DREAM THEATER ALBUMS SURVIVOR 2017: Results -> Images & Words wins!

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  • Total voters
    9
I really like some of the chromatic runs in solos like As I Am and Endless Sacrifice. JP has a reputation for being a shredder, but I find his solos have a bit more to them than that. But on TOT he truly shreds. Yet he never sacrificed his taste for a good melody and a level of composition in his solos.

Saapanael said:
The riff @6:30 that gets developed is essential heavy DT.
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This is exactly where the song falls apart for me. I love everything prior to that. It's a cool riff but then when JLB comes in it's just a total mess. One of my least favorite parts in a DT song. The instrumental section after those riffs is OK but just too bloated. Although I will say it's one of the few moments in the entire 12SS where it felt like they were actually conscious of this being part of a larger piece. That section works as a perfect interlude to TROAE. On its own though it is bloated.
 
Mosh said:
I really like some of the chromatic runs in solos like As I Am and Endless Sacrifice. JP has a reputation for being a shredder, but I find his solos have a bit more to them than that. But on TOT he truly shreds. Yet he never sacrificed his taste for a good melody and a level of composition in his solos.
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Oh yes, it's classic chromatic-alternate-picking-neck-pickup-loving JP. Out of all material by him, ToT is the shreddiest. Shreddy or not, he can compose some majestic stuff. It's easy to associate the term "shred" with sweep noodling but there's something classier than that in JP's solos. Perhaps it's because he isn't very good at sweep picking. More of a gift than a curse, I guess. :D
There are good examples of shred all over DT's discography. Home is one where a strong sense of melody is retained underneath a blazing guitar. Constant Motion's solo is another memorable one - the ending of which is probably as fast as you can humanly pick.
 
I think he's good at sweep picking but he prefers the precision of alt picking. There's some really impressive sweep picking sprinkled into various solos, including constant motion. Also some insane sweep picking exercises on his rock discipline video.
 
Mosh said:
I think he's good at sweep picking but he prefers the precision of alt picking. There's some really impressive sweep picking sprinkled into various solos, including constant motion. Also some insane sweep picking exercises on his rock discipline video.
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There are some in his solos but where he tends to get sloppy live is precisely sweep picking. Haven't seen the ones on Rock Discipline.
 
Top 14
01. Images & Words ◄0
02. Metropolis, Part 2 - Scenes From A Memory ◄0
03. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence ▲2
04. Awake ◄0
05. Train Of Thought ▼2
06. A Dramatic Turn Of Events ▲2
07. Falling Into Infinity ◄0
08. Octavarium ▲1
09. Black Clouds & Silver Linings ▲1
10. Dream Theater ▼4
11. Systematic Chaos ◄0
12. A Change Of Seasons ●new
13. The Astonishing ●new
14. When Dream & Day Unite ▼2
 
Yeah this is pretty much my rankings, just switch the first two, then switch Systematic Chaos with BC&SL.
 
Thanks for hosting and all, but the results are atrocious. And yes, i know not everybody must like SC - I'm okay with that. And though it's not my personal favourite, I'd be okay with SFAM winning. But the order is all messed up, 8 and WDADU are seriously underrated and there's too much Moore in the top 5. Nice to see SDOIT getting as far as it did.

Also, for all the talk about how DT have gone stale during the „later Portnoy era“ and all the talk about how everybody wants them to experiment and how no-one likes them when they are needlessly heavy, preferring them to let the music breathe a little, there’s a serious disonance between all this talk and the appreciation of the three albums that actually do so, that is FII, SDOIT and 8, in general. At least SDOIT got pretty high.
 
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Night Prowler said:
Top 14
01. Images & Words ◄0
02. Metropolis, Part 2 - Scenes From A Memory ◄0
03. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence ▲2
04. Awake ◄0
05. Train Of Thought ▼2
06. A Dramatic Turn Of Events ▲2
07. Falling Into Infinity ◄0
08. Octavarium ▲1
09. Black Clouds & Silver Linings ▲1
10. Dream Theater ▼4
11. Systematic Chaos ◄0
12. A Change Of Seasons ●new
13. The Astonishing ●new
14. When Dream & Day Unite ▼2
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Personally I don't think A Change of Seasons should be counted as it's not a full album. But since it was, the song itself is better than Systematic Chaos and Octavarium in full.

The debut album is underrated, but I'm biased towards all the Myung lead bass. I'm surprised that Falling Into Infinity is in the middle, but I'm glad. The self-titled album should absolutely be higher. Astonishing should be dead last.

Dream Theater, unlike many other bands, have never made a bad album. I can agree with the top 5 (not in order) minus Six Degrees, which I'd swap in favor of Dramatic, FII, or the self-titled. Train is my #2, although I've probably listened to it more than I&W.

Mosh said:
JP has a reputation for being a shredder, but I find his solos have a bit more to them than that. But on TOT he truly shreds. Yet he never sacrificed his taste for a good melody and a level of composition in his solos.
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The solo in As I Am is probably my favorite on the album, and it's also the centerpiece of the song (none of the other tracks have this feel). I'll always prefer his more emotive solos, but this is one of his best shreddy ones.

This is exactly where the song falls apart for me. I love everything prior to that. It's a cool riff but then when JLB comes in it's just a total mess. One of my least favorite parts in a DT song. The instrumental section after those riffs is OK but just too bloated. Although I will say it's one of the few moments in the entire 12SS where it felt like they were actually conscious of this being part of a larger piece. That section works as a perfect interlude to TROAE. On its own though it is bloated.
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The last minute or so of the song is one of the most intense things I've heard in my life. I love how the bass drives the section, too.
 
List is nearly identical to mine, I'd just replace the last two spots with each other and possibly ToT with ADTOE.
 
I'm satisfied with the top two, even if Train of Thought should be up there. I understand the love for Metropolis. Six Degrees needs to get the hell out of the Top 5, thought.

My personal ranking:

01. Images & Words (A Change of Seasons) - 10.0
02. Train of Thought - 9.4
03. Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory - 9.0
04. Awake - 8.9
05. A Dramatic Turn of Events - 8.7
06. Dream Theater - 8.6
07. Falling Into Infinity - 8.0
08. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - 7.6
09. The Astonishing - 7.5
10. Octavarium - 7.3
11. Systematic Chaos - 7.0
12. Black Clouds & Silver Linings - 6.6
13. When Dream and Day Unite - 5.3
 
Images and Words would greatly benefit from a good drum sound. The song quality is high but there have been better mixes.
 
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