Now that the MM era is finished, how would you rank those five albums?

[OpenYourEyes311]

Dream Theater: The Enemy Inside is one of their best songs, IMO. I also love The Bigger Picture and Along For the Ride. This albums is very consistently good throughout.

Distance Over Time: As with DT12, this album is extremely consistent and very good throughout. My only complaint is once the vocals start in Pale Blue Dot. Not a fan of that song all that much.

The Astonishing: I'm with most people who think it's too long. But that's really my only complaint on this album. The music is wonderful, and reminds me a lot of Six Degrees. A simpler approach to the songs, which I don't mind at all.

A Dramatic Turn of Events: I just listened to this album yesterday. The second half absolutely slaps. Bridges, Outcry and Breaking All Illusions are all great, and two of their best ballads ever are toward the end of the album. The first half is pretty rough. The opener eventually gets going, but is too slow to get there, and the other three songs are okay at best.

A View From the Top of the World: This is my least favorite DT album from any era. Nothing grabs me here. The epic falls flat for me. I've heard the album many times, and even seen almost all the songs live and nothing has stood out to me. Most of the tracks are ok at best.

[Zantera]

1. A View
2. Distance Over Time
3. A Dramatic Turn of Events
4. DT12
5. The Astonishing

[RoeDent]

1. ADTOE
2. D/T
3. AVFTTOTW
4. DT12
5. TA

[Polarbear]

1. D/T
2. ADTOE
3. DT12
4 The View


5. TA

[Schurftkut]

1 ADTOE don't like the mix, but the best bunch of songs
2 D/T Better mix, fresh sounding songs in the mix
3 TA Best JLB performance of the bunch
4 AVFTTOTW Even better mix, don't dig the songs too much
5 selftitled has the shitty mix AND songs..

[Nachtmerrie]

1. A Dramatic Turn of Events - overall on par with Distance Over Time but this one has Breaking All Illusions which is easily my favorite Mangini era song
2. Distance Over Time - a  pretty strong comeback after two dissapointing albums. A few very good songs including Fall into the Light, At Wit's End and Pale Blue Dot.
.
.
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3. A View From the Top of the World - I enjoyed it when it came out but lost quickly lost interest. JP and JR are great and so is the production. Mangini's playing might be from another planet but I often find it way too much and distracting from JP and JR melodies. Vocal melodies and choruses are on the weaker end of their discography.
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4. The Astonishing - A few nice songs but way too long and a story that does nothing for me.
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5. Dream Theater - my least favorite DT-album. Barely a songs I enjoy

Overall all five albums are among my least favorite DT-albums. They found an approach that clearly works for them but I'm totally missing the wow factor I had with the classic Portnoy era albums. 

[naimad]

1. A Dramatic Turn of Events - overall on par with Distance Over Time but this one has Breaking All Illusions which is easily my favorite Mangini era song
2. Distance Over Time - a  pretty strong comeback after two dissapointing albums. A few very good songs including Fall into the Light, At Wit's End and Pale Blue Dot.
.
.
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3. A View From the Top of the World - I enjoyed it when it came out but lost quickly lost interest. JP and JR are great and so is the production. Mangini's playing might be from another planet but I often find it way too much and distracting from JP and JR melodies. Vocal melodies and choruses are on the weaker end of their discography.
.
.
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4. The Astonishing - A few nice songs but way too long and a story that does nothing for me.
.
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5. Dream Theater - my least favorite DT-album. Barely a songs I enjoy

Overall all five albums are among my least favorite DT-albums. They found an approach that clearly works for them but I'm totally missing the wow factor I had with the classic Portnoy era albums.

I agree with you in this point

[Rob24]

A Dramatic Turn Of Events

Really loved this one, I was obsessed with it at the time. Can't believe it's been this long since then.
Proggy, fun, dark.
One of my all-time favorite DT songs is OTBOA, man, I just LOVE the chords and melodies - everything - in this song, so much nostalgia. But there are a lot more incredible songs on this album, which I enjoyed for their epicness, and I thought JP's mirroring of some of the Images & Words songs was absolutely nerdy and somewhat profound.
James is on fire on this record.
Negatives would be that the production can be a bit weird at times, with the drums sticking out.
I also thought the album could have benefitted from the inclusion of a few more uplifting / major key songs, as the album tends to get pretty bleak - albeit of course still awesome - at times.

