DREAM THEATER SURVIVOR 2016: Results -> A Change Of Seasons wins!

Satisfied with the results?

  • Total voters
    10
SFAM songs - Dance is the weakest and there's no doubt about that. Didn't even relisten because there's no way Dance can suddenly click with me enough to displace the 3 classic remaining songs.
ToT songs - don't particularly care for any of these songs. Endless Sacrifice and In The Name Of God are good, but I won't be bothered too much whatever gets promoted from this album. This Dying Soul makes the cut because As I Am was eliminated... that leaves Honor and Stream.
Octavarium:
Root - Great song. Tries a bit too hard to recreate The Glass Prison but it's solid anyway and doesn't have boring parts, plus the chorus is pretty awesome.
Answer - Awesome ballad.
These Walls and I Walk Beside You - these songs are weird af. Vocal parts are great but just don't fit with (also great) music. It just feels like they mashed up vocals from one song into an unrelated song.
Panic Attack - A bit too frantic + LaBrie is pretty uninspired too. Production of this album doesn't help this song at all... but solo section is total Maiden worship and... I changed my mind about voting for this mid-song :p
Never Enough - This one's a complete mess...
Sacrificed Sons - Has some OK parts, but the lyrics are cheesy and it drags.
Octavarium - Best überlong Dream Theater song. I'd still trim a lot of stuff though :P

I think I'll update in 2 days since not everyone's voted yet (I update once I get 12 voters).
 
Never Enough isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be. As for Octavarium as a whole, the song quality is consistent but not very high. All DT albums have an atmosphere, and so does this one, which makes it fun to listen to now and again. I'd say the guys were going downhill since SFAM, hitting a lowpoint at Octavarium and Systematic Chaos. Not to be misunderstood, though, I like/love all of the albums, it's just that the trend was negative.

I voted for most Octavarium songs + Dance and Stream but that is just because the contest is tough and the 2005 album isn't known for many "big hits" except for the title song.
 
Lyrics aside, Never Enough isn't necessarily bad, just kind of generic and forgettable.

For me, the decline starts at Octavarium and ends with ADTOE. But that said, the only truly bad album is SC.
 
I actually quite like Never Enough. It's just unfortunately placed on an album where almost everything is better. On almost any other album it would be considered good.
 
Saapanael said:
Never Enough isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be.
Click to expand...

After recently listening to this song multiple times, I've actually come to enjoy it a bit. The lyrics are garbage, but the music is pretty neat. Then again, when Octavarium was first released I hadn't even heard of Muse and now I love them, so that may play a factor.
 
SURVIVOR_RULES_017.jpg


Eliminated:
Never Enough - 8 votes
The Answer Lies Within - 7 votes
These Walls - 6 votes
I Walk Beside You - 6 votes
Sacrificed Sons - 6 votes

Promoted:
The Root Of All Evil
Panic Attack
Octavarium

Systematic Chaos joins the game!
 
Dance
Stream
Forsaken
Constant
Prophets

I'm gonna write an essay on why I think this album is great later. Be prepared :D
 
This is the first (and so far only) album to have a making of documentary. On one hand, it's too bad that it took this long for them to make one of these and that the only one that exists is for their worst album. On the other hand, I find these things to be especially interesting for the less popular/lesser known albums. For an album I dislike as much as SC, it's really fascinating how it came together and what the band's mindset at the time was. I think the biggest issue with SC is how directionless it was. It was certainly intentional, but I also think DT works best when they have a career direction and vision for the album. Otherwise it just sounds by the numbers and sometimes even overly self indulgent.

 
Dance
Dying Soul
Endless
Presence - Good epic, but possibly their weakest 20-minute-plus song other than Six Degrees. There's this part in the intro that is so frantic it makes me want to kick things. Great melodies, too, and the lead-in to the second half is dark and bassy and creepy.
Forsaken - I love this song, although many people hate it for its poppiness and stupid vampire lyrics. But since lyrics are generally the least important part of a song for me, I don't care -- I hear what I want to hear. This song isn't about vampires to me. It's a simple, dark, heavy, almost Symphony X-ish song at some points (that lead piano is great), and has a refreshing yet somewhat simple neoclassical solo. Very tasteful for them overall.
Constant - Good song, if not a bit Metallica-ish. But I have to vote strategically. Love the Satriani-ish solo and the bass groove, too.
Dark Eternal - I like the main groove with the high bass "thwangs" but this song is so cheesy I can't handle it.
Repentance - Worst part of the 12-step suite. At least there's something actually happening in Root.
Prophets - Good song but the ones I didn't vote for are better. Love LaBrie's highs on the final chorus, and Portnoy's bridge actually fits the song (unlike on the opening track from the following album...)
Ministry - I love this song, for its music and lyrics. Just an epic, dark, emotional piece that I never get sick of listening to. That second chorus and quiet lead-in to the last chorus are very melancholy. The instrumental section is good but completely out of