Dream Theater Album Ranking by Loudwire

[Scar]

www.loudwire.com/dream-theater-albums-ranked/

If you're too lazy to look yourselves....

13: When Dream and Day Unite
12: Falling into Infinity
11: The Astonishing
10: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
9: Black Clouds and Silver Linings
8: Octavarium
7: A Dramatic Turn of Events
6: Metropolis Part 2
5: Dream Theater
4: Systematic Chaos
3: Train of Thought
2: Awake
1: Images and Words

I'm surprised Dream Theater and SC is above SFAM.

[TheCountOfNYC]

www.loudwire.com/dream-theater-albums-ranked/

If you're too lazy to look yourselves....

13: When Dream and Day Unite
12: Falling into Infinity
11: The Astonishing
10: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
9: Black Clouds and Silver Linings
8: Octavarium
7: A Dramatic Turn of Events
6: Metropolis Part 2
5: Dream Theater
4: Systematic Chaos
3: Train of Thought
2: Awake
1: Images and Words

I'm surprised Dream Theater and SC is above SFAM.

IMO, the bolded part makes the entire list invalid.

[Scar]

Whoops. Fix'd

[Prog Snob]

There is so much wrong with that list but I'll just mention two that immediately slapped me in the face. Six Degrees is way too low and Systematic Chaos is way too high.

[MirrorMask]

Scenes behind Systematic Chaos? *forgets about the list*

[OpenYourEyes311]

I can't take any list with WDaDU at last seriously... like, clearly you just either take popular opinion, or you didn't even listen to it in the first place (or both). Or you DID listen to it, heard Charlie sing in AFiL, and then just turned it off. Seriously, though, those songs are so fresh, so filled with excitement, I will never understand why people rank it so low. Forget the production, just take the songs and listen to five dudes just giving it their all. For my money, it's on par with Images and Words, and is among the upper half of their albums.


Also... as said before, Six Degrees is way too low on this particular list.

[Train of Naught]

I can't take any list with WDaDU at last seriously... like, clearly you just either take popular opinion

This is a longshot, but seeing as it is a popular opinion, wouldn't it be possible that the person making this list and ranking WDADU in the bottom spot shares that same popular opinion along with, say, 99% of Dream Theater's fan base?



Nah that can't be possible

[Mosh]

I don't put WDADU at the very bottom but I don't see how that is a step. To most people, the rest of their discography is a pretty huge step above the debut.

[Dream Team]

I can't take any list with WDaDU at last seriously... like, clearly you just either take popular opinion, or you didn't even listen to it in the first place (or both). Or you DID listen to it, heard Charlie sing in AFiL, and then just turned it off. Seriously, though, those songs are so fresh, so filled with excitement, I will never understand why people rank it so low. Forget the production, just take the songs and listen to five dudes just giving it their all. For my money, it's on par with Images and Words, and is among the upper half of their albums.


Also... as said before, Six Degrees is way too low on this particular list.

Awesome post! Completely agree.

[bosk1]

I can't take any list with WDaDU at last seriously... like, clearly you just either take popular opinion, or you didn't even listen to it in the first place (or both). Or you DID listen to it, heard Charlie sing in AFiL, and then just turned it off. Seriously, though, those songs are so fresh, so filled with excitement, I will never understand why people rank it so low. Forget the production, just take the songs and listen to five dudes just giving it their all. For my money, it's on par with Images and Words, and is among the upper half of their albums.

There are many reasons to not take that list seriously, but ranking WDADU is not one of them.  Whether you happen to like the album or not, the fact remains that the vast majority of fans rank it last and feel that it has some serious flaws.  And the band mostly feels the same way.  You can like the album all you want, but to imply that there is something wrong with anyone who disagrees with you is just pompous and misguided.

[Kotowboy]

Sorry but there is just no f---ing chance that Dream Theater is better than Octavarium.

Six Degrees at #10  .

Move along. nothing to see here.

[axeman90210]

I can't really argue with #1 or #2 much (though they'd be 2 and 3 for me, it's very close. A lot of the rest of that list is laughable. Even some of the writeups praise tracks that are filler while ignoring album highlights.

[bosk1]

Eh, rankings are rankings.  Everybody is going to disagree with something in them.  But the write-ups are unequivocally bad.  And it must be the same author who did the Maiden album ranking on the same page, because that one is awful as well. 

[DragonAttack]

I think it's the first where I have seen 'Metropolis Part 2' listed at all 

[Kotowboy]

กกกก Kotowboy's Dream Theater Ranking !!!!

