10 Years of Roadrunner Records

[LCArenas]

I just realized it's been 10 Years since DT signed to Roadrunner Records for Systematic Chaos. Do you think this has affected the general musical output of the band?

Also, let's make a list of our top 10 songs they've released since then.
Mine, as of today, and in no particular order:
-Breaking All Illusions
-Surrender to Reason
-The Count of Tuscany
-The Ministry of Lost Souls
-Moment of Betrayal
-Bridges in the Sky
-Beneath the Surface
-The Enemy Inside
-Lost not Forgotten
-A Life Left Behind

[BanksD]

Systematic Chaos, oddly enough. Though I quite enjoy ADTOE and DT12.


favorite songs:

ITPOE
Constant Motion
Bridges In The Sky
Illumination Theory
TMOLS
TDEN
The Shattered Fortress
The Count Of Tuscany
Beneath the Surface
Breaking All Illusions

I don't think the record company has had as much effect as the loss of MP and the general place the band is in at this point in their time. That being said most of these albums are fine and inoffensive, and none of them really hurt the band that much. Honestly the fact that a band this far into their career can still put out high quality albums at this stage in the game is impressive. I'm not a huge fan of The Astonishing though, just hasn't really gotten me like I'd hoped, and even tho i listened to it in full quite a few times, none of the songs really ended up staying with me. I'm confident I'll enjoy whatever next album is put out more though.

Also because I feel like being extra:

For me these albums would rank:

Systematoic Chaos
ADTOE
DT12
BCSL
TA

[TheCountOfNYC]

My favorite album from the RR era is The Astonishing.

Here's my top 10 songs from this era (although outside of the top four it's subject to change):

01: The Count of Tuscany
02: Breaking All Illusions
03: Constant Motion
04: Illumination Theory
05: Bridges in the Sky
06: A New Beginning
07: The Best of Times
08: Our New World
09: In the Presence of Enemies
10: Surrender to Reason

[Renzo]

Black clouds.. I know some people find it boring but I don't know.. I actually think the long instrumental sections are a way to "get into" the song in an 'overture-like' way. I think this sets the mood of the song and it makes this album unique. (I also think this is the 'best sounding')

This is how I would rank them:
BC&SL
DT14
TA
ADTOE
SC

And my favourite song from each album: (not in rank)
ITPOE - Full
TCOT
BAI
IT
A tempting offer

 

[MirrorMask]

Voted The Astonishing, but A Dramatic Turn of Events comes very close.

A little step behind Black Clouds and the self titled, last Systematic Chaos.

Tentative Top 10, not in order:

The Count of Tuscany
Breaking All Illusions
Bridges in the Sky
Outrcry
A Better Life
A Savior in the Square / When your Time has Come (c'mon let me count this as one)
Ravenskill
The Bigger Picture
The Ministry of Lost Souls
Forsaken

[ChuckSteak]

I just realized it's been 10 Years since DT signed to Roadrunner Records for Systematic Chaos. Do you think this has affected the general musical output of the band?

For my taste, it certainly has been getting worse and worse since DT signed to RR. If the label has something to do with it I cannot say.

[SwedishGoose]

For me The Astonishing wins a landslide victory

[Mladen]

A Dramatic turn of events gets my vote as my favorite album of the bunch, even though I find The Astonishing and Systematic chaos also great.

I'll try to make a top 10 from this era - it will be difficult, though.

1. The Ministry of lost souls
2. A New beginning
3. Bridges in the sky
4. The Count of Tuscany
5. In the presence of enemies
6. Beneath the surface
7. Outcry
8. The Path that divides
9. Illumination theory
10. A nightmare to remember

Honorable mentions: Repentance, The Best of times, On the backs of angels, Breaking all illusions and A Tempting offer. It's been a fantastic era all around.

[krands85]

A Dramatic turn of events gets my vote as my favorite album of the bunch, even though I find The Astonishing and Systematic chaos also great.

I'll try to make a top 10 from this era - it will be difficult, though.

1. The Ministry of lost souls
2. A New beginning
3. Bridges in the sky
4. The Count of Tuscany
5. In the presence of enemies
6. Beneath the surface
7. Outcry
8. The Path that divides
9. Illumination theory
10. A nightmare to remember

Honorable mentions: Repentance, The Best of times, On the backs of angels, Breaking all illusions and A Tempting offer. It's been a fantastic era all around.

