADU, I just meant that we should all be happy that this album came out, regardless of whether or not we are into it. Just for the concept that it was the debut album of our fav band, from which all other masterpieces derived from.

Technically speaking, an artist's best work is their masterpiece.  Therefore, an artist can only have one masterpiece.

Anyway, I might have done this already in this thread, but here goes, as of today:

1. Awake
2. I&W
3. Scenes
4. 6DOIT
5. ADTOE
6. Falling into Infinity
7. Train of Thought
8. BC&SL
9. WDADU
10. Systematic Chaos
11. Octavarium

[Podaar]

Let's see if I can do this:

1. SDOIT
2. SFAM
3. Awake
4. ADTOE
5. I&W
6. ToT
7. FII
8. SC
9. BC&SL
10. 8V
11. WDADU

If it were customary to include ACOS, I would place it between Awake and ADTOE. I like the live covers that much!

[Full Speed]

Last time I did a list I was just going by my gut and memory, but I've been listening to DT a lot more recently than I have in a good while. Seems like I don't like Awake or 6DOIT near as much as I used to (my old top 2) and I like ADTOE more than ever. Could just be that I've had much less time to wear ADTOE down, but it's definitely my #1 right now.

1. ADTOE
2. I&W
3. FII

4. Awake
5. 6DOIT
6. TOT
7. SFAM

8. 8VM
9. WDADU
10. BCSL
11. SC

[JediKnight1969]

1-   SFAM
2-   I&W
3-   ADTOE
4-   AWAKE
5-   FII
6-   SC
7-   TOT
8-   8V
9-   6DOIT
10-   BC&SL
11-   WDADU

REALLY high hopes for DT 

[Tom Bombadil]

1. Awake (by far)
2. I&W
3. SDOIT
4. TOT
5. SFAM
6. FII
7. ADTOE
8. 8V
9. BC&SL
10. WDADU
11. SC

[mikemangioy]

1.SFOAM
2.8VM
3.Awake
4.TOT
5.6DOIT
6.I&W
7.ADTOE
8.SC
9.FII
10.BCSL
11.WDADU

[Infinite Cactus]

I guess it's time to do an updated list.

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

[88 Keys]

1.- Images & Words
1.- Scenes From a Memory
(Yes, both are #1)
3.- Six Degrees
4.- Awake
5.- Octavarium
6.- Train of Tought
7.- A Dramatic Turn
8.- Falling Into Infinity
9.- Black Clouds
10.- When dream and day unite
11.- Systematic Chaos

[FourthHorseman]

It is amazing how much difference there is in people's lists. Really shows you what a consistent effort DT has made over the years, especially compared to other bands.

[Lowdz]

Images & Words
Scenes From A Memory
A Dramatic Turn Of Events
When Dream & Day Unite
6 Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (though main ly for disc 2)
Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Awake
Train of Thought
Falling Into Infinity
Octavarium
Systematic Chaos

[chaotic_ripper]

Scenes from a memory
Images and words
Octavarium
A dramatic turn of events
Six degrees
Awake
Train of thought
Systematic chaos
Black clouds
Falling into infinity
When dream and day unite

[Lucien]

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


HELLO, CONTROVERSY! 

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

If your ranking were an animal, I would slaughter it and eat it's remains.

[Lucien]

Now, if I were to make a list based on the percentage of songs I like on said album:

ADTOE
8VM
WDADU/I&W
BCSL
SFAM/SDOIT
TOT/SC
Awake
FII

EVEN MORE controversy, though this isn't my real ranking

[PROGdrummer]

Revising my ranking since my opinions have changed since last time.

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


my enjoyment of ADTOE has gone down severely recently, while I rediscovered Systematic Chaos. not sure why exactly this album gets so much slack. It's pretty good.

[GasparXR]

My current list:

1. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
2. Octavarium

3. A Dramatic Turn of Events
4. Falling Into Infinity
5. Awake
6. Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory
7. Images and Words

8. Train of Thought

9. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
10. When Dream and Day Unite
11. Systematic Chaos

Grouped albums are very close in quality in my opinion. Overall though, every album is at least good to very good.

[jayvee3]

Like most, I find quality in each of their albums. I am not nearly as big a fan of Images and Words as many others though, and am rarely compelled to listen to it. Anyhoo, here goes..

