Ranking DT Albums by Cover Art Alone

[breaktheprisonwall]

Long time lurker here but one of the comments in the Parasomnia thread actually prompted me to log in and ask, because I thought this would be fun:

I see thread after thread of album rankings based on the music, but I have yet to see one where they're ranked purely on cover art alone. I'm sure one exists out there but I couldn't find it after a preliminary search. My personal ranking actually differs quite a bit from how I would rank them based on the music:

1. Systematic Chaos (Special Edition specifically- this, to me, is the single best cover they've EVER produced)
2. Octavarium
3. A View from the Top of the World
4. The Astonishing
5. Scenes from a Memory
6. A Dramatic Turn of Events
7. Parasomnia
8. Train of Thought
9. Distance Over Time
10. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
11. When Dream and Day Unite
12. Falling into Infinity
13. Awake
14. Images and Words
15. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
16. Dream Theater (the Majesty logo redesign has NEVER sat well with me, and it being so prominent here really tanked it to the bottom)

Curious to see what other people think.

Super excited for Parasomnia- only a few weeks left!

[erciccio]

Never thought about it, also because I don't like DT covers that much...(even though some of the artwork included in the special editions is actually cool!)

1. Octavarium - very cool idea, and good execution, notwithstanding the "wrong" angle of the cables holding the balls..
2. Distance Over Time
3. Train of Thought
4. Images and Words
5. Falling into Infinity
6. Dream Theater
7. Scenes from a Memory
8. Awake
9. The Astonishing
10. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
11. A Dramatic Turn of Events - not that bad, but it was meant to match with the "other" album title...(Bridges in the sky")
12. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
13. Systematic Chaos
14. A View from the Top of the World
15. Parasomnia - such an uninspired idea, and such a sloppy execution...
16. When Dream and Day Unite - that armpit...  

[bosk1]

1.  Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence:  Simplistic, but effective.  It hints at things being ever so slightly off and dark without explicitly being so.  It's also distinctive, which is effective.
2.  Scenes from a Memory:  Very distinctive and original.  It has become pretty iconic if you ask me.
3.  Train of Thought:  Dark and sinister.  It fits the vibe of the album and the album title in pretty clever ways.  And it is somewhat of a homage to DT's "collage"-style album covers from I&W and Awake, but done a lot better.
4.  Octavarium:  It is distinctive, iconic, and somehow peaceful.  The physics of the Newton's Cradle never jumped out to me and has not bothered me after being pointed out.  It's just a cool cover.
5.  Distance Over Time:  Fairly simple, good looking cover.  It says metal without screaming metal, and is just well done.
6.  Dream Theater:  Slick and dark.  I like it.
7.  Parasomnia:  The dark imagery really fits the album theme.  So does the fact that things are unsettlingly off.  I'm not sure whether it was intentional given the theme, or if it was just a byproduct of using AI and not spending a lot of time scrutinizing and correcting the final product.  I suspect the latter.  But, to me, it feels like the former could be true, so that's good enough for me.
8.  A View from the Top of the World:  Not too different than some other DT album covers, but the strangeness of the landscape and how it is both based on a real world location and ties into some of the lyrical themes on the album are well done.
9.  Falling into Infinity:  Not overly complicated, and an interesting concept that is beautifully executed.
10.  The Astonishing:  It's not bad.  It only makes sense in context of major plot points of the album that would not be apparent until you familiarize with the story, but it works in that context.  And it either intentionally or accidentally feels like it fits the style of a lot of '80s sci-fi book covers, which is fitting.
11.  Images and Words:  Not a huge fan of this collage-style artwork.  But at the time, it was somewhat original, and it fit the genre of more "complex" metal that made you think.  It's originality earns it some points over the next two, which I would classify as being in a similar style.
12.  Awake:  Followed the trend of I&W.  Perhaps it is done a bit "better" in that there are more obvious tie-ins to the songs on the album.  But as the immediate follow up to I&W, using this style always felt a bit derivative to me.
13.  Black Clouds and Silver Linings:  I could flip this with #12.  In fact, I kinda feel like I like this one better.  But I think Scotty would unfriend me, so...
14.  A Dramatic Turn of Events:  Eh, it's okay.  Nothing "bad" about it, but it doesn't grab me either.
15.  Systematic Chaos:  Never really cared for it.  But at least it's recognizable.  The special edition is a LOT better, IMO.  I would probably put that one at about #6, maybe even #5 if I were including it in my rankings.
16.  When Dream and Day Unite:  I think most will have it at or near the bottom.