This post could almost have been written by me  I'd have Breaking All Illusions in my top 10 instead of Beneath the Surface (and possibly The Gift of Music or Moment of Betrayal instead of The Path That Divides, but they're pretty closely matched). My order would be something like this though:

1. Breaking All Illusions
2. Illumination Theory
3. In the Presence of Enemies
4. The Count of Tuscany
5. Bridges in the Sky
6. The Ministry of Lost Souls
7. A New Beginning
8. Outcry
9. A Nightmare to Remember
10. The Path That Divides

Albums:

1. A Dramatic Turn of Events



2. Systematic Chaos
3. The Astonishing


4. DT12
5. BC&SL

[wrighty]

• The Astonishing
• ADTOE
• BCSL
• DT12
• SC

Ten tracks, in no particular order:
Lost Not Forgotten
On The Backs of Angels
Wither
Best of Times
Ministry of Lost Souls
Dystopian Overture
A life left Behind
Ravenskill
The X Aspect
The Road to Revolution

[wrighty]

Black clouds.. I know some people find it boring but I don't know.. I actually think the long instrumental sections are a way to "get into" the song in an 'overture-like' way. I think this sets the mood of the song and it makes this album unique. (I also think this is the 'best sounding')

This is how I would rank them:
BC&SL
DT14
TA
ADTOE
SC

And my favourite song from each album: (not in rank)
ITPOE - Full
TCOT
BAI
IT
A tempting offer

 

Wishful thinking? 

[Renzo]

Black clouds.. I know some people find it boring but I don't know.. I actually think the long instrumental sections are a way to "get into" the song in an 'overture-like' way. I think this sets the mood of the song and it makes this album unique. (I also think this is the 'best sounding')

This is how I would rank them:
BC&SL
DT14
TA
ADTOE
SC

And my favourite song from each album: (not in rank)
ITPOE - Full
TCOT
BAI
IT
A tempting offer

 

Wishful thinking? 

Ahahah, Yes!
I actually just woken up when I wrote that post so I accidentally transformed DT12 into DT's next album.

My bad..

[ytserush]

It sure isn't Systematic Chaos....

[Zook]

1. The Astonishing
2. Dream Theater
3. A Dramatic Turn of Events
4.. Systematic Chaos
5.. Black Clouds and Silver Linings

Top 10:
1. Bridges in the Sky
2. Our New World
3. The Count of Tuscany
4. In The Presence of Enemies
5. Illumination Theory
6. Breaking All Illusions
7. The Shattered Fortress
8. The Gift of Music
9. The Bigger Picture
10. The Answer/A Savior in the Square/When You Time Has Come

Disc 1 of TA is really what puts it at the top. Disc 2 has great songs, but disc 1 is more memorable. The simplicity along with that beautiful orchestra give TA the edge for top ranking as an album. Overall I'd say the Roadrunner years were/are good, but unlike an almost flawless 90s/early 2000s output, it's too much of a mixed bag.

Quick runthrough:

SC:
ITPOE - Awesome
Forsaken - Although not a bad song, what hurts it the most is that it's boring!
Constant Motion - Pretty good rocker I suppose, but not one I tend to go back to very often.
The Dark Eternal Night - I like it
Repentance - I like it
POW - I HATE IT
TMOLS - When the only good part of the song is the out of place instrumental section, that's not a good thing.

BC&SL:
ANTR - I like this song up until the trade off solos.
AROP - Boring, but I like the solos up until the bebot.
Wither - It's pretty good I guess.
The Shattered Fortress - Love it, although admittingly it loses steam after Jordan's solo, which I like.
TBOT - I don't care for it.
TCOT - Love it, cheese and all.

ADTOE:
OTBOA - Boring. Pull Me Under is better
BMUBMD - I barely remember what this sounds like
LNF - Under a Glass Moon is better.
TITL - Great song
BITS - LOVE IT
Outcry - Metropolis is- OK, these two aren't entirely structurally similar, but Outcry is just kinda boring.
FFH - Eh, it's OK.
BAI - Love it, but Learning to Live is better. Although again, not a straight structural rip off.
BTS - Eh, it's... OK

DT12:
FAS - Cool. I love symphonic Metal.
TEI - Great song.
TLG - Good song
EM - Kinda blah. Plus the shuffle on my phone killed this song for me.
TBP - Great song
BTV - Good song
STR - Good song
AFTR - It's alright.
IT - Love it.

