OT: ♫ The Music Thread ♫

[Machinehead]

Also I have changed my rankings after a year and a new album!

#15 - The Astonishing

f*** this thing. It has like four good songs on it, and on better records, those songs wouldn't stand out. It feels like they did this epic story thing and forgot to write music for it.

#16 - I don't hate it as much as I used to actually, but it's still last.

#14 - When Dream and Day Unite

Unlike the f***ing Astonishing, I can listen to this. It's fine. People who say it's a demo are correct. It's not fully Dream Theater.

#15 - Ditto

#13 - Falling Into Infinity

Trial of Tears is a classic and Peruvian Skies bangs. Nothing else here is memorable. Firmly in "fine."

#14 - Ditto

#12 - Self-titled

This was the album where people would have it here, and I would be like "how???" but I get it now. Once you're in the top-12, they're all good. Something has to be here. The Enemy Inside rips so hard and I absolutely love Illumination Theory. Everything in between is just there.

#13 - Not changing the ranking, but I undersold how good Illumination Theory is. It is an unmitigated joy. Love and happiness in a can.

#11 - A View From the Top of the World

Same thing as the self-titled. The Alien is one of my all-time favorites and I love the long closer. Everything in between is just regular old Dream Theater. The middle part is a bit better than the self-titled for me.

#12 - Same

#10 - Awake

I know. I know. It jumps again once you get into the top 10. This band has ten phenomenal albums. Something has to be 10th. Nothing is wrong with Awake. It's just none of the songs are in my top 10-15 favorites.

#10 - This is still 10th. My opinion hasn't changed and some stuff shifted around it.

#9 - Distance Over Time

Awake is probably a better lineup top to bottom but the only reason I put DoT above Awake is because At Wit's End is in my top 15 and it contains my all-time favorite Petrucci solo.

#11 - As much as I still love At Wit's End, the rest of this album is not in the same echelon of the top 10.

#8 - Six Degrees

Probably low for most people. First half is wall to wall bangers. Don't really care about the second half tbh. And it drives me up the wall when people call it a "song." It's not a song. The tracks very little connection outside of some "same album" motifs. The 12-Step Suite is a more cohesive singular piece and it spans five albums. Octavarium, this thing is not.

#9 - This fell to 9 because of the new album. So did some of the other ones.

#7 - A Dramatic Turn of Events

Not much to say. It's an amazing collection of songs and also a good whole album experience. It has a couple of my top 15.

#7 - Again some stuff shifted around it, but it's still 7.

#6 - Images and Words

No, it's not in my top 5. Sue me. This album is basically perfect and every song is good, but none of them are my top, top songs. That's the only reason.

#4 - It's very much more in prog than it is in metal, but it's better than I gave it credit for. It's really consistent. Not one bad song.

#5 - Black Clouds and Silver Linings

It has three bonafide classics (Nightmare, Shattered Fortress, the Count) and 5/6 songs are bangers. It's almost flawless.

#3 - I was wrong: 6/6 songs are bangers. It's a perfect record.

#4 - Train of Thought

See above. Six-track album with nothing but face-melters. I put it above Black Clouds because Endless Sacrifice is probably in my top 10.

#8 - Holy shit, this record fell like Cam Fowler!!

It is really heavy, and I still love it for that, but the more I get into the catalog, and the more I appreciate Dream Theater, the less special Dream Theater being Pantera becomes to me.

@UnSandvich Still an excellent starting point!

#3 - Systematic Chaos

I probably have this too high. But I don't know where else to put. As a whole-album listen, it's a bit exhausting. And also, I know they wanted to do this Pink Floyd thing, but I would never, ever voluntarily listen to In the Presence of Enemies in two parts. It's should have been one track. As one track, it's a top 5 DT song. Splitting it up was a flaw with this album. That being said, the lineup is absolutely f***ing STACKED. In the Presence of Enemies, Constant Motion, The Dark Eternal Night, The Ministry of Lost Souls. Four stone cold classics.

#5 - I dropped this to 5, because I can't ignore that they split ItPoE into the two parts. Like, when you listen to the whole album, that's literally what it is. If they kept that song together, this is firmly #3.

#2 - Scenes From a Memory

It's Scenes From a f***ing Memory. There's not a fan I've ever encountered that has this outside their top 3.

#2- Yes.

