If I played Octavarium backwards, it would still be 24 minutes I'd wish I had back.
Ouch! Coz, say it isn't so.
It's so. Although, that's probably not fair. Train of Thought and Octavarium, in particular, I didn't listen to very much. They were starting to get away from the original Dream Theater that I fell in love with - I&W and Awake - and moving more into longer songs that were structured in such a way that they weren't holding my attention. Contrast that with long songs from previously - Scarred is the longest song on Awake and it feels like it's over too soon. Every second of that song has my attention. Same with LtL and Metropolis from I&W. I don't know what it was about ToT and 8vm, but they just didn't really grab me like others.
Now I will say that I initially didn't like M2SFAM. When I first got it, I listened to it once and put it away. Never touched it again. Didn't care for it at all. About 8 years later, I joined up here, and continued to read about the love for the album and how, at the time it came out, MP and others continually referred to it as the album that really defined who DT is. So with that I said "Maybe I was too harsh or short sighted". I listened to it again.
It was like a completely brand new album that I'd never heard before and I was instantly in love with it. I don't know what changed, but it was something. I'm glad.
So with that, maybe I should give ToT and 8vm another chance. I can't guarantee I'll have the same change of heart, but I suppose it can't hurt to try.