(08 / 10)

Dream Theater

Oh yeah, this is a weird one.
Look, I LOVE The Enemy Inside. This is a wildly underrated gem, I'd claim one of the best tracks post-Portnoy (which sounds like the collabo project of Mike Portnoy & Post Malone).
All in all, something seems to be missing, I don't really know how to put it.
The sound and production here seem to be even more of a problem than in ADTOE, but I happen to be one of the five people that actually DO like the triggered snare, both here as well as on I&W.
I guess the songwriting can become a bit confused at this point of their career and there are some less thrilling bits here and there, but most of the material is still a blast. Loved the Red Barchetta vibes of The Looking Glass, as this means I got my major key fix (shoutouts to Moving Pictures) and the melodies of the song are beautiful. Same with The Bigger Picture, and so on.

(07 / 10)

The Astonishing

Did I just call 'Dream Theater' a weird one? Hold my NOMACS.
I have a very complicated relationship with this album. My expectations were 'Metropolis 3', at first I was REALLY bummed out and kinda let down by the lack of heavyness and / or proggy playfulness (not really) or whatever you want to call it, I can't really put my finger on it.
The sequencing of the songs seemed to be off, too many ballads in close succession, the whole thing had a bit of an unbalanced appearance. But I pretty quickly came to enjoy it greatly, falling in love with the melodies, being addicted to the whole thing, listening to it all the time. James' performance was excellent, but one couldn't deny the amounts of compression and pitch correction on the vocals, even to the detriment of the record, I have to say. Also some songwriting inconsistencies again, though overall, yeah, I think it somehow succeeded.
I was still obsessed with DT but could sense something was happening.

(7 / 10)

Distance Over Time

At this point I had Distanced myself a bit from the band. More audio / production problems, increased compression and pitch correction on the vox, multiple plain autotune glitches, still not really an Astonishing drum sound.
There is something distinctly missing here for me, when it comes to songwriting and creativity, but still with a lot of great parts as well, of course.
I also felt like Mangini, while being an incredibly gifted drummer and still delivering a stellar performance, was lacking some power and dyanamics in his playing, which he succesfully adressed on View, later.
I still really enjoyed the album and listened to it quite a bit.

(6,5 / 10)

A View From The Top Of The World

This one really excited me again. The production is finally really awesome, it had that punch and warmth that the former albums had been lacking, same with Mangini's drumming. It finally fulfilled a desire I had when listening to MP era DT songs, something like the drive or force, for lack of a better term, and he really did it well.
This album also had precisely the right ratio / amounts of progginess, heaviness, melody, catchiness, musicality, rhythm and playfulness.
This time, while the issues with the (need for) overprocessing of JLB's vocals were still increasing, one could clearly hear the performance was still nothing less than phenomenal and you could tell that he had fun with it.
The autotune glitches now were omnipresent, though, and it sadly took away from the overall enjoyment of the experience.
And while the songwiting and musicianship were overall really strong on View, you could just tell by now that some of the overall creative spark of the band was in some trouble at this point, a fact that would be especially visible in some of the JP's lyrics, themes and songwriting choices.

(7,5 / 10)
 
The ranking would be as follows:

1. ADTOE
2. View
3. DT12
4. TA
5. D/T

[Cool Chris]

ADToE: A few minutes in to my first listen of OtBoA, I knew things in the DR world would be ok. I really, really wanted to like this album and was afraid I was setting myself up for disappointment. Little did I think I'd end up putting this album behind I&W and Awake. It is solid from start to finish, and still feels fun to listen to.

A View...: This is a consistently solid album. If not innovative, it is an enjoyable listen.

TA: It's a good album, if way too long. I read someone here post (if I recall correctly) side 1 is about the same length as The Wall. That blew my mind.

