The Unofficial DTF Album Ranking Project

[ThatOneGuy2112]

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

[TheCountOfNYC]

01- Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory
02- Images and Words
03- Octavarium
04- A Dramatic Turn of Events
05- Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
06- Black Clouds & Silver Linings
07- Train of Thought
08- Awake
09- Dream Theater
10- When Dream and Day Unite
11- Systematic Chaos
12- Falling into Infinity

[Crow]

1. Awake
2. Images and Words
3. Scenes From a Memory

4. Octavarium
5. Train of Thought
6. Falling Into Infinity
7. A Dramatic Turn of Events
8. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
9. Systematic Chaos

10. BC&SL
11. WDADU
12. DT12

the last set doesn't even get spelled out because I don't like any of them enough

[vtgrad]

1. I&W
2. Awake
3. FII
4. SFaM
5. DT12
6. ADToE
7. Octavarium
8. ToT
9. SDoIT
10. SC
11. BC&SL
12. WDADU

No it's not a coincidence that my top 4 are in order of release (minus WDADU and ACoS)... for that span of albums, they hit a homerun every time for me.  Especially FII; which now contains my favorite DT song (ToT, which replaced ACoS).  For me though, my #1 will likely never change.

[krands85]

1. Images and Words
2. Train of Thought

3. A Dramatic Turn of Events
4. Scenes From a Memory

5. Octavarium
6. Awake
7. Dream Theater
8. Systematic Chaos

9. Falling Into Infinity
10. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
11. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

12. When Dream and Day Unite

Positions 9-11 probably move around a bit, but the rest is pretty much set I think.

[Infinite Cactus]

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

[Octavarious]

My list

Not really sure but more or less...

1.  Metropolis Part 2
2. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
3. Images and Words
4. Awake
5. Octavarium
6. DT12
7. Train of Thought
8. A Dramatic Turn Of Events
9. Falling Into Infinity
10. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
11. Systematic Chaos
12. When Dream And Day Unite

[Skeever]

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

[jammindude]

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


11. Black Clouds and Silver Linings



















12. Systematic Chaos


EDIT:  Since everyone else was adding spacers...I thought I'd add my own.

[Zantera]

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

[Zook]

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

[Mosh]

1: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
2: Awake
3: Images & Words
4: Metropolis 2

5: Train of Thought
6: Dream Theater
7: Octavarium

8: Falling Into Infinity
9: A Dramatic Turn of Events
10: Black Clouds & Silver Linings

11: When Dream and Day Unite



12: Systematic Chaos

[Nearmyth]

Alright let's give it a shot

1. Awake - Most balanced, consistent, dynamically diverse, emotionally packed, and atmospheric album.
2. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence - Most diverse album in general, every song is intense and charged with emotion or badassery.
3. Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory - Perfection of melodies and composition, also has one of my favorite album beginnings and endings.
4. Images And Words - Most natural and original songwriting, every track has its own beauty.

5. A Dramatic Turn Of Events - Return to form that has some high highs and okay lows, instrumental composition is very good.
6. Dream Theater - Very dynamic and focused, short and sweet, but doesn't give much to dissect or reward a ton of listens.
7. Train Of Thought - Just an extremely cool and badass album with every track, but a little unbalanced as the constant heaviness can be fatiguing.

8. Octavarium - Amazing title track, but the rest is fairly average. I do like the atmosphere though.
9. Black Clouds And Silver Linings - Epic and dynamic but tiring to listen to as a whole, most tracks are good individual listens.
10. Systematic Chaos - Same as BC&SL, but with more throwaway tracks.
11. Falling Into Infinity - Most of the songs sound like b-sides in the way they're written and composed, only a few individual great moments.

12. When Day And Dream Unite - The songwriting is all over the place save a couple good melodies, it doesn't really invoke anything musically for me, even if the production were better

[Calvin6s]

First time I've ever done this.

1. Awake
2. Images and Words
3. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
4. Falling Into Infinity
5. Octavarium
6. Scenes from a Memory

7. Train of Thought
8. Systematic Chaos
9. A Dramatic Turn of Events
10. Dream Theater
11. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
12. When Dream And Day Unite

I came up with an on the spot system.  Here it is:
1. Load all studio album songs into foobar2000
2. Delete all songs that aren't absolute "hell yeah" songs (I was left with 43 songs - that's a pretty good record for one band)
3. Gave each song a rank from 1 to 5 for each of those songs. (1-bestest, 2-bester 3-best 4-bestette 5-damn good)
4. Weighted score (Rank 1 = score of 9, 2=7, 3=5, 4=3, 5=1)
5. Totaled up scores and let the chips fall where they may

I was surprised Octavarium and Falling Into Infinity beat SFAM, but I double checked.  The top 6 are more firm.  The bottom 6 could probably move around each time I rank them.

[BlobVanDam]

I was surprised Octavarium and Falling Into Infinity beat SFAM, but I double checked.  The top 6 are more firm.  The bottom 6 could probably move around each time I rank them.

Being a concept album, SFAM is definitely an album that's greater than the sum of its parts, so I don't find that a surprising result ranking it by that method.
I'm not sure a single song from SFAM would make my top 20 (BTL and TSCO might squeeze in there), but it's easily my 2nd favourite DT album, just the tiniest smidge behind SDOIT. It's truly a whole album experience.