In doing this, I noticed that DT really likes the collage style (I&W, Awake, TOT, BCSL) and "strange landscapes" (FII, 8VM, View--could maybe include ADTOE and SC in this, but those feel a bit different).  Interesting to see several albums that feel like they fit those two themes. 

[DTwwbwMP]

1. Images and Words
2. Scenes from a Memory
3. Train of Thought
4. Systematic Chaos
5. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
6. The Astonishing
7. Awake
8. A Dramatic Turn of Events
9. Parasomnia
10.Octavarium
11.Falling into Infinity
12.Dream Theater
13.Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
14.Distance Over Time
15.A View from the Top of the World
16.When Dream and Day Unite

[Dedalus]

I had never thought of a ranking before.

1. SDOIT - I always liked it. I like abstract art and this one in particular sparks an interesting curiosity in me. I really like the lettering on this cover. I like other art by the artist responsible, called Dung Hoang.
2. TOT - I really like Jerry Uelsmann's photomontages and this one is especially cool.
3. SFAM - It's not an original concept, since it came out first in Sandman... but I think this is the best of all the versions McKean has done.
4. FII - The most prog cover by DT. I like the enigmatic covers by Hipgnose / Storm Thorgerson (but I HATE the LIVETime cover).
5. I&W - It's not that good and seems extraordinarily dated to me, but it has become iconic for what it represents for prog/prog metal. I'm possibly being biased because it's the I&W cover.
6. DT12 - Hugh Syme did nothing wrong here and it deserves an award! I like the result.
7. Octavarium - I like the concept.
8. TA - Well executed. Typical cover that works better on vinyl.
9. DOT - Syme must have spent more time searching for the skull and robot he liked in the image banks than putting together the cover. But it turned out interesting. The positive point is that it's not obvious for Heavy fucking Metal (after all, it's a light cover in the black world of metal).
10. ADTOE - For some reason I don't like the idea that much. But I like the shades of blue.
11. View - I don't like their covers that style that much. But the Kjeragbolten landscape is interesting.
12. BCSL - I've already said that I don't like this style and here I don't like the final result.
13. SC - It's not bad, but I HATE the ants of absurdly disproportionate sizes. OK, artistic freedom and all, I understand... but I hate it anyway (it must be because of my profession lol).
14. Awake - It looks like an unfinished sketch.
15. WDADU - It looks weird and I don't like the logo and the "Dream" and "Theater" separated (at least in one of the versions).
16. Parasomnia - Completely shit. It seems like a generic metal cover (and DT should not be a generic metal band) and poorly made by IA. For some reason I don't like the I&W reference.

[BeatriceNB]