DT12: Coming off ADToE, I was expecting the trajectory to keep going up. Alas this album fell a bit flat for me. I cannot describe why, nothing really falls below good on this album, though IT is too long and meandering. It just is a collection of good songs, nothing more.

DoT: Coming off TA, I really wanted them to hit one out of the park. It felt solid after my initial listens, but it had not aged well at all.

[crystalstars17]

This is REALLY hard as most of them rank in my top 10, but here goes:

A View From the Top of the World - A crowning achievement. Both technical and beautiful. The title song is in my top ten songs from DT (even harder to rank than albums because there are so many good ones). The composing is otherworldly. My favorite part is right at 20:23:55, where it's nearly as captivating as the Octavarium intro which made me a fan. Overall a pinnacle of their work.

Distance Over Time - Pale Blue Dot. At Wit's End. Out of Reach. You can't argue with the strength of this album. But the weak one is Viper King, I always skip it, I'm rather surprised to see it get so much love here.

A Dramatic Turn of Events - Breaking All Illusions is a top five song for me (and my favorite guitar solo). So is Outcry (bucket list song to hear live). Bridges in the Sky. So many strong songs here.

The Astonishing - I love this album. The composition and vocals are stellar, James and Jordan (my two favorite band members) both really shine here.

Aaaannnd what can I say, the self-titled finishes last. But it's still great music. It's just the difference between great and unearthly, angelic-level great.

[PixelDream]

1. Distance Over Time (this album was a relief to hear at that point in time - coming from The Astonishing). Good balance between songwriting and proggyness).
2. A Dramatic Turn of Events (good record, but it sounds so muffled and dry - and it's mixed by ANDY WALLACE?!)
3. A View From The Top of the World (Production's pretty nice. Overall I'm missing direction here, and good hooks/melodies).
4. Dream Theater (pretty cool songs, hate the snare sound and super compressed production)
5. The Astonishing (admirable project, didn't find much to enjoy here for some reason but I do respect it)

[Bentower]

The Astonishing (a bloated, but inspired work)
Distance Over Time
A View from the Top of the World
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Dream Theater

2. A Dramatic Turn of Events (good record, but it sounds so muffled and dry - and it's mixed by ANDY WALLACE?!)

That's the puzzling thing about it, considering punchy and organic drum sounds were once his forte. I suppose as he grew old and the Pro Tools era began Wallace lost the touch (or the ears) that made his such a legend in the '80's-'90's.
Despite not being a fan of the album's style I am frequently thinking of listening to Sepultura's Roots just to hear his awesome mix.

[Trav86]

The Astonishing (a bloated, but inspired work)
Distance Over Time
A View from the Top of the World
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Dream Theater

2. A Dramatic Turn of Events (good record, but it sounds so muffled and dry - and it's mixed by ANDY WALLACE?!)

That's the puzzling thing about it, considering punchy and organic drum sounds were once his forte. I suppose as he grew old and the Pro Tools era began Wallace lost the touch (or the ears) that made his such a legend in the '80's-'90's.
Despite not being a fan of the album's style I am frequently thinking of listening to Sepultura's Roots just to hear his awesome mix.

You listen to an album that’s style you’re not a fan of, just because of the mix?

[PixelDream]

The Astonishing (a bloated, but inspired work)
Distance Over Time
A View from the Top of the World
A Dramatic Turn of Events
Dream Theater

2. A Dramatic Turn of Events (good record, but it sounds so muffled and dry - and it's mixed by ANDY WALLACE?!)

That's the puzzling thing about it, considering punchy and organic drum sounds were once his forte. I suppose as he grew old and the Pro Tools era began Wallace lost the touch (or the ears) that made his such a legend in the '80's-'90's.
Despite not being a fan of the album's style I am frequently thinking of listening to Sepultura's Roots just to hear his awesome mix.

Cool, I didn’t know he also did Roots. He’s a legend no doubt.. love his mixes of Rage Against the Machine and Jeff Buckley.

Maybe the drum recording he had to work with just didn’t sound good and he just couldn’t get that to sound good? Especially the ride cymbal on this album sounds so ‘tinny’.