[Outcrier]

I'm not sure a single song from SFAM would make my top 20 (BTL and TSCO might squeeze in there), but it's easily my 2nd favourite DT album, just the tiniest smidge behind SDOIT. It's truly a whole album experience.

You sure? 

[BlobVanDam]

I'm not sure a single song from SFAM would make my top 20 (BTL and TSCO might squeeze in there), but it's easily my 2nd favourite DT album, just the tiniest smidge behind SDOIT. It's truly a whole album experience.

You sure? 

Of course I am!

[BlackInk]

I agree that SFaM is stronger as a whole, but both Finally Free and Home are in my top 10. Awesome tracks.

[Calvin6s]

I agree that SFaM is stronger as a whole, but both Finally Free and Home are in my top 10. Awesome tracks.

I think I only listened to it as a whole the first month I had it.  After that I would just skip to these songs
Overture
Deja Vu
Fatal Tragedy
Beyond
Home
Dance
Finally Free

These days it is mainly
Fatal
Beyond
Home
Finally Free

Finally Free is my fave from the album.  It almost feels broadway (of which I am not a big fan, except for the blowjobs), but I love it anyway.  They just nailed it on that song.

[KevShmev]

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

1. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
1a. Awake
1b. Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory
2. A Dramatic Turn of Events
2a. Images and Words
3. Dream Theater
4. Train of Thought
5. Falling Into Infinity
6. Octavarium
7. Systematic Chaos


11. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
12. When Dream and Day Unite

Way to not follow simple rules.

[Dave_Manchester]

With all my other favourite bands there's always a very clear number 1 album, but with DT there's never been one because they have 3 exceptionally strong albums, in fact masterpieces, and I can never rank them. But for the sake of the thread, I'll go with this:

Masterpieces:

1. Awake
2. Scenes From A Memory
3. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

Not quite masterpieces, but still incredible albums:

4. Train of Thought
5. Dream Theater
6. A Dramatic Turn of Events
7. Images and Words

Great albums:

8. Systematic Chaos
9. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
10. Falling Into Infinity

Don't do much for me:

11. When Dream and Day Unite
12. Octavarium


I will say this though, if you'll let me indulge a fond fantasy - if Six Degrees had been released as one disc, with the title track edited down into a 30-minute piece (get rid of the overture, the beginning of Goodnight Kiss, and shorten the finale), and the flab cut off The Glass Prison, that would be the carved-in-stone number 1.
 

[nattmorker]

Here's mine

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

[Calvin6s]

Poor WDADU.  It had so much to offer if not for the poor recording and Dominici vocals.

[Outcrier]

Poor WDADU.  It had so much to offer if not for the poor recording and Dominici vocals.

Even that won't save the songwriting imo. It seems amateurish when compared to Images and Words.

[Randaran]

Finally Free is my fave from the album. It almost feels broadway (of which I am not a big fan, except for the blowjobs), but I love it anyway.  They just nailed it on that song.

The last time I went to Broadway, some idiot in a Spiderman costume flooded the theater.  I am glad that this experience was not reflected in Finally Free.

It is sad to see WDADU so low on most people's rankings. 

[BlobVanDam]

Poor WDADU.  It had so much to offer if not for the poor recording and Dominici vocals.

Even that won't save the songwriting imo. It seems amateurish when compared to Images and Words.

Yep. The production and vocals are common scapegoats, but the songwriting and melodies are just weak. DT had not matured as songwriters yet, and even the few good songs have issues.

[aprilethereal]

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

I left out Dream Theater because honestly it didn't age really well for me and thus I haven't listened to it for months, except for the BTFW versions of the songs. So I really don't know where to put it. Somewhere between 5. and 8. I guess.

[Zook]

NUGGET

[Thoughtspart3]

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

[Daso]

My ranking changes quite a lot over time, but the following seems pretty representative of the average one:

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

[RtrooperW]

Tough! I think this works for me:

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

[madscot]

1   Images and words
2   Scenes from a memory
3   Awake
4   Six degrees of inner turbulence
5   Falling into infinity
6   Dream theater
7   Train of thought
8   Black clouds and silver linings
9   Systematic chaos
10   A dramatic turn of events
11   Octavarium
12   When dream and day unite

[sfam2112]

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

After the top 3 and bottom 2, this was pretty difficult. 7-8 and 9-10 could switch with one another.

[fischermasamune]

I gave each song a grade from 1=worst to 5=best, and averaged by album. Except for SFAM, which, being a concept album, I excluded Regression and TMW off the count, getting 36 points for 10 songs.

I used to think SFAM the best, but given that I&W scores well, and given that I enjoy listening to it back-to-back too, it stole the first place!! So SFAM stopped being my favorite album. Note that there was a big draw for 3rd to 5th places, which I tried to rank using more subjective ways (not that grading songs individually is objective).

Here's my ranking:

1. I&W 3.625
2. SFAM 3.600

3. SDOIT 3.333
4. BC&SL 3.333
5. DT12 3.333

6. Awake 2.909

7. ADTOE 2.666
8. TOT 2.571

9. SC 2.285
10. FII 2.272
11. 8VM 2.250
12. WDADU 2.125

[425]

You just got in under the wire! I'm adding them up now!

For the record, here's my list:

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