1. Awake: I like the references to the songs, and I think the artwork fits the music perfectly.
2. Images and Words: another one where the music and the artwork go hand in hand. I personally love the colour palette, quite colourful despite a rather plain scenery. Very iconic too.
3. Octavarium: iconic as well. Simple and effective.
4. A Dramatic Turn Of Events: I really like this one, especially for the saturated colours, they give life to a rather simple image.
5. The Astonishing: the city in the story and the Noise Machines, it does what it says on the tin. I don't know if it's a lighting effect, but I always thought it has some sort of 3D feeling. I don't rate it higher because I feel the colour palette is too grey.
6. Black Clouds and Silver Linings: it's similar to Awake, but I don't think the execution is as good. It fits the music, but I'm not a fan of the weird proportions and brown as the main colour, but they're not deal breakers.
7. Train of Thought: also iconic, but I wish the music was as good as the artwork
8. Systematic Chaos: I dislike the colour palette, but the concept is well executed, definitely systematic chaos.
9. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence: I'm surprised to see it ranked so high by others. Not one of my favourites, but I can't imagine the album without it. Edit: It always made me think of medicine, for some reason. I thought it was a bias because of the themes in the album, but after the looking up the artist, I wasn't wrong with my feelings; cool.
10. Dream Theater: probably their simplest artwork, not much to say about it. Not good, not bad, inoffensive. I rate it 10th because I can't imagine DT12 without it, and blue is my favourite colour
11. When Dream and Day Unite: 99% of people will rank it at the very bottom, but I like it because it's so silly. Doesn't fit the music, but I also can't say it's not iconic and memorable I really like the high contrast between shadow and light, reminds me of Baroque paintings (this comparison is as cursed as the artwork).
12. Falling Into Infinity: as a Pink Floyd fan, it hurts putting a Thorgerson artwork so low, but I never liked this one.
13. Distance Over Time: more memorable than the music in the album, but I don't care too much for it. Fun fact: looking at it always made me think of milk.
14. A Change of Seasons: I think it's meant to represent all seasons? Not sure. Never liked how the kid, bucket and rose don't glue with the rest of the image, even for a Syme artwork.
15. A View From...: awful colour palette, and the grass looks like moss. Some parts of the image feel really blurry, and it's a very busy artwork, despite being simple (on paper). And those shoes stand out in a bad way. And I don't understand the point of adding a city, top of the world? Doesn't seem like it. Looking at this artwork reminds me of really humid days in summer, and that's very unpleasant.
16. Scenes From A Memory: I hate this one. I understand the reference, but still. I really dislike how the face looks, and I really dislike the colour palette used for this specific idea.
17. Parasomnia: I just realized I had been discussing about Parasomnia and the singles all this time thinking the artwork was the one for Night Terror! I want to go back to that. The artwork for Parasomnia should have been ditched right away, I mean, AI can generate infinite results with the same prompts, no wasted effort, and surely one of the results would've been better.

[Progmaniac1988]

I like most their artwork, so I don't think any are really "bad" per se, but here you go.

1 - Octavarium
2 - Metropolis pt 2
3 - Train of thought
4 - Awake
5 - Black clouds and silver linings
6 - images and words
7 - A View From the top of the world
8 - Parasomnia (really like it, suites the album. Don't quite get the hate)
9 - a dramatic turn of events
10 - systematic chaos
11 - six degrees of inner turbulence
12 - distance over time
13 - falling into infinity (the DT font sucks on this and ruins it for me)
14 - The Astonishing
15 - Dream Theater
16 - When Dream and Day Unite (love this album but the artwork does nothing for me lol)

[Revenge319]

1. Octavarium - Simple yet very elegant.
2. Systematic Chaos - I love the concept and execution of this one.
3. A Change of Seasons - The boy looks a little off, but besides that it's gorgeous. I love the sky and the trees in the background.
4. The Astonishing - Probably the best one on a technical level, but also looks really good in every other way.
5. Images and Words - Just like with ACoS, the girl looks kinda weird but I love everything else.
6. Black Clouds and Silver Linings - I always liked Dream Theater's "collage" style album covers with the various objects referencing specific songs, this is my favorite of them.
7. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - Cool aesthetic, I feel it goes together very well with the album's themes.
8. Train of Thought - Would be a couple spots higher if it were in color, still pretty cool artwork though.
9. Awake - Would easily be Top 3 if the whole thing was in color. Still great artwork nonetheless.
10. Dream Theater - Simple but effective.
11. A View From the Top of the World - Yeah, this was around the time when a certain aspect of the artwork became rather obvious, but in execution I think it turned out pretty good.
12. A Dramatic Turn of Events - Good concept and I feel the imagery and aesthetic meshes well with the album itself, compared to Distance Over Time.
13. Falling Into Infinity - The art itself isn't anything special, but I think it goes really well with the album and strengthens this sort of ocean vibe I get with certain songs (Hollow Years, Hell's Kitchen, Lines in the Sand, Trial of Tears).
14. Metropolis, Pt. 2 - Nothing wrong with this one, just outclassed by the rest.
15. Distance Over Time - I think this one turned out fine, but I feel like it doesn't really have anything to do with the album despite the art clearly referencing the title.
16. When Dream and Day Unite - I wouldn't outright call it bad, but it's certainly weird compared to the others.
17. Parasomnia - Last place by a significant margin. The concept definitely has potential, but anything AI-generated means nothing to me, so this album art does nothing for me.

