Official Dream Theater studio albums countdown thread! (number 1 revealed!)

[SwedishGoose]

To me this was such a let down after the adventurous The Astonishing. Polar oposites.... this ended up last
Going from something really special and in my ears extremely satisfying to this felt like they took the safe way out.

The fans didn't like us experimenting so lets just follow the template.

Turned out a bit boring and predictable to me.

15. Distance Over Time
14. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
13. When Dream and Day Unite
12. Systematic Chaos
11. Dream Theater
10.
9. Falling Into Infinity
8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1. The Astonishing

[Mladen]

I agree. For me, it was way too safe and by-the-numbers after The Astonishing got me spoiled. It was still solid, though. Pale blue dot is one of the best songs of the Mangini era.

15. Falling into infinity
14.
13. When Dream and Day Unite
12. Dream Theater
11. Distance over time
10.
9.
8. Black clouds & silver linings
7. Systematic Chaos
6.
5. The Astonishing
4.
3.
2.
1.

[wolfking]

I had it at number 8.  I thought it was actually quite varied and creative myself.  Love the sound of the record too.  Love how it's not bloated either.

[Deadeye21]

Is it safe to say that Distance Over Time is essentially course correction after The Astonishing? That’s not to say it isn’t a great album, but it’s certainly a safer, by-the-numbers kind of album when it comes to Dream Theater. I think it’s pretty good in many places, making it’s appearance on my list as the second highest of the Mangini records (no prizes to work out what’s first, many of you will feel the same). This has some absolutely fantastic songs, but also two that I really really don’t like.

Distance Over Time
My rank: 8th of 15

Top 5:
At Wit’s End
Pale Blue Dot
S2N
Untethered Angel
Fall Into the Light

My current standing
1.
2.
3.
4. Falling Into Infinity
5.
6.
7.
8. Distance Over Time
9. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
10.
11. Systematic Chaos
12.
13. When Dream And Day Unite
14. Dream Theater
15. The Astonishing

[Podaar]

Number 9 for me. I've actually been listening to this quite a bit lately. Wit's End, S2N, Fall Into the Light, Barstool Warrior, were all instant likes for me and I've come around to really enjoying the rest of the album as well. It's aged nicely, I think.

15   When Dream and Day Unite
14   Dream Theater
13   Black Clouds and Silver Linings
12   The Astonishing
11   Systematic Chaos
10   
9   Distance Over Time
8   Falling Into Infinity
7   
6   
5   
4   
3   
2   
1   

[Lonk]

15. Black Clouds and Silver Lining
14. Dream Theater
13. When Dream and Day Unite
12. Systematic Chaos
11. ??
10. Falling Into Infinity
9. ??
8. The Astonishing
7. ??
6. Distance Over Time
5. ??
4. ??
3. ??
2. ??
1. ??

[Stadler]

I had it at #5, and I think depending on the day can flip-flop with my #4 (which has yet to be revealed).

I think Falling Into Infinity is an OUTSTANDING record. I loved it from the moment I heard it. The songs breathed, there was an organic feel to it all (courtesy, I believe, of Kevin Shirley), Derek Sherinian really had his style embedded in the songs and it was just so incredible with Lines in the Sand and Trial of Tears.

I saw the end of this tour...DT opening for ELP and Deep Purple in August 1998 at Jones Beach was my first DT experience. I still visually remember them on stage doing New Millennium.

In the years that followed, and the slights that came out from MP about the album, the process, and all the drama MP went through with this whole writing/recording, I felt his comments really damned this record to fans. I can't remember exactly, but 11 or 12 years ago (could be longer), I remember posting how MP's shitting on this album publicly really just built a herd of sheep against FII. I thought that was wrong. Just because MP had a difficult time and didn't like the direction, didn't mean it wasn't a good one.

In fact, I think FII is one of Dream Theater's finest albums, BECAUSE of the changes made. You Not Me is significantly better and more streamlined in comparison to You Or Me. I remember You Not Me getting a ton of radio airplay on Long Island - something I don't believe You Or Me ever would have. It was a lot easier to listen to, but still maintained DT's sense of prog and high level of musicianship. To me, FII was to Dream Theater what Empire was to Queensryche.

Another great change - lifting "Hell's Kitchen" out of "Burning My Soul." I'm sorry for fans that like the "Metropolis" style of songs, where you plop an instrumental section that has nothing to do with the actual song into the middle, and then resume the song. That's cool once in awhile, but Dream Theater, particularly as they moved into the 2000s, started doing this all the time, and that sucked to me. IMO, "Hell's Kitchen" and "Burning My Soul" were way better separated.

