Best Album Ever Survivor: Somewhere In Time wins

Vote for your least favourite album

  • Total voters
    16
  • Poll closed .
Pull Me Under : A nice an deep intro, followed by a powerful rhythmic section to build the song up to the verses. I love how the drums kick in and blend in with the opening melody. There are some nice unisons between the chorus and the verse, I'll give you that the song is a bit too long, though. Chorus gets repeated too much (repetitions should've been one less, to be precise). The calmer section around the fifth minute leads to the highlight of the song, the mini solo.

Another Day : A more basic and shorter song, soprano sax is a nice touch, I believe.

Take the Time : A mysterious, fantastic intro. Amazing rhythmic feel, especially around the middle parts. Also tasty licks by John Petrucci, again leading us to the highlight, closing solo.

Surrounded : Melancholic piece, keyboards play the role of base perfectly and again, not a long song.

Metropolis Part 1 : I consider this one of the best arranged songs of all time. Intro is deep, pumping and symphonic. Rhythmic feel starts to dominate afterwards, leading to James LaBrie's great vocals on the verses and then to the musical festival that is the instrumental section.

Under a Glass Moon : Again, a great intro. Again, great rhythms on the verses, Mike Portnoy goes nuts on the drums to lead us to the main highlights, Petrucci's solo and the odd rhythmic section afterwards.

Wait for Sleep : A straight-forward, emotional piano piece.

Learning to Live : Yet another great arrangement. The way bass leads the verses, the way it goes into a calmer and emotional feel in the second part of the instrumental section, beautiful.

One thing to keep in mind about the album (or DT in general) is that you have to listen to them a lot to get a good feel about their music. Because the hooks, catchy parts don't just strike you at the first listen, they do afterwards when you get familiar with the structures (my point). I found Images and Words boring when I first heard it. Eventually it grew on me and now is one of my favorites of all time.
 
Thanks for taking the time. I guess it works different for everybody but I appreciate some extra "passion-explaining".
 
Another Day and Pull Me Under are among my three least favorites off Images and Words, other one being Wait for Sleep. Interesting fact, these three were the only songs I liked when I first listened to the album. I found Metropolis boring to tears, odd rhythms on Take the Time and Under a Glass Moon pointless. Now I'm the exact opposite, Metropolis is a Top 5 song of all time for me. :D
 
What's with all these votes for Night of the Stormrider ?!

This album is the best collection of guitar riffs, ever. Very aggressive material and a lot of tempo changes, a true feast for people who enjoy that aspect in Iron Maiden.

The vocals, which are slightly more aggressive than the power metal reminiscent vocals of Matt Barlow, fit very well to this type of material. The individual songs are so strong that it shouldn't be overlooked. Actually, a lot of Iced Earth's strongest tracks are on this record.

I find it much better and a lot more adventurous than most other albums, currently presented in this game. Overall, this is a true classic in the metal genre. Not in the least because this is really an album with "drive". So energetic and well produced, a rare gem in the history of metal.

I'll call upon everyone who voted for that album but did not properly play it: Check it out:
 
Vap said:
Their point: listen at how good we are.

:innocent:
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I missed that. The only DT album where this statement fits is Systematic Chaos which is one of my least favorite DT releases. If they were only going for "listen how good we are", "listen how technical we are" they would've done much much crazier stuff because they're capable.

The reason why I love DT is the amount of melody, harmony and feeling they put in such technical music.
 
The Flash said:
I missed that. The only DT album where this statement fits is Systematic Chaos which is one of my least favorite DT releases. If they were only going for "listen how good we are", "listen how technical we are" they would've done much much crazier stuff because they're capable.

The reason why I love DT is the amount of melody, harmony and feeling they put in such technical music.
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I edited my post easier to understand.
 
No need to go over the top.

My Top 10 from the list would be :

1. Images and Words
2. Moving Pictures
3. In the Court of the Crimson King
4. In Rock
5. Paranoid
6. Countdown to Extinction
7. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
8. Screaming for Vengeance
9. Metallica
10. Mob Rules / Signals
 
Night Prowler said:
I agree. It's the best album in the game at the moment, by far.
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To an IE fan sure :P

Much as CI is my favourite album, period... I would put the UYI albums as 'better'. Couldn't say what the best one on there is but I wouldn't say its Stormrider ;D The best album is probably the one that appeals to the largest selection of listeners, and that's basically what the poll is discovering. Looks like NOTS is not it :D
 
Crimson Idol said:
To an IE fan sure :p

Much as CI is my favourite album, period... I would put the UYI albums as 'better'. Couldn't say what the best one on there is but I wouldn't say its Stormrider ;D The best album is probably the one that appeals to the largest selection of listeners, and that's basically what the poll is discovering. Looks like NOTS is not it :D
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I became an Iced Earth fan through Maiden. NOTS is an excellent great mix of Maiden's dynamics with fast riffing inspired by Metallica.

I feel GNR stands much further from Maiden's music.
 
Here's the thing about Images & Words. There is a ton of stuff going on and every member is firing on all cylinders. Probably the only DT album where that is the case too. They were more or less creating a genre with this album. No rules and no fanbase to please. This album has a ton of nuances and most of them are really subtle. It's really easy to get lost in these songs, especially since a lot of them follow a seemingly loose structure, when in reality, it's actually very meticulously crafted. The best example is Metropolis. The first 5 or so times that I heard it I just heard a bunch of random madness. But once I got to know the different parts better and even see the sheet music for it, I began to appreciate it more and realize why it was so acclaimed. Everything on the album is there for a reason, there's no needless "wanking" that DT has been guilty of quite a few times after. It's nothing short of genius.
 
Forostar said:
There are good moments in their songs but songs as a whole (let alone a whole album!) tend to bore me.
I guess I would have liked all these songs more if they were shorter.
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Ladies and gentlemen, Dream Theater!! Seriously, this is the most succinct yet accurate description I've seen yet of this skilled but soulless band.
 
My problem with DT is that I just don't believe what they're trying to say. It's almost like every song is eight minutes of wankery (granted I haven't heard every single album).

With IE, I just don't remember the majority of the album. It's been a long time since I've listened to a full IE album.
 
I honestly don't get how DT is considered wankery. I just don't get it. To me they're no different than a much technically superior mix of Iron Maiden, Rush and Metallica. I consider the band one of the most powerful bands in terms of feel. Just because they look like machines while they're playing their music (not all the time, though) doesn't mean there's no feel on them.

I'll go ahead and say this, if someone considers DT wankery, they might as well consider Rush or any other progressive rock band wankery too. Only album where the band's songs do sound like wankery is Systematic Chaos, as I've stated before.
 
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I don't know about DT. Despite their technical prowess they seem very much "locked" in place as a band. I don't like the "sound" of DT anymore, if that makes any sense.

To me, the best they have to offer is "Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From a Memeory", "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" and "Train of Thought"
 
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