[Bentower]

Cool, I didn’t know he also did Roots. He’s a legend no doubt.. love his mixes of Rage Against the Machine and Jeff Buckley.

Maybe the drum recording he had to work with just didn’t sound good and he just couldn’t get that to sound good? Especially the ride cymbal on this album sounds so ‘tinny’.

I don't know about that; looking at his mixes post-ADToE I see several AX7s that are a far cry from his best work. I guess the Ghost albums sound okay?

The RATMs and Grace are fine examples of his work and I do believe that it was his mixing more so than Rick Rubin's production that made Slayer sound as good as they did on Reign -> Seasons.
 

You listen to an album that’s style you’re not a fan of, just because of the mix?

Not really, as I haven't pulled Roots off the shelf in a long time. I'm just saying that right now it would be my main reason to return to it.

[Wim Kruithof]

DT12
DOT

ADTOE
AVFTTOTW



TA

Whenever The Astonishing is brought in, Wolfking is ready to throw him into the ocean with a millstone. 

[Rob24]

Dream Theater: The Enemy Inside is one of their best songs, IMO.

Hell yeah, it is. Top 10 for me, it's insane.

[ZKX-2099]

1. Dream Theater - One of my favorite albums by any band period. IT and TBP are two of their best songs and contain some of JLBs best parts since Awake. I don't get the constant complaints about it's sound. Love the modern and crispness of it without going it the full Death Magnetic.

2. Distance Over Time - It's just a great collection of well written songs. Not much else to say. PBD never really clicked with me. That's about all my negatives there.

3. A Dramatic Turn of Events - I really love BC&SL so this album was a slight step down for me but with songs like BAI and LNF I can't help but love it even if they lifted some song structures from I&W.

4. The Astonishing - Yes it's a long and ballad heavy experience but when I am in the mood it scratches an itch no other album can. I also think as far as creating a long cohesive operatic work of music they achieved that quite well and the subtle changes in JLBs voice for the different characters was a great change without being distracting... but the story is really corny.

5. A View from the Top of the World - I have nothing bad to say about this album but unlike every other DT album it has yet to make me WANT to listen to it again. I keep trying but it ain't happened yet. And because that I have to give it the bottom ranking not only for Mangini albums but all DT albums.

[Jamesman42]

I will admit that the last 3 albums need more listening time, though my initial impressions are that they aren't as good as ADTOE and DT12.

1. ADTOE: Easily the best album, even with 2 filler tracks. OTBOA is the best song, though Bridges almost is the best (I just do not like that overly long intro). BAI is also solid, and This is the Life feels underrated to me.
2. DT12: Lots of good songs, though I still need to listen to it more, I get lost toward the end of it.

Again, these albums do need more chances. But right now, this is where they land.

3. D/T: I have a couple of songs I like, but not familiar enough to see how it holds up to DT12.
4. AVFTTOTW: Listened twice and it was a struggle. I was incredibly bored.
5. TA: same as #4 but almost twice as long.

[legenden1]

1. TA

Yes I´m serious. As a diehard since 1992 I think this ranks in the top-3 in the whole catalogue, some days even at no 1. Interestingly I think others favourites like Three days and Our new world are among the weakest in this set

2. ADTOE

Fantastic and I definitely see the I&W comparison. The drum sound is weak though.

3. DT12

The instrumentals ruins the flow on this, they are surprisingly weak. Petruccis solo in The bigger picture is godly.

4. AVFTTOTW

Good all the way through but not brilliant. The epic is great though

5.DOT

Some really fantastic moments but I think both Room 137 and S2N is below DT´s normal standard

[mariner]

1.  ADTOE - still one of my top 4 DT albums.   OTBOA, LNF, Bridges, Outcry, BAI all in my standard DT rotation of songs.

2.  D/T - Love multiple songs off of this record,   Loved Untethered Angel, Barstool Warrior, At Wit's End, Pale Blue Dot

3.  AVFTTOTW - less off of this record is in my regular rotation, although it took me awhile, I have really come to enjoy The Alien.  The epic title track is not one of my top epics, though.  Steathily like Transcending Time.