The Astonishing - I'll just list my favorite songs:
The Gift of Music
The Answer
Lord Nafaryus
ASITS/WYTHC
Act of Faythe
Three Days
ALLB
Chosen
MoB
TPTD
Our New World

[gzarruk]

ANTR - I like this song up until the trade off solos.
AROP - Boring, but I like the solos up until the bebot.

Exactly my thoughts on these songs.


I voted TA, but ADTOE is a close second. I really love DT12 and SC too, but BC&SL is a big disappointment for me. This is the ranking in list form:

- TA
- ADTOE
- DT12
- SC



- BL&SL

About my top 10 songs from this era, here they are in chronological order:

1. ITPOE (the full song)
2. TCOT
3. LNF
4. BITS
5. Outcry
6. BAI
7. STR
8. IT
9. TGOM
10. ANB

Also, since we're talking about RR era DT, I still wonder if DT will stay with RR for the following years or not. I feel like a label change could help them a bit. If they signed another 3 record deal before DT12, we have only one more album untill they have to either sign again or leave RR.

[Zeltar]

I hadn't noticed til now, how none of these albums have really aged well to me. I mean, there are plenty of fantastic songs on each album, but none of those five are so consistent as DT's best albums. It's great to see an ambitious project like The Astonishing so late in the band's career, but I've only actually sat down and really listened intently to the whole thing maybe three times, so I voted ADTOE. Lots of epic stuff like Breaking All Illusions, Bridges in the Sky, but it's still only so consistent.

And I want to fit in, so here's a list:
A Dramatic Turn of Events
The Astonishing
Dream Theater
Black Clouds
Systematic Chaos

[wolfking]

Dream Theater

This would be my top 10 songs but not in any order.  I made the order like an album.

1. A Nightmare to Remember
2. The Enemy Inside
3. The Bigger Picture
4. The Dark Eternal Night
5. Behind the Veil
6. Bridges in the Sky
7. Breaking All Illusions
8. The Ministry of Lost Souls
9. The Count of Tuscany
10. Illumination Theory

[ToT-147]

Yeah, Dream Theater have made so much boring music..


Ok, so, for me is a very easy one: Black Clouds & Silver Linings..

(BC&SL - SC - TA - DT12 - ADToE)

Songs, in particular order:

The Count of Tuscany   
Ravenskill                                    [Tier 1]
The Walking Shadow

The Ministry of Lost Souls
Outcry                                         [Tier 2]
Three Days
The Path that Divides

In the Presence of Enemies Part II
A Nightmare to Remember              [Tier 3]
The Bigger Picture


As for the question...

I just realized it's been 10 Years since DT signed to Roadrunner Records for Systematic Chaos. Do you think this has affected the general musical output of the band?

That's actually a really good question to make in an interview to any of the guys.. We... just don't know..

[Zydar]

ADToE
DT12

SC
BC&SL




TA

[mikeyd23]

Probably something like:

ADTOE
TA

DT

BC&SL
SC

[SwedishGoose]

Mine is something like:

TA

ADTOE
DT

BC&SL
SC

[Dublagent66]

ADTOE

SC
BC&SL









DT12





TA

[Setlist Scotty]

I just realized it's been 10 Years since DT signed to Roadrunner Records for Systematic Chaos. Do you think this has affected the general musical output of the band?

That's actually a really good question to make in an interview to any of the guys.. We... just don't know..

While we may not know 100% of 100%, I think it's safe to say that it did not affect the general musical output of the band. The band has several times gone on record stating that it did not affect the music they put out and this was important detail for who they ultimately chose to sign with, having had the problems they did up through FII; so I'm prone to believe them. If it was, I doubt we would've seen ADToE and especially TA. And really, if they were being pushed into a certain direction, they probably would not have resigned with RR after ADToE. Pretty sure them moving to RR was just a different means of getting their music out to the masses (with a better contract than what they had with their last label).

[gzarruk]

I just realized it's been 10 Years since DT signed to Roadrunner Records for Systematic Chaos. Do you think this has affected the general musical output of the band?

That's actually a really good question to make in an interview to any of the guys.. We... just don't know..