These were SMART decisions. And it helped achieve a few things for the band in terms of being noticed by a wider audience of listeners. Not to a huge degree, because obviously they came back with SFAM and that skyrocketed their career. But FII is a unique piece in the DT catalog that has brilliant moments. Sure, I didn't like JP doing a little writing with Desmond Child - but it made for a better song and a really good single for the band. A one-time thing that resulted in something good.

And here we are now in 2022, and low and behold, the album, while not top tier for MOST Dream Theater fans, is thought of MUCH MORE HIGHLY than it was. I have a feeling that the record will continue to be appreciated more and more as the years go on. Wish the band would have performed a suite of tracks from it this year in honor of 25 years.

I also think the leftover tracks were damn good too. Speak to Me is a gem, and should have been on there. Cover My Eyes was a fun, tune, even if it had a b-side whiff to it, etc. I'm glad I saw these two cuts live.

My top tracks: Trial of Tears, Lines in the Sand, Anna Lee, Hell's Kitchen.

Other than your love for Lines In The Sand - which IS ruined by Doug Pinnick's screeching - I agree with a LOT of this.  Maybe it's being a Kiss fan and living through Dynasty, and Unmasked and The Elder, but I think the "record company involvement" like it's a plague, is a non-issue.  This has the bones of a great record, and it's one I listen to a fair amount.   I do listen to the "Director's Cut" more, because I LOVE the extra songs (Raise The Knife is killer, and Cover My Eyes is a top ten DT song for me) but it's a great record.  I hate that because "Desmond Child" is there that somehow it's a blasphemy.  That's just narrow-mindedness, in my opinion. 

The ONLY thing that bugs me is some of the background vocals. Don't ask me why, but the "Yeewwwwww, Not MAAAAYYYYYYY" inflected background vocals bug me.  They are in Burning My Soul as well.   But it's a small quibble; I love John's tones on this record. 

[Stadler]

Let's catch up, shall we?

I won't write about all of them in detail, but:

I really like not love the D/T and Dream Theater records; they are where they are.  There are some great parts on those records, and while they don't reach the heights of the top five on my list, they don't suck.  I have my issues, and they are well-documented, but that doesn't mean I can't find things I enjoy on there.

The Astonishing just doesn't work for me.  It just doesn't.  Doesn't mean the band should ignore it, or disavow it, but I have plenty of things in the DT catalogue that I'd rather listen to, and I do.

Black Clouds... I dig it.  I think it gets short shrift, like FII, because of all the things that go around it, but it's got some good songs on it, and those songs really translate live.  I saw the original BC&SL tour, which was great (though it was the Prog Nation thing, and I wish the set was longer) and I've heard a couple songs on later tours, and it's easy to hate, but I don't personally get it.

It should be noted: 1-5 are sacred; but the pocket between 6 and 10 - really, 12 - is a mishmash; there's not a huge gap between each of them and you could probably throw them in a hat and jumble them and still be good. 

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6. Dream Theater
7. Systematic Chaos
8. Distance Over Time
9.
10. Falling Into Infinity
11.
12. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
13.
14. The Astonishing
15. When Dream And Day Unite

[Lethean]

I put Distance Over Time at 6.  I think it's a fantastic album, on its own regardless of how it compares to The Astonishing (which is my #3).

[Zydar]

I had Distance Over Time at #9. Someone just described it as "course correction after TA", and I can only agree. After being hugely bored by TA I was glad that they came back with this kind of album. "Safe" and "by the numbers"? Sure I guess, but as long as we get great songs like Fall Into The Light, At Wit's End, and Barstool Warrior as a result then I'm not complaining. Viper King is a cool bonus too.

[jammindude]

I had D/T at #13. I was more focused on the songs I liked when it first came out, but the album as a whole did not age well at all.  The songs I love, I really love. Barstool Warrior, At Wit’s End, Untethered Angel and Paralyzed are all great songs, but Out of Reach is one of the worst things they’ve ever done. It reminded me of Euphoric from the SI album by JLB (a song (and album) that were so bad that I permanently vowed not to pick up any more of JLB’s solo material). I get they were going for a kinda “Deep Purple/Highway Star” vibe with Viper King, but the result is pretty meh. Most of the other songs just don’t do it for me either.