4.  DT12 - The Enemy Inside and Illumination Theory are my faves although I also like The Bigger Picture and Looking Glass.  Behind the Veil, too.

5.  The Astonishing - doesn't hold up as well for me.  Admittedly, I loved it when it came out.  The Gift of Music and Moment of Betrayal are my standouts; I actually loved the Our New World that they did with Lzzy Hale.  Also love the solo in A New Beginning.

[erciccio]

1. ADTOE- top 3 album for me
2. The Astonishing
3. Dream Theater
4. Distance Over Time
5. A View from the top of the world- major disappointment, bottom 3 for me

[crystalstars17]

Moment of Betrayal

This is actually my favorite song on the album.

[YngVai]

Distance

I think this was the first MM-era release that I found myself listening to compulsively after its release. UA was a solid enough single to catch my interest, which had waned significantly after TA. Fall Into Light I thought was an even better appetizer, with the outro being one of the more "fuck yeah" reactions I'd gotten from new DT in a really long time.

The rest of the album felt like an upgraded edition of the self-titled. Nothing I would put on a "best-of" record, but significant amount more engaging than that album. Really enjoyed this one, and catching them on this tour brought me back into the camp in a way that I hadn't been since probably high school.

View

Not too big of a deviation style or quality-wise from D/T, but I adore the production on this one. A smidge less evenly-rounded as the former. Transcending Time and Invisible Monster are worth their space on the album, but do less for me than anything on Distance. Awaken the Monster fucks harder than just about anything from the MM era.

Title track is far from my favorite epic, but is a fun journey and never feels over-long.

Fun record overall, and I found myself spinning it a ton upon release.

ST

I had been really turned off of D/T after the last two albums, but still considered them one of my favorite bands so I thought I would give the new single a shot upon release. I was really glad I did, as I felt a spark from the band that I hadn't sensed from them in a really long time.

Overall a pretty mid-tier DT album, but I found it listenable from start-to-finish and convinced me that I could get excited about new Dream Theater again, which was nice. Don't love it, but I can dig it.

Dramatic Turn

I wasn't able to give this one a fair shake when it came out. I was very much of the opinion that MP was right and a hiatus was necessary after Black Clouds, so I don't think I was really ready to take this one in with an open mind. I thought (and still think) the album cover was weak af, and what I did hear right out of the gate sounded too similar to SC and BCASL.

I don't think I ever actually got around to listening to the whole thing until I was re-engaged with the band in the lead-up to the ST.

It's fine, but I don't find myself revisiting it too often. Some really really good tracks, but just as much content that just does nothing for me.

Astonishing

Lol I think I'll die having never finished this shit.

[JediKnight1969]

1. A Dramatic Turn of Events

2. Distance Over Time
3. A View From The Top Of The World
4. Dream Theater
5. The Astonishing

[Peter Mc]

I’ll copy my post from the MP returns thread as I hadn’t seen this one when I typed it.

Like some others, the return of MP has prompted me to go back and revisit the, now finished, Mangini era to see how I feel about it.  It’s been a long time since I listened to Dream Theater, probably not since the View tour so I wanted to see how the MM songs had settled.  Did it still feel like “new” DT or were they now old familiar tunes that were just part of the catalogue?

I found it was the latter, these now just felt as much like Dream Theater as any albums in the Portnoy era.  The two which really felt like old friends to me were ADTOE and (bulletproof vest on) The Astonishing.  I’m guessing that’s still not a favourite around here!  I think they are the two most inspired albums although, in the case of The Astonishing, not necessarily the best albums.

I think ADTOE probably is the best album of the MM era.  They felt really refreshed, like everyone was raring to go, Myung back in the writing fold, La Brie given more to do.  Just felt like everyone was full of ideas.  On The Backs Of Angels was a brilliant introduction to the new lineup and Breaking All Illusions remains the standout song of the Mangini era to me, one of the best DT songs full stop.