While we may not know 100% of 100%, I think it's safe to say that it did not affect the general musical output of the band. The band has several times gone on record stating that it did not affect the music they put out and this was important detail for who they ultimately chose to sign with, having had the problems they did up through FII; so I'm prone to believe them. If it was, I doubt we would've seen ADToE and especially TA. And really, if they were being pushed into a certain direction, they probably would not have resigned with RR after ADToE. Pretty sure them moving to RR was just a different means of getting their music out to the masses (with a better contract than what they had with their last label).

This makes sense.

[wolfking]

DT

BC&SL

ADTOE
SC









TA

[Nachtmerrie]

1 - Systematic Chaos
2 - A Dramatic Turn of Events (close to SC)
3 - The Astonishing (Slowly starting to really like it)
4 - Dream Theater
5 - Black Clouds & Silver Linings

The songs (no particular order)
ITPOE
TMOLS
BAI
OTBOA
TBOT
Forsaken
BITS

[bosk1]

1.  A Dramatic Turn of Events
2.  DT12 (very close #1 and #2; these are my #3 and #4 DT albums of all time, behind Six Degrees and SFAM)
3.  The Astonishing
4.  SC (probably not far behind TA; it has some higher highs for me, but is inconsistent and has some of my least favorite DT songs)
5.  BCSL  (not a bad album, but...eh, it's been discussed)

Some of my favorite songs from the bunch (in album order, not ranked)
ITPOE
Forsaken
Constant Motion
ANTR
TCOT
Bridges in the Sky
Outcry
Beneath the Surface
Behind the Veil
Along for the Ride
Illumination Theory
A Better Life
Ravenskill
Our New World

[mikeyd23]

Pleasantly surprised to see TA in second place in this poll. It's my #2 of this era, but I got the impression from some posters on here that maybe it would rank lower on this forum.

[TAC]

A Dramatic Turn Of Events
The Astonishing

Systematic Chaos
Dream Theater
Black Clouds & Silver Linings

Songs..ranked:
1. Breaking All Illusions
2. The Count Of Tuscany
3. The Best Of Times
4. Outcry
5. Lost Not Forgotten
6. The Dark Eternal Night
7. The Gift Of Music
8. The Enemy Inside
9. A Savior In The Square
10. A New Beginning

[TheCountOfNYC]

Pleasantly surprised to see TA in second place in this poll. It's my #2 of this era, but I got the impression from some posters on here that maybe it would rank lower on this forum.

Well SC, BC&SL, and DT12 aren't all that highly regarded around here, either. It's clear that ADToE is the most well regarded RR era album on these forums, then behind that it's a toss up. In this poll, TA happened to take second. It's actually my personal favorite from this era.

[mikeyd23]

Pleasantly surprised to see TA in second place in this poll. It's my #2 of this era, but I got the impression from some posters on here that maybe it would rank lower on this forum.

Well SC, BC&SL, and DT12 aren't all that highly regarded around here, either. It's clear that ADToE is the most well regarded RR era album on these forums, then behind that it's a toss up. In this poll, TA happened to take second. It's actually my personal favorite from this era.

Oh yeah, I get it, it's just that often when I scroll through threads on the DT side, it seems like the negative posters for TA sometimes can outweigh the positive posts. I love TA, and have it second in this era right behind ADTOE, so it's good to see others appreciate it as well.

[MirrorMask]

The Astonishing is so big and massive that it's very divisive. Either people like it A LOT, or dislike it A LOT, I don't think it's a middle ground kind of album.

[ToT-147]

And, what a surprise, most of people who "dislike it a lot" have only listened to it a few times.. I mean, it's ok, no one is forced to listen to anything, but at least you could say "I haven't hear it the enough times", and not "I hate it", when you've hear it just two or three times..

[bosk1]

  But if someone hates it, why would they invest 2 1/2 hours a shot to listen to it again?

[LCArenas]

The Astonishing is so big and massive that it's very divisive. Either people like it A LOT, or dislike it A LOT, I don't think it's a middle ground kind of album.

It's also really fascinating to see that the song rankings don't really follow a pattern. There's no 'Octavarium' or 'The Count of Tuscany' which are commonly the favorite songs in their respective albums. Everybody has a favorite.

BTW My ranking goes

1. A Dramatic Turn of Events
2 -Tied. Systematic Chaos
2 -Tied. The Astonishing
3. Dream Theater
4. Black Clouds and Silver Linings