Glad the follow up was better. 

[Adami]

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6. Falling Into Infinity
7.
8.
9. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
10. The Astonishing
11. Systematic Chaos
12. When Dream and Day Unite
13. Dream Theater
14. Distance Over Time
15.

This is just not an album for me. And it really helped cement that modern DT songwriting isn't my thing. I can't connect to any of the songs on it at all and can't remember much about them. I've given it a number of listens and usually just find myself spacing out quickly. The album is just not speaking to me on any level, which is a shame. Glad everyone else loves it but it's just not for me.

[TAC]

09. Distance over Time

Number 1 finishes: 0
Last place finishes: 2
Average finish: 9.0

I had Distance Over Time at #12. Seems kind of low, but 7-12 are really all equal albums to me.

At Wits End is phenomenal, as is Fall Into The Light.

But Paralyzed, Out Of Reach, and Room 137 all really drag this album down.



15. Falling Into Infinity
14. Dream Theater
13.
12. Distance Over Time
11. Systematic Chaos
10. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
9.
8.   
7. The Astonishing
6.
5.   
4. When Dream and Day Unite
3.    
2.    
1.    

[nick_z]

Distance Over Time - I ranked it at #11

It's not an album that reinvents the (DT) wheel, obviously, but it does sound like the band is having a good time in their performances. Fall into the Light, Barstool Warrior, S2N and At Wit's End are all very strong songs - the latter is one of my favorites of the MM-era, and I like the jammy Rush vibe of S2N. Paralyzed is a good, single-like catchy tune (in my opinion better than, say, Forsaken - to mention something in a similar vein that was recently discussed in this thread). Untethered Angel is not spectacular,  but it works as an opener (and its guitar-keys harmonized run is kinda refreshing)...and Out of Reach is a pleasant ballad.

On the downside: Not too crazy about Room 137 - it's an interesting experiment between grooviness and Beatles-que vocal effects, but I'm not 100% sold...and Pale Blue Dot, while instrumentally impressive, didn't quite stick with me.

Overall, despite the bottom-half ranking, it's an album I've enjoyed from the very beginning. Good stuff.

[TAC]

Room 137 sounds like something they'd have done in the Derek days.

[Laughingplace56]

Distance Over Time is by no means a *bad* album-it’s still DT, so there’s still plenty of great moments throughout the album. But it is by far my least favorite album of the bunch. It just feels largely boring to me, and it’s the album I listen to the least.

Part of my issue is the production on the album. The mix comes off way too harsh at times, most offensively on S2N, and it makes James sound the worst he has sounded on any album. I wish S2N, Barstool Warrior and Pale Blue Dot were saved for a different album as those songs are great, but the rest are throwaways for me.

My rankings so far:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6. Dream Theater
7.
8.
9.
10. Systematic Chaos
11. Falling Into Infinity
12. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
13. The Astonishing
14. When Dream And Day Unite
15. Distance Over Time

I agree with the bottom 6 so far, but in a wildly different order lol.

[krands85]

I had this one in 7th, though it was a bit of a toss-up between it and another album (which I suspect may come next) over which got 7th and which 8th. I find it to be pretty consistent overall, with no clunkers dragging it down like those below it on the list. However, it also doesn't have anything in my top 10-15 DT tracks, so it couldn't really go much higher.

15. When Dream and Day Unite
14. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
13. Falling Into Infinity
12.
11. Dream Theater
10. The Astonishing
9. Systematic Chaos
8.
7. Distance Over Time
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.

At Wit's End is my favourite here, one of the best of the Mangini-era, with real emotion behind it and brilliant work from JLB and JP. Pale Blue Dot isn't too far behind and I love the spacey theme, but just feel like it's missing something that holds it back slightly.

Untethered Angel and Fall Into the Light complete my 'big 4' on the album. UA just feels like the quintessential modern DT single - maybe that's why many seem to dislike it, perhaps it doesn't feel like anything new - but I just love the instrumentation and the vocal melodies from James. FITL is also cool and I really enjoy the Megadeth and Metallica vibe you get at times.

Barstool Warrior took a while to grow on me and I still don't rate it as highly as most I don't think, but it's definitely a well-written song. S2N is another one I don't enjoy a much as most of you, but it hasn't really grown on me as much as BW - it's good musically, but something about the vocals feels off-putting to me.