The self-titled didn’t fare as well for me which is strange as I really used to like it.  It feels like it needed a bit more work to polish it a bit.  Some clunky transitions, abrupt intros, some choruses that don’t quite fit with the verses.  Lots of good bits but not all of them go together as well as they could.  The album cover is a little non-descript too and they didn’t even come up with a title.  It’s not a bad album, DT don’t do bad albums imo, but not their best.  Illumination Theory though is clearly a standout here, so many cool ideas and moments.  I just wish the ambient/orchestral bit didn’t go on quite as long.  An undoubted DT classic song though for me and lifts the album as a whole.

The Astonishing is a conundrum as I think it’s absolutely the most ambitious, inspired, imaginative MM era album with catchy melodies, imaginative riffs, incredible playing and singing.  I also understand a lot of the criticisms though.  It is a slog to get through, there are too many piano led ballad moments, it does go into cheesy musical theatre stuff at times and I straight up cringe at some of it.  For all those reasons, it’s clearly not their best album in my opinion but it’s their most creative and inspired one.

Distance Over Time is very much back in their comfort zone which they probably always intended to do after TA.  I wouldn’t say it’s DT by numbers as that has negative connotations, it’s just a very, very solid middle of the pack DT album for me.  More concise songs, more modern metal sound, very consistent throughout but nothing to blow me away.  At Wits End and Pale Blue Dot probably the standouts here although I think Out Of Reach could have been really great if it was a longer song, I love that chorus and it’s a shame it’s a one and done.

The last one is kind of a mixture of the first two Mangini albums.  The songs are not concise like DOT, they allow themselves to play around like on ADTOE but it also suffers a little from some things not quite sounding like they fit together.  I think the title track is brilliant apart from the weird ending which kind of spoils it a bit.  I think Answering The Call is one of their best more commercial sounding songs, I really enjoy that one.  The Alien has grown on me a lot too.  Others though sound a bit similar to each other or have a chorus that comes a little out of nowhere or go into pointless noodling.

Overall though it’s been an enjoyable trip down memory lane and Mangini can be proud of the DT albums he was a part of.  I think all the albums have things to offer and are enjoyable to listen to.  ADTOE is probably the best and The Astonishing is probably the least enjoyable but I could probably come up with an abridged version that is one of the best!  It’s such a mixed record.  I hope one day Petrucci really tries something like that again where he locks himself away and spends that time intricately planning out an epic album full of great riffs and musical ideas.  Just maybe stay away from the musical theatre tropes and keep it to one cd!

Order would be:

1) A Dramatic Turn Of Events
2) Distance Over Time
3) A View From The Top Of The World
4) Self-titled
5) The Astonishing

2, 3 and 4 are all pretty close though.

[TheBarstoolWarrior]

1. ADTOE
2. DOT
3. DT
4. View
5. Astonishing

[Metro]

1. A View from the Top of the World

2. A Dramatic Turn of Events

3. Distance Over Time

4. DT12

5. The Astonishing

[mariner]

ADTOE.  Top 5 album for me from DT.  Love this album.  OTBOA, LNF, BitS, Outcry, and BAI are all classics to me.

DOT.  Love the initial post's sentiment.  The album just spoke to me.  UA, BW, PBD, AWE all classics.

DT.  Love TEI and Illumination Theory.  (I get choked up every time the orchestra comes in.  It's just so beautiful.)  Honestly, I often overlook this album.

AVFTTOTW.  I downgrade it due to the long acronym (I kid, I kid).  This album largely missed the mark for me.  Transcending Time is actually my favorite and disappointed that it didn't make the live show.  The Alien grew on me, too.

The Astonishing.  It has it's moments.  Over time, they are fewer to me.  This is something that works better contextually; to wit they have only played TGOM and ONW (I believe) live outside of the tour.

[gborland]

I would rank them all joint last.

[porcacultor]

1. The Astonishing
2. Dream Theater
3. Distance Over Time
4. A View from the Top of the World
5. A Dramatic Turn of Events

And I really, really like ADTOE, so that says something.

[Ben_Jamin]

I am so glad I am not a lone wolf...