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

[TheOutlawXanadu]

กกกก Kotowboy's Dream Theater Ranking !!!!

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

Some obscure calls, but I love where your head's at. I usually rank albums in tiers. Mine would be:

Tier One: Images, Awake, Scenes, Astonishing
Tier Two: FII, Six Degrees
Tier Three: TOT, Octavarium, DT12
Tier Four: Chaos, Clouds
Tier Five: WDADU

[Kotowboy]

Tier Five: WDADU

Tier Five - which we will call the "When Dream and Day Unite" Tier.

[bosk1]

กกกก Kotowboy's Dream Theater Ranking !!!!

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

wrong

[Blind Faythe]

www.loudwire.com/dream-theater-albums-ranked/

If you're too lazy to look yourselves....

13: When Dream and Day Unite
12: Falling into Infinity
11: The Astonishing
10: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
9: Black Clouds and Silver Linings
8: Octavarium
7: A Dramatic Turn of Events
6: Metropolis Part 2
5: Dream Theater
4: Systematic Chaos
3: Train of Thought
2: Awake
1: Images and Words

I'm surprised Dream Theater and SC is above SFAM.

What an interesting ranking by Loudwire.

Eh, rankings are rankings.  Everybody is going to disagree with something in them.  But the write-ups are unequivocally bad.  And it must be the same author who did the Maiden album ranking on the same page, because that one is awful as well.

That is totally true. I read the write ups and I agree that it was ambiguously bad. For Falling into Infinity, the author writes that the band flopped miserably. What? That is not true. Infinity was still a very strong album.

In any case, I respect the author's list.

[Kotowboy]

กกกก Kotowboy's Dream Theater Ranking !!!!

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

wrong

Er no. It actually is my ranking.

[bosk1]

กกกก Kotowboy's Dream Theater Ranking !!!!

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

wrong

Er no. It actually is my ranking.

But the ranking is wrong.  Do it over until you get it right.

Never mind the fact that 3 of your top 4 are in my top 4, even though you got the order wrong.

[Mosh]

Eh, rankings are rankings.  Everybody is going to disagree with something in them.  But the write-ups are unequivocally bad.  And it must be the same author who did the Maiden album ranking on the same page, because that one is awful as well.

Those websites (Loudwire/ultimateclassicrock) suck. You can tell when the author isn't even familiar with what he's writing about. I read a review of The Final Frontier on there once that basically just said what some of the songs were about, and even some of those descriptions were incorrect. 

[Kotowboy]

กกกก Kotowboy's Dream Theater Ranking !!!!

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

wrong

Er no. It actually is my ranking.

But the ranking is wrong.  Do it over until you get it right.

Never mind the fact that 3 of your top 4 are in my top 4, even though you got the order wrong.

1. Octavarium

EVERYTHING ELSE

13. WDADU

[rumborak]

I usually don't do rankings, but I'm trying to avoid a certain shitshow on TV that is going on right now, so here it goes:

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

[Scar]

I'm glad you put FII higher. 

Though I'd rank SC higher. Its just my opinion.

[ChuckSteak]

ToT and SC way too high and FII and Six Degrees way too low.

[Lax]

I can't read seriously a top where scenes is not first, or at least second.
They must have ranked album's covers, or the guy never listened to dream theater before last week, I don't know

[Prog Snob]

กกกก Kotowboy's Dream Theater Ranking !!!!

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

Images and Words lower than The Astonishing?  Awake lower than Falling In Infinity and Dream Theater?

That's almost as bad as the magazine article.

[OpenYourEyes311]

All these lists are wrong. Here is the correct list.

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

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Excluding SFAM, the fact that six other albums came before 6DOIT is a head scratcher, for me personally.  At least they got the top two right.

[Prog Snob]

When Dream and Day Unite above Scenes and Awake?

Wrong. Next.

[Scar]

xD
1. Images and Words
2. Scenes from a Memory
3. Awake
4. Six Degrees
5. Octavarium
6. Train of Thought
7. Falling into Infinity
8. A Dramatic Turn
9. Black Clouds
10. DT 12
11. The Astonishing
12. Systematic Chaos
13. When Dream and Day Unite

[Prog Snob]

Falling Into Infinity is too high.

Next.

[Scar]

Can I get a retry?! 

[Prog Snob]

 

I'm just being facetious. Now suck it up before you get one of these as a parting gift.