Out of Reach is my favourite of the remaining tracks and I feel like it's one of their better short tracks, especially of recent times. Can't put my finger exactly on why, but the song just has a nice atmosphere to it. I wasn't keen on Paralyzed when I first heard it, I found it pretty boring, but it has grown on me and I actually find it pretty catchy now. Room 137 and Viper King are my least favourite tracks, but I do enjoy them and they both have a different feeling to them to most other DT songs, so are still quite interesting.

[devieira73]

9.   Distance Over Time (#10); grade (8.0/10)

Top 5 songs: S2N, At Wit’s End, Pale Blue Dot, Barstool Warrior and Fall Into the Light.

I also think the album begins with the “wrong foot”, with 2 songs a bit average, but the rest are really good to great, including Viper King. As a minor complaint, I think it’s still missing a truly epic song in the album - maybe they should have expanded PBD a bit, including lyrically. One of my favorites drum sounds in DT discography, although the cymbals could be a little higher in some spots.

[The Letter M]

01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
06.
07.
08.
09. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
10. Distance Over Time
11. Falling Into Infinity
12. Systematic Chaos
13. Dream Theater
14. When Dream And Day Unite
15. The Astonishing

Just barely making my Top Ten, this one has been a solid album for me since release. Every song is fairly enjoyable and when it came out, was a breath of fresh air to me as a DT fan after The Astonishing and the diminishing returns of DT12. I'd say this one is worth of a middle-of-the-pack 6th-10th spot, but hits the bottom end of that range for me. Still a great album though!

-Marc.

[nobloodyname]

I had Falling Into Infinity at number eight, chiefly because I think Trial of Tears is one of the best songs they've ever written. I wish they'd take their modern material in that direction. Someone said the album is much less about the guitar and I'd agree with that. Nice balance.

Distance Over Time came in at number nine. It's a good album, much better than the dull mid-tempo ballad-fest that came before it.

[hefdaddy42]

FII and DoT are pretty well ranked, IMO.  For a long time, I didn't care much for FII, although I like it more now than I used to.  It has some of my very favorite DT songs, as well as some of my least favorite.  The sound of the record is by far the best of any of DT's albums, so when I play it, I listen to the whole thing, even songs I can't stand.

Which song do they go with?

This was in a discussion on the ambient and orchestral sections of Illumination Theory.

And they are separate.  The ambient section isn't really music - it isn't instruments playing notes, it's just pleasant ambient noise.

When the orchestra kicks in, THAT part is basically in two movements.  The first one is when the orchestra begins.  That is completely new music, and completely gorgeous.  Then, halfway through the orchestral part, it slows down, and goes into a completely different motif than it started with.  THAT motif is a reprise of the very opening music of the song.

So yeah, it goes with the song.

[Dublagent66]

15  When Dream and Day Unite
14  Dream Theater
13  The Astonishing
12   
11  Distance over Time
10  Black Clouds and Silver Linings
  9  Systematic Chaos
  8  Falling into Infinity
  7   
  6   
  5   
  4   
  3   
  2   
  1   

[DragonAttack]

DISTANCE OVER TIME  #4

I needed something like this after TA.

And loved the bonus.   'Viper King', which is placed before 'Pale Blue Dot' on my version.  No truly skippable songs.  The shorter, pop-ish 'Paralyzed' and 'Room 137' are great to listen to while cruising down an interstate on a sunny day.  'Fall Into The Light'.....that instrumental   'At Wit's End'....my eyes got moist while James is singing the 'don't leave me now' part on my first listen.  Don't ask why, but it was like a younger me calling out after my Mom died.  'Pale Blue Dot'...coulda been a few minutes longer perhaps, but why extend for extend sake?

The songs translated damn well to the stage as well.

Oddly, I was a little disappointed when I initially read the news back when about the 'new' album coming out, as I was still giving this a spin once a month.

[pg1067]

09. Distance over Time

Number 1 finishes: 0
Last place finishes: 2
Average finish: 9.0

My rankings:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7. Dream Theater
8.
9. When Dream and Day Unite
10. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
11. Distance over Time
12. Falling Into Infinity
13.
14. Systematic Chaos
15. The Astonishing

I had some measure of difficulty figuring out where to put DOT.  I don't really like R137, but it's not down at the level of New Millennium and Repentance.  On the other hand, there's also nothing that wows me.  I liked Untethered Angel a lot when it was released, but I didn't and don't like having UA, FITL and Paralyzed start the album.  FITL and Paralyzed cover similar ground to UA but don't do it nearly as well.  I never found At Wits End and Pale Blue Dot as great as the consensus seems to be.  While I like Barstool Warrior, S2N and Viper King, and while I definitely liked that DOT was nothing like its predecessor, I really don't feel any strong desire to revisit it much.

