DT album ranking

[7StringedBeast]

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


I think this would be my rankings.  It's hard to say.  I just stuck Dream Theater in the middle cause I don't know where it will land yet, it's just too new.

The thing is, anything ranked 8 and up are albums I love.  So I feel like as long as the album makes top 8 it's a great album.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

1. Awake - Every song is great. Perfect album.
2. Scenes from a Memory - Same as Awake, but not in the mood for it quite as much.
3. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - Solid, solid album. A few parts I'm iffy with, but overall fantastic release.
4. A Dramatic Turn of Events - Similar to Six Degrees, but highs are not quite as high.


5. Systematic Chaos - Underrated release. Even the mostly disliked songs on this album I like.
6. Black Clouds and Silver Linings - Some epic parts. MP growls are kinda cringeworthy, but cool album nonetheless.



7. Images and Words - Incredibly dated album, but I appreciate what it is. Terrible drum sound too.
8. Octavarium - Amazingly high highs, incredibly low lows. Sadly they're almost equally occurring.
9. Dream Theater - Same as 8V, but sadly slightly more lows than highs.



10. When Dream and Day Unite - Would be a good album if not for the terrible vocals.
11. Train of Thought - Honestly, some great songs here, but when it goes low, it goes LOWWW.
12. Falling Into Infinity - Peruvian Skies is a good song. Hell's Kitchen is a neat instrumental. Hollow Years is a very nice poppy song. Anna Lee sounds nice. Trial of Tears is just great. Everything else is awful. And the drums bug me even more than I&W.

[Marion Crane]

Still way too early for me. I have no idea how I can even begin to rank an album I ONLY HEARD YESTERDAY compared to albums I've heard literally hundreds of times

[eviljust]

Still way too early for me. I have no idea how I can even begin to rank an album I ONLY HEARD YESTERDAY compared to albums I've heard literally hundreds of times

This. I really need to elaborate all the inputs on DT12. But I can predict it will be in the top 5, sooner or later.

[Zantera]

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

[Viking of the Sagas]

Updated rankings:

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

[RuRoRul]

I don't normally try to rank new music so quickly since it always takes me a while to be able to compare it with stuff I am really familiar with, but since this thread has resurfaced with people ranking DT, I'll include it in my list if only to see how much things have changed once my opinion of it has settled.

1. Train Of Thought
2. Images And Words
3. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
4. A Dramatic Turn Of Events

5. Black Clouds And Silver Linings
6. Scenes From A Memory
7. Octavarium

8. Falling Into Infinity
9.  Systematic Chaos
10. Dream Theater
11. Awake

12. When Dream And Day Unite

Very difficult for me to rank them, to be honest there's not much between 5-11, and I find I end up putting them in a slightly different order every time I think about it, so the tiers are more useful than fixed positions. Only WDADU is absolutely miles below everything else.

[docsp76]

I'm revising mine to this.

1. SDOIT
2. DT
3. TOT
4. OCT
5. SFAM
6. ADTOE
7. FII
8. BC&SL
9. AWAKE
10. I&W
11. SC
12. WDADU

[RoeDent]

Far too soon to be doing this with DT12. In the immediate aftermath of an album release, it's far too easy to be all "This is the greatest album ever!" about it. For a truly honest ranking, wait six months or so; give it time to sink in.

[Kotowboy]

DT12 is provisionally in my top 3.

Needs a while to really sink in and lose that New Car Smell.

[Polarbear]

Here we go!
1. Awake
2. I&W
3. SFAM
4. SDOIT
5. Octavarium
6. ADTOE
7. SC
8. FII
9. BC&SL
10. TOT
11. WDADU
12. DT12

Updated: DT12 has sunken even farther from the other albums sadly

[Zydar]

Far too soon to be doing this with DT12. In the immediate aftermath of an album release, it's far too easy to be all "This is the greatest album ever!" about it. For a truly honest ranking, wait six months or so; give it time to sink in.

Correct. I can't rank it right now, it's far too early to tell. It has potential to be a Top 5 album though.

[?]

1. Awake
2. I&W
3. ADTOE
4. WDADU
5. 6DOIT
6. SFAM
7. TOT
8. S/T
9. FII
10. BC&SL
11. 8V
12. SC

[Onno]

Ranking including DT12:

1. SDOIT
2. I&W
3. SFAM
4. Awake
5. ToT
6. ADTOE
7. 8V
8. BC&SL
9. SC
10. WDADU
11. DT12/FII

[cyberdrummer]

Very early to place the latest album, but here goes:

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

DT12 certainly has the potential to climb above 8V and FII, and possibly TOT. But I'm not sure it will jump into the second tier. Probably a position somewhere in the third tier.

[wasteland]

Images And Words
Awake
---
DT12
---
Scenes From A Memory
Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
---
A Dramatic Turn Of Events
Falling Into Infinity
---
When Dream And Day Unite
Black Clouds And Silver Linings
---
Octavarium
Train Of Thought
Systematic Chaos

[JoeG]

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


Margins in that third tier are all razor thin though.

[krieger]

Images And Words
Awake
---
DT12
---
Scenes From A Memory
Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
---
A Dramatic Turn Of Events
Falling Into Infinity
---
When Dream And Day Unite
Black Clouds And Silver Linings
---
Octavarium
Train Of Thought
Systematic Chaos

Just change SFaM with ADTOE, and 6DoIT with ToT, and it's my actual ranking! 

