I love this album. It's one of my favorites. It's definitely my favorite modern Dream Theater album, and I've been a fan since Images and Words came out in '92. I do consider myself more of a classic Dream Theater fan (I even love the Majesty stuff), but I like all of their music (Mike Portnoy era being the best, in my opinion), with the occasional rare songs I just don't care for and can't get into. There's not many of those for me, though.
Having said that, I don't really care for A Rite of Passage. It's fine, but it's never a song I would make a choice to listen to outside of listening to the entire album for the experience. For a long time I couldn't really get into The Best of Times, but my mother passed away in September of 2013, and after that the song became very relevant to me.
I love the progressive aspects of this album, and I think it has some of the best songs DT has ever written. I absolutely love A Nightmare To Remember, Wither, The Shattered Fortress, and The Count of Tuscany. I love the slow Agony section of A Nightmare to Remember. I think it's got one of the best hooks a DT song has ever had, and it still gives me chills when I listen to it to this day. The heaviness, the solo trade offs between Rudess and Petrucci, even Portnoy's somewhat ridiculous growl and blast-beat at the end; I love it all. I understand Wither is more of a John Petrucci song than a Dream Theater song, but I think it's fantastic, and such a heartfelt and solid song. My wife and I danced to it at our wedding reception. We both love it. I'm also very partial to slow songs, even if I'm a huge fan of heavy music. When I first heard The Shattered Fortress, I didn't care for it too much since I thought it sounded like a riffbag of riffs taken from all the previous AA Suite songs, which is actually rather true, but that song grew on me the more I listened to it. I think it's one of the best out of the five songs, and it may be my favorite next to The Glass Prison. I'm not sure I can say which one is better, but I believe The Shattered Fortress stands on its own, and I love Petrucci's solo at the end. I expected something different out of the song, but ultimately I think it was a great way to close out the Suite. The Count of Tuscany is probably my favorite song Dream Theater has ever written. I think it's an absolute masterpiece, and I love every bit of it. I love the gorgeous intro, the heavy sections, and the ethereal Petrucci/Rudess section before the big reveal by the Count towards the end. Then follows a variation of the masterful intro at the end of the song, and another incredible solo by Petrucci, reprising the theme he started with. Speaking of the reveal by the Count, I love that twist on the story. This guy is terrified for his life, and there is this horror feel throughout the whole song, but it's revealed that the Count is just a normal guy after all. Well, sort of
, but the fact that everything is okay and the main character isn't going to die (everything was really just in his head) relieves the tension felt in the heavier aspects of the song so wonderfully well.
Someone above said the solos were uninspired and unmemorable. I couldn't disagree more. I feel the solos on this album are the best Petrucci has laid down since the early days.
To me this album has the best elements Dream Theater has to offer. All the heaviness you could want amongst rather mellow songs/sections. That's one reason I don't get into Train of Thought as much as I'd like becuase it's rather one-sided. I know that was their goal, but to me Dream Theater shines best when throwing it all into the mix. Fast and slow, heavy and mellow, progressive and straightforward. I love the fact that the songs are rooted in truth and/or life. I actually like the fantasy aspects of Systematic Chaos, and I can relate the songs to my life regardless of the majority of fantasy lyrics, but I feel the songs on Black Clouds hold so much more meaning being based in reality.
True, I wish the album had more songs, but when 4 out of the 6 songs are some of my favorites ever written by the band, I can look past the actual number of songs. That and the fact that I feel there is so much substance to the 4 that I really like, I can look past what I don't like rather easy.
I think this is a fantastic album for Mike Portnoy to have gone out on. Man, I miss that dude. I don't care what anyone says about him; I support the man even if I wish things hadn't gone down the way they did. I met him by chance before an Adrenaline Mob show in Lubbock, TX, and he was one of the coolest dudes/musicians I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, but I digress.
Lastly, I've got a few thoughts. What I find so interesting in reading the thoughts about DT in this forum is everybody likes something different for different (sometimes the same) reasons. What I love someone else hates and what I don't care for someone else loves. But that's the best part, really. Dream Theater is so multifaceted that people can pick and choose what they like and still be a fan of the bigger picture (no pun intended). What Dream Theater
is can mean something completely different among just even a handful of fans, but they are all still fans. That's something not too many bands can pull off at all, and I think that's awesome. Having said all that, I'd just like to state that I love Anna Lee. I think it's a beautiful song. I like it so much that I even named my daughter Anna Lee. Truth. I see so much hate for that song among fans, and I don't get it, but I don't care. And I digress again.
Anyway, thanks for everyone's thoughts here. I've been a fan for over 20 years, but I'm rather new to this forum. It's great to see other fan's take on things.