#1 - Octavarium

So much on this album is overlooked. People say "oh it's just Panic Attack and and the title track," and partially, yes. Those are two top-5 DT songs IMO. But the other six tracks are super underrated. They all hold up. Not a bad song on the record. It's also overlooked as a whole-album listen. The transitions between songs are brilliant. Each song does the theme of mental health, and I think this album accomplishes that better than Six Degrees does, as I alluded to. This is what people think Six Degrees is. I could be here for two hours giving you all the easter eggs in this album. And then the f***ing title track. I've heard people call the title track overrated. I guess get an ear transplant. I don't know what else to say.

#1 - It is my favorite piece of art ever produced by human beings. No joke.

The new record, Parasomnia, is #6. It just f***ing rips. It's simple rippage in the way that Train of Thought is simple rippage but for me, in a more Dream Theater way. People have ripped it for "playing the hits" but Portnoy just came back and tbh, I think it was just the right time in the catalog to just play the hits.

 

[UnSandvich]

I was always into metal, not really prog, so it was the fast and heavy ones that got me started. They can get weird, but they also have a lot of fun material, so I started with the fun shit.

The Glass Prison
On the Backs of Angels
Constant Motion
The Dark Eternal Night
A Rite of Passage (has a part that sounds like Metallica)
The Great Debate (has parts that sound like Tool)
The Alien
Night Terror
Pretty much anything on Train of Thought

If you wanna hear a solo where they say "ah f*** it" and just play as fast as they can, I recommend In the Name of God.

The stuff to avoid until you're more seasoned would be like, Awake because it's f***ing depressing, or Scenes From a Memory because you really have to sit and listen to the whole record to get the experience.

Also the 19+ minute songs really take multiple listens in most cases.

Also I have changed my rankings after a year and a new album!

#16 - I don't hate it as much as I used to actually, but it's still last.

#15 - Ditto

#14 - Ditto

#13 - Not changing the ranking, but I undersold how good Illumination Theory is. It is an unmitigated joy. Love and happiness in a can.

#12 - Same

#10 - This is still 10th. My opinion hasn't changed and some stuff shifted around it.

#11 - As much as I still love At Wit's End, the rest of this album is not in the same echelon of the top 10.

#9 - This fell to 9 because of the new album. So did some of the other ones.

#7 - Again some stuff shifted around it, but it's still 7.

#4 - It's very much more in prog than it is in metal, but it's better than I gave it credit for. It's really consistent. Not one bad song.

#3 - I was wrong: 6/6 songs are bangers. It's a perfect record.

#8 - Holy shit, this record fell like Cam Fowler!!

It is really heavy, and I still love it for that, but the more I get into the catalog, and the more I appreciate Dream Theater, the less special Dream Theater being Pantera becomes to me.

@UnSandvich Still an excellent starting point!

#5 - I dropped this to 5, because I can't ignore that they split ItPoE into the two parts. Like, when you listen to the whole album, that's literally what it is. If they kept that song together, this is firmly #3.

#2- Yes.

#1 - It is my favorite piece of art ever produced by human beings. No joke.

The new record, Parasomnia, is #6. It just f***ing rips. It's simple rippage in the way that Train of Thought is simple rippage but for me, in a more Dream Theater way. People have ripped it for "playing the hits" but Portnoy just came back and tbh, I think it was just the right time in the catalog to just play the hits.

Thanks man, i'll check em out.

 

[Roo Returns]

I was always into metal, not really prog, so it was the fast and heavy ones that got me started. They can get weird, but they also have a lot of fun material, so I started with the fun shit.

The Glass Prison
On the Backs of Angels
Constant Motion
The Dark Eternal Night
A Rite of Passage (has a part that sounds like Metallica)
The Great Debate (has parts that sound like Tool)
The Alien
Night Terror
Pretty much anything on Train of Thought

If you wanna hear a solo where they say "ah f*** it" and just play as fast as they can, I recommend In the Name of God.

The stuff to avoid until you're more seasoned would be like, Awake because it's f***ing depressing, or Scenes From a Memory because you really have to sit and listen to the whole record to get the experience.

Also the 19+ minute songs really take multiple listens in most cases.