[vazquez]

1.Awake
2.I&W
3.Octavarium
4.ToT
5.SC
6.aDToE
7.Metropolis Pt. 2
8.Six Degrees
9.Distance Over Time
10.FiI
11.WDaDU
---- Until here, I think the covers are, at least, creative and remarkable.
12.TA
13.Parasomnia
14.A Change of Seasons
15.Black Clouds
16.DT12
17.A View

[Jamesman42]

I think almost all of them are mediocre at best and for me, ranking them would be a chore. I just know that Octavarium is the standout and even more when you know about the theme and the placement of the birds representing the notes on a scale. The openness of it is also well done, and I don't care about the physics aspect. 

[breaktheprisonwall]

Interesting to read what people's feelings on the artwork are. Music is an interesting medium because it really is *two* forms of art in this sense. I understand the cover art (for any band, not just DT) may mean absolutely nothing to some people, but to me it's always been an important part of the experience. I wanted to dig a little deeper into my own choices- meant to do this in the initial post and ran out of time over the next couple of days. So:

1. Systematic Chaos- interestingly enough, I don't outright love the base cover, but the simplicity, color scheme, and idea behind the special edition just WORKS for me. It's just a "feeling" for this one, and I've always thought this one would be hard to beat.

2. Octavarium- the geographic placement of the balls never bothered me on this one. That out of the way, I love how closely intertwined the artwork for Octavarium is with ideas that fueled the creation of the music. People give Hugh Syme a LOT of crap on this forum (some of which is deserved, but I also think the guy needs to be given a break), but I personally think his passion shone quite brightly on this album and it will always be one of their best. 

3. A View from the Top of the World- I just like the idea behind this cover. I like the 'brighter' colors when compared to a decent chunk of their discography, and I like (a couple of details aside) the "realism" of it. Outside of Train of Thought and When Dream and Day Unite (to a degree), View is the only DT album cover that looks like it's grounded in reality...nice change of pace for them.

4. The Astonishing- I simply enjoy how the artist they chose for this album ran with the concept. I am not a huge fan of the character designs, but ALL of the other artwork (not just the cover) is phenomenal. The guy knocked it out of the park.

5. Scenes from a Memory- I really like how this cover attempts to emulate the concept behind the title. It's a highly creative and clever piece, and is universally relatable in how it shows how we are all made up of our individual memories. 

6. A Dramatic Turn of Events- In the same vein as View, I like the bright color palette and the simplicity of the image shown in the cover. I know the album was originally titled Bridges in the Sky, so the cover reflects that more than the title we ended up with, but I still like what Syme did here. Even though I'm putting it at #6, this cover is actually one of the first that always pops into my mind when I consider DT's "imagery" for some reason. 

7. Parasomnia- whether or not this is AI, I actually really dig how this looks like it's a nightmare version of the Images and Words cover. I'm not a big fan of the IaW artwork, and I'll get to why below, but for some reason this one just works for me. Also, for what it's worth, I REALLY wish they had actually gone with the Night Terror single artwork as the actual album artwork. I LOVE the single artwork.

8. Train of Thought- the lack of color here makes this album a unique entry in the discography, and while I don't LOVE it, I definitely don't hate it either. That's why it's getting the exact middle spot in my list. I also like to think (in my own head) that the birds on the cover lend to the "album continuation" idea that permeated the run from Scenes-Octavarium. (As the birds are also on the 8V cover) , so that's a cool little detail.

9. Distance Over Time- my personal feelings on where technology seems like its heading in the real world aside, I like the "Hamlet-ization" of this image, even if the implications of it are rather dire for mankind's fate. This one is also put where it is because of the lack of notable colors when compared to the rest. Again, not a HUGE fan, but it's not the worst thing either. 

10. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence- I like the implied chaos of this one. Given the lyrical nature of the title track, I think this cover is very "fitting". I feel like this is my last positive opinion (not bad for 10 out of 16!)

11. When Dream and Day Unite- this cover has always felt "goofy" to me. The concept is goofy, the font they used for the band name is goofy....it simply doesn't land with me, but far from the worst this band has put out. I don't hate it, it's more that I chuckle to myself looking at it.