[krands85]

Images and Words
--------
Train of Thought
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Scenes From a Memory
--------
Octavarium
Awake
--------
DT12
Systematic Chaos
Falling Into Infinity
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
--------
Black Clouds & Silver Linings
When Dream and Day Unite

The 4th tier is trickiest to rank and those 4 albums will move about a bit, especially since DT12 is still so new to me. In time, the new album might move ahead of Awake, but I'm fairly certain it's not going to get into my top 5 I'm afraid.

[romdrums]

Preliminary rankings until I've had some more quality time with the new record:

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

[BanksD]

1. I&W 10/10
2. SFAM 9.6/10
3. 6DOIT 9.3.10
--------------------------------
4. 8VM 8.7/10
5. DT12 8.5/10
6. ADTOE 8.3/10
7. ToT 8.1/10
-----------------------
8. Awake 7.6/10
9. FII 6.8/10
10. SC 6.4/10
-----------------------
11. WDADU 5/10
12. BC&SL 4.6/10
(13. The Majesty demos lol/10)

The first tier are the best of the best when it comes to DT, the second are albums that may not be their best work but are still really damn good and albums I'd put up against any of my other favorite albums by other bands I love. The 3rd tier are albums that are okay-good but generally don't impress me as much as the others, and the bottom tier are albums I hardly bother with (even though I like some songs between them)

[Viking of the Sagas]

Update:

1. Awake
2. I&W
3. SFAM
--------------------
4. SDOIT
5. FII
6. DT12
7. ADTOE
8. 8VM
9. ToT
10. SC
11. BC&SL
12. WDADU

[Zydar]

Okay I'll try a ranking now.

1. I&W
2. SFAM
3. SDOIT
--------------
4. DT12
5. Awake
6. FII
7. ADTOE
8. 8VM
--------------
9. TOT
10. BC&SL
11. SC
12. WDADU

[As I Am]

1.    Images and Words
2.    Scenes From A Memory
3.    Awake
4.    Train of Thought
5.    Falling Into Infinity
6.    A Dramatic Turn of Events
7.    Six Degress Of Inner Turbulence
8.    Dream Theater
9.    Octavarium
10.  Black Clouds & Silver Linings
11.  Systematic Chaos
12.  When Dream & Day Unite (would be #9 with James' vocals)

[berrege]

1. SFAM
2. Images and Words
3. SDOIT

4. Awake
5. ADTOE

6. Systematic Chaos
7. TOT
8. Octavarium

9. Dream Theater

10. WDADU

11. BC&SL
12. FII

[JediKnight1969]

Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory

Images and Words
A dramatic turn of events
Falling into Infinity
Awake

Systematic Chaos
Dream Theater
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

Train of Thought
Octavarium
Black clouds & Silver linings
When Dream and Day Unite

[splent]

1. Images and Words
2. Scenes
3. DREAM THEATER
4. Octavarium
4. Awake (tied)
6. Six Degrees
7. When Dream and Day Unite
8. A Dramatic Turn of Events
9. Train of Thought
10. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
11. Systematic Chaos
12. Falling Into Infinity

[VincentMDO]

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

[erciccio]

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

[mooshinator]

Since I generally believe that "if it ain't worth overanalyzing, it ain't worth doing", and also because I don't necessarily trust my first instincts and wanted to apply a more rigorous analysis, I opened up a spreadsheet and developed a ranking system where each song was graded on both (a) parts of the song I actively dislike (from 0 to -5), and (b) parts of the song I really like (0 to 5).  The scores were added together and weighted according to the length of the song relative to the length of the album, and then the song scores were averaged together to create album scores...  My end results were basically what I expected, with a few surprises:

Note that 5 is the max score and -5 the worst.

I&W (3.92)
DT12 (3.85)
SFAM (3.6)
ADToE (3.36)
Awake (3.08)
8VM (3.0)
SDoiT (2.79)
SC (2.13)
ToT (1.79)
BC&SL (0.5)

Not Rated:

FII (this album was so disappointing to me, i tossed it aside quickly and never got to know the songs well enough to score them)
WDADU (don't know all of the songs)

I was surprised at:

-- how high DT12 was, presumably just because it's so new.  I DO like the album, but I expect it to drop over time

-- how low Awake was, because I thought that I LOVED Awake...  but now I see that in between songs that I love there are a lot of mediocre songs that drag the average down

-- how low SDoiT was...  the high points were very high, but the low points for me (The Great Debate in particular, and Blind Faith to a less extent) dragged the average down quite a bit

[Destiny Of Chaos]

Really?

I'm waiting at least six months before I add s/t to the ranking.

[aprilethereal]

Really?

I'm waiting at least six months before I add s/t to the ranking.

Same here. I kind of think I know where it will end up on the list, but before I can really rank it, it needs more time to sink in.

[Kwyjibo]

Really?

I'm waiting at least six months before I add s/t to the ranking.

This.

Would I have ranked SFAM two weeks after its release, I would have put it right at the bottom. Now I rank it 1st or 2nd, depending on my mood.

[MacClaus]

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

[spanny]

Scenes From A Memory (No explination needed)
Octavarium (All songs are great)
A Dramatic Turn of Events (All songs are great, breath of fresh air over the last couple I thought were stale)
Train of Thought (Solid heavy record)
Six Degress Of Inner Turbulence (Thourougly enjoy it)
Dream Theater (Hit or miss, TEI, BTV & IT are amazing!)
Falling into Infinity (Enjoy most of the songs)
Black Clouds And Silver Linings (COT is great! Others are OK)
Images and Words (Hit or miss with the songs)
Systematic Chaos (ITPOE 1&2 is the only tracks I listen to)
Awake (Dont listen to at all)
When Dream And Day Unite (Dont listen to at all)