I very much and passionately disagree on Awake. It's probably my favorite Dream Theater album. They have never grooved as hard or were as funky. Plus that period of major label metal (1992-1996 pre-Roots by Sepultura) had a lot of great heavy groove records where bands and producers got rid of any of the 80s sounding production. Stuff like Countdown/Youthanasia by Megadeth, Deliverance by Corrosion of Conformity, Promised Land by Queensryche, and Vulgar/Far Beyond by Pantera.

Portnoy sounds like a cross between Neil Peart and Chad Smith on this record, Myung had some of his most creative basslines, and Kevin Moore I'd argue is the most musical and song-centric of all the Dream Theater keyboard or synth players.

 

[Machinehead]

I very much and passionately disagree on Awake. It's probably my favorite Dream Theater album. They have never grooved as hard or were as funky. Plus that period of major label metal (1992-1996 pre-Roots by Sepultura) had a lot of great heavy groove records where bands and producers got rid of any of the 80s sounding production. Stuff like Countdown/Youthanasia by Megadeth, Deliverance by Corrosion of Conformity, Promised Land by Queensryche, and Vulgar/Far Beyond by Pantera.

Portnoy sounds like a cross between Neil Peart and Chad Smith on this record, Myung had some of his most creative basslines, and Kevin Moore I'd argue is the most musical and song-centric of all the Dream Theater keyboard or synth players.

I'm not saying it isn't an excellent record, I just wouldn't start with it.

If I was going to recommend a song off the record, Space-Dye Vest is in rarified air in their catalog. Well and truly a masterpiece.

If somebody says to me "hey, I know like two DT songs, what else do you recommend?" I'm not gonna start them with "here, listen to this seven and half minute funeral."

It's a weird-ass dark album that's slightly uncomfortable to listen to. I love it for that, but I wouldn't put it in the starter pack.

I also think Scenes From a Memory would be weird to a brand new listener (it has a sex scene in it!!) and that's firmly my second favorite album.

Octavarium is my favorite song in the world. I don't think most people are gonna like it the first time they hear it.

 

[Roo Returns]

I'm not saying it isn't an excellent record, I just wouldn't start with it.

If I was going to recommend a song off the record, Space-Dye Vest is in rarified air in their catalog. Well and truly a masterpiece.

If somebody says to me "hey, I know like two DT songs, what else do you recommend?" I'm not gonna start them with "here, listen to this seven and half minute funeral."

It's a weird-ass dark album that's slightly uncomfortable to listen to. I love it for that, but I wouldn't put it in the starter pack.

I also think Scenes From a Memory would be weird to a brand new listener (it has a sex scene in it!!) and that's firmly my second favorite album.

Octavarium is my favorite song in the world. I don't think most people are gonna like it the first time they hear it.

How is it uncomfortable? The overall lyrical theme?

I think you can listen to 6:00, Lie (which I remember on Headbanger's Ball all the time in late 1994), Erotomania, The Silent Man, and Voices and just jam out.

6:00 is one of the funkiest opening tracks to an album ever. I'd actually start with that and Lie if I had to recommend a pair of Dream Theater tracks.

 

[Machinehead]

How is it uncomfortable? The overall lyrical theme?

I think you can listen to 6:00, Lie (which I remember on Headbanger's Ball all the time in late 1994), Erotomania, The Silent Man, and Voices and just jam out.

6:00 is one of the funkiest opening tracks to an album ever. I'd actually start with that and Lie if I had to recommend a pair of Dream Theater tracks.

Yeah, the lyrical themes, the whole vibe, even the art -- it's their darkest work.

I have no problem with that, all I'm saying is it wouldn't be my first recommendation if you're brand new.

Personally, I love it. As a matter of fact, I dock Awake in album rankings because I wish they had doubled down on that dark vibe. Had it been a concept album with a fully fleshed out narrative, it's probably in my top 3.

And I still wouldn't recommend it to first timers, just like I wouldn't tell people on their third song to listen to Scenes From a Memory. Yeah, listen to this story you're not gonna get the first time, it has 2,000 time signature changes in it!

6:00 is a fun jam, I'll agree with you on that. There are definitely some selections you can pull out.

All I'm saying is, when I listen to Awake front to back I'm like "man, this is a lot to take in."

That's not a criticism. The Godfather is my favorite movie of all-time and I had to watch it like 30 times before I appreciated it.

 

[nyrmetros]

Sabaton has officially announced new music is coming!! Any bets on their new subject matter?