[geeeemo]

d/t is # 9 for me. BW, AWE are fabulous songs.  I'd like to hear S2N live. FItL is pretty good with a great solo. The rest are good. Couldn't get into PBD as much as I wanted to, but it was fun live.

We have entered the middle zone. many of the next several albums could be interchanged.

[The Realm]

Distance Over Time - #10 for me. I like this album but I don't revisit it and don't connect with much of it. There are some good tracks though. For me, the  middle patch of DT albums are pretty interchangeable when it comes to rankings - this could have been anywhere from 9 to 14 really but ended at 10 when I submitted my list.

[SeRoX]

1-
2-
3-
4-
5- The Astonishing
6- Falling into Infinity
7-
8- When Dream and Day Unite
9-
10-
11-
12- Systematic Chaos
13- Distance over Time
14- Dream Theater
15- Black Clouds and Silver Linings


At Wit's End is their one of masterpiece in everyway but the rest of album is just there and nothing more. I kinda like BW's nostalgic feeling and Out of Reach hauting Space Dye Vestish sound. Huge disappointment after such a release TA. Never get the hype of Pale Blue Dot. Untethered Angel is their most  uninspired single ever.


At Wit's End
Barstool Warrior
Out Of Reach
S2N
Paralyzed

[Cool Chris]

I liked TA when it came out, but when the next album was announced, I wanted them to come out strong and hit it out of the park. This album didn't do that for me. At Wit's End is classic, Paralyzed and Fall into the Light are solid. S2N and 137 are duds. Everything else is ok.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7. Systematic Chaos
8.
9.
10. Dream Theater
11. The Astonishing
12. Distance Over Time
13. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
14. Falling into Infinity
15. When Dream And Day Unite

[TAC]

I liked TA when it came out, but when the next album was announced, I wanted them to come out strong and hit it out of the park. This album didn't do that for me. At Wit's End is classic, Paralyzed and Fall into the Light are solid. S2N and 137 are duds. Everything else is ok.

Nope, but the next album sure did!

[Cool Chris]

I liked TA when it came out, but when the next album was announced, I wanted them to come out strong and hit it out of the park. This album didn't do that for me. At Wit's End is classic, Paralyzed and Fall into the Light are solid. S2N and 137 are duds. Everything else is ok.

Nope, but the next album sure did!

You spoiled my comment for that album!

[TAC]

I liked TA when it came out, but when the next album was announced, I wanted them to come out strong and hit it out of the park. This album didn't do that for me. At Wit's End is classic, Paralyzed and Fall into the Light are solid. S2N and 137 are duds. Everything else is ok.

Nope, but the next album sure did!

You spoiled my comment for that album!

[KevShmev]

Distance Over Time is by no means a *bad* album-it’s still DT, so there’s still plenty of great moments throughout the album. But it is by far my least favorite album of the bunch. It just feels largely boring to me, and it’s the album I listen to the least.

Part of my issue is the production on the album. The mix comes off way too harsh at times, most offensively on S2N, and it makes James sound the worst he has sounded on any album. I wish S2N, Barstool Warrior and Pale Blue Dot were saved for a different album as those songs are great, but the rest are throwaways for me.

I know what you mean about the production, but the HD version was a big improvement.  The HD versions of the first two Mangini albums saw minimal improvement IMO, but Distance over Time's HD version is way less harsh and annoying loud than the normal mix.  There are times where the album doesn't hit quite as hard, if you get my meaning, in the HD version, but I am okay with it since I can then actually get through the whole record without getting ear fatigue.

[The Realm]

I love that term "ear fatigue" that is such a great way to sum up pretty much the whole Mangini era for me. It is just a real effort to make it through any of the albums front to back in one sitting.

[Shalev Amir]

DoT was my #9, I really used to hate it but lately I realized it's pretty okay. There are some weak songs here, but the good songs are very fun to listen to.

[RoeDent]

What the hell happened? Distance Over Time was pretty well liked in 2019. Even Room 137. DT have way way way way WAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY worse songs like the absolute fucking monstrosity that is Just Let Me Breathe. That is the worst DT song in existence. Must be newbies who have come in here and skewed the reception of D/T.

And you lot calling the ambient section of IT "not music" can go to hell as well.