12. Falling into Infinity- I don't like the band name font, I don't like how the majesty symbol was integrated, and I'm not really big into the concept behind this one. Definitely not one of my favorites.

13/14. Awake/Images and Words- I'm going to lump these two together because I feel almost the exact same about both; looking at them side by side, they almost look like two halves of the same idea- one lighter, one darker. One with warmer colors, one with colder colors. They certainly look like they were made by the same mind (which, in looking into it, not surprised that they in fact were). The elements used don't work for me, their placement in the image don't work for me, neither concept works for me. I don't like *either* image here.

15. Black Clouds and Silver Linings- take what I said about the last two, and this is a worse version of it. Black Clouds is actually one of their better albums musically (a minority opinion here but it stands for me), but the cover artwork is simply one of their most poorly executed. If not for a rather strong opinion on my last place entry, this is easily the worst.

16. Dream Theater- as I mentioned in my original post, the majesty logo redesign absolutely destroys my enjoyment of this album art. For some reason it REALLY irks me, and even though the redesign was used again on The Astonishing, Distance over Time, (weirdly NOT on View, at least to my eyes), and on Parasomnia), it doesn't bother me NEARLY as much as it does here, because in the other covers it's not the "central piece". I actually enjoy the album (again, probably more than most people do), but I QUITE dislike the artwork.

[pg1067]

I've seen posts like this more than once, and I honestly don't think I can rank the covers without any regard to the music.

That said, my favorites are probably I&W, ACOS, Awake, SFAM, and View.

[Cavalry of Despair]

1. Train Of Thought
2. Six Degrees
3. Scenes From A Memory
4. Falling Into Infinity
5. Octavarium
6. Systematic Chaos
7. A Dramatic Turn Of Events
8. Awake
9. Images And Words
10. Distance Over Time
11. A View From The Top Of The World
12. DT12
13. The Astonishing
14. Black Clouds And Silver Linings
15. When Dream And Day Unite
16. The Astonishing
17. Parasomnia

After the top 5, the ranking is really a toss-up. Even though I tried my hardest to separate the music from the artwork, I think I'd probably rank I&W and Awake lower if they weren't my two favorites by the band. The innate association I have between the covers and the content (and that period of the band as a whole, tbh) is too strong. Parasomnia's concept, if executed thoughtfully, could've been really strong, but the obvious AI artifacts just completely ruin it. This was an interesting prompt, got me to notice that the 5 good DT album covers IMO happen to have all been consecutive releases.

[Nissim]

1. Awake. Now that's a Dream Theater if i've ever seen one.

2. A Dramatic Turn of Events.

3. Images and Words.

4. Black Clouds and Silver Linings.

5. Octavarium.

6. A View from the Top of the World.

7. Train of Thought.

8. When Dream and Day Unite.

9. Scenes from a Memory.

10. Six Degrees.

11. Systematic Chaos.

12. Falling Into Infinity.

13. Distance Over Time.

14. The Astonishing.

15. Self titled.

[Whitefish]

In all honesty I think that nearly all of Dream Theater's covers are, objectively, pretty terrible. I have quite a lot of affection for them because I have positive associations with the music, but at the same time I would feel a little embarrassed to lend a hard copy of most albums to my friends, because the covers are so goofy. It's like how a person might have affection for their dad's weird dress sense. I love it, because I love my dad, but I acknowledge that to the outside world he looks pretty weird.

The only real exceptions to this are 6DOIT, SFAM, and FII. SFAM and FII are not cringe, but they are both fairly boring. The only album cover that I really positively like, and think is really cool and interesting, is 6DOIT. The cover fits the vibe of the album so well. I love that it is bright and vibrant, but also somewhat fractured and disturbed. It has a manic energy, which obviously is a key theme of the music. The other graphic materials on the album (back cover, liner notes) are all of a piece with this, and make the whole package really interesting and positive. I don't think it's a coincidence that I like this cover so much, given that it is (I think?) the only one designed by someone who is not predominantly an album cover designer. I really think DT should do this sort of collaboration more, but I guess they have found their groove now.