Awake
Scenes
6 Degrees
Infinity
Dramatic Turn
Train
8V
Images
Systematic
Black Clouds
Dream and Day

[Estiui]

I'd say:

1. Images and Words

------------------------------------

2. Scenes from a memory
3. Awake

------------------------------------

4. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
5. A Dramatic Turn of Events

------------------------------------

6. Train of Thought
7. Systematic Chaos
8. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
9. Octavarium
10. Falling Into Infinity

------------------------------------

11. When Dream and Day Unite

[Drexl359]

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

[docsp76]

SDOIT
TOT
OCT
SFAM
ADTOE
I&W
Awake
BC&SL
FII
SC
WDADU

[Blackfield]

1. Images & Words
2. Awake
3. Scenes From a Memory
4. Falling Into Infinity
5. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
6. When Dream and Day unite

... I must do some sort of distinction here, because the rest of the list is actually several steps down when it comes to creativity and use of unique melodies.

7. A Dramatic Turn of Events
8. Train of Thought
9-11. Octavarium / Systematic Chaos / Black Clouds & Silver Linings

I like When Dream and Day Unite more than most people here seem to think of it. There's some quite strong melodies and songs on that cd.

[Grisel]

I was sent to the first page when I clicked on this thread, and I didn't realize that until I saw some missing albums on the firsts posters

My list:

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

[Polis]

Awake
Train
Images
Falling
Octavarium
Dramatic
Degrees
Clouds
Systematic
Scenes
Unite

[Lucien]

Awake
Train
Images
Falling
Octavarium
Dramatic
Degrees
Clouds
Systematic
Scenes
Unite

[Polis]

Awake
Train
Images
Falling
Octavarium
Dramatic
Degrees
Clouds
Systematic
Scenes
Unite

SFAM's heaviness isn't atmospheric or dark or cool or mysterious, especially the slightly obnoxious middle-eastern sounding line in Home, the cheesy lyrics, and Finally Free being a disjointed soundbyte + recap + forced exposition ending. Finally Free has a few really good moments, like "This feeling... inside me.." recap, the ending guitar solo (which is just the Overture guitar solo), the ending riff, "SOMEDAY SOOOOOOOOOOOOONNN," but I find it really hard to listen to because I don't know where to stop... do I just skip to the next track after the footsteps begin? Also, I despise the majority of Beyond This Life because of the weird keyboard patches- there's some kind of horn at one point? The riff is kind of bleh as well. I never really liked those sinister-sounding half step riff things in music in general. Dance of eternity is pretty cool I guess, but there are like 50 on-a-dime changes and it throws me off. the melody is intricate and metal or whatever, but not really enjoyable. The only parts which I do like are either soaring symphonic melodic stuff like Overture, TSCO, and One Last Time or rightly done heaviness that could be taken seriously, like fatal tragedy guitar solo or when vocals enter in home. Overall, I used to be obsessed with this album too, but on repeated listens it kind of gets bogged down a bit. It is certainly ambitious and theatrical enough to be considered a landmark record. Also, I'm not one of those people who have an acute hatred for "wanking." I like wanking; in fact, I think that's what makes DT DT. Wanking is cool, gets me pumped, opens up possibilities for fast-paced and dynamic song structuring.

/endrant

[robwebster]

Brilliant
Images and Words
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Octavarium

Great
Falling Into Infinity
Train of Thought
Systematic Chaos
A Dramatic Turn of Events

Good
When Dream and Day Unite
Awake
Scenes from a Memory
Black Clouds & Silver Linings



That seems fair.

[Zantera]

Have probably posted here a long time ago, but screw it:

Scenes From a Memory
Awake
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
---
Images & Words
Falling Into Infinity
---
Train of Thought
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Octavarium
---
Black Clouds and Silver Linings
Systematic Chaos
When Dream and Day Unite

[ToT-147]

1- Train of Thought

2- Black Clouds & Silver Linings

3- Octavarium

4- Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

5- Systematic Chaos

6- Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes From a Memory

7- A Dramatic Turn of Events

8- Awake

9- Images and Words

10- When Dream and Day Unite

11- Falling Into Infinity

(I actually graded every song and every album in the past... I think I just like statistics... So I have a lot of DT and other bands' stuff written on papers and things like that..)