1.The Astonishing
2. A View From The Top of The World
3. Dream Theater
4. D/T
5. ADTOE


I will say, I consider all of these albums among the best DT albums

[jimgolf]

1. Distance Over Time - I very much enjoyed this album when it came out. It sounded like they came up with a concise album, and not the first 80 minutes of music they wrote, slapped an album title on it, and put it in the mail. Barstool Warrior/At Wit's End/ Pale Blue Dot are all great DT songs - especially the guitar solos in Barstool Warrior and the ending one in At Wit's End. Pale Blue Dot has some otherworldly drumming. I'm not much of a fan of Viper King, and the band considers it a bonus track anyway, so I don't quite count it as part of the album either 

2. A View From the Top of the World - I was actually kind of conflicted whether to put this or D/T first. This album is one of the first in many years that actually has GREAT production. On D/T the production was good, and Mangini's drums finally sounded great, but on A View everything gelled in a way that made it sonically excellent. It just has some excellent DT tracks. Sleeping Giant/Transcending Time/Answering the Call/Awaken the Master - even The Alien has really grown into a favorite of mine after not feeling much about it initially. The only weak stuff is Invisible Monster and the ending of the title track. For some reason, the Mangini era of DT just had an issue figuring out how to end epic songs(the exception being Breaking All Illusions). The title track is absolutely brilliant for the first 12 minutes, then it gets a little messy, and just kind of ends. Overall, I still really like it.

3. A Dramatic Turn of Events - This album has some great stuff, and also some middling stuff. I feel a couple of the songs go on for just a bit too long(Lost Not Forgotten/Build Me Up, Break Me Down). There's about 7 minutes of music they could've trimmed from Build Me Up, Break Me Down and 4 minutes from Lost Not Forgotten. On a positive note, I love The Shaman's Trance(that's the rightful name, and I am standing by it - the album should've been called Bridges in the Sky as intended). Breaking All Illusions and This is the Life are also standouts of the album, with the former being a proper Dream Theater classic.

4. The Astonishing - This album is a strange one because it feels more like a Dream Theater side project rather than an actual Dream Theater album. With some stronger lyrics, stronger artwork, stronger production ( there are literal audio mistakes on the final record) it could've been a much better album. That being said, there's a lot I like about it. The first disc is very strong, with some of the weaker stuff being in the second disc. If they cut it down to a single disc and used the best of both discs it could've been a really strong piece of music that would've been seen as a worthy follow up to their first concept album Scenes from a Memory.

5. Self Titled - This is another strange one because I enjoy most of the songs on it. I really only dislike the "intro tape" False Awakening Suite and the epic Illumination Theory. The Enemy Inside/The Looking Glass/The Bigger Picture/Along for the Ride are all amazing DT songs. Even Illumination Theory has it's moments and some epic drum fills by Mangini. Like other Mangini era epics, the ending just doesn't come together. And not to knock on James, but the ending to Illumination Thoery is not his best studio performance. It sound's like some of the theatrics he sometimes does live, but he decided to go into overdrive in the studio booth(im talking about the "youll NEVER knowwoowOWOWOoowowoOOWOWO00owww...never know..never knooow..never knoowwwwwoooOOOOooooo - you know, that part  ) Also, what in the world happened with the production on this record? It's compressed all to heck, Jame's vocals sound mixed strangely, the guitar sounds like some moldy chocolate cake, Mangini's drums sound like some 80's triggered drums, and AGAIN(or technically before) there are actually audio mistakes on the final recording(towards the end of The Enemy Inside); Richard Chycki - certified "not good" album mixer.  To finish on a positive note, Mangini's drumming on the record was exceptional. Even though this isn't my favorite record, it convinced me Mangini was definitely the right guy moving forward. His drumming on The Enemy Inside is incredible. So yeah, Im gonna miss genie man

[LudwigVan]

AVFTTOTW
DOT
ADTOE
DT12
TA

[Dream Team]

@jimgolf - not a fan of Surrender to Reason or Behind the Veil? I noticed you excluded those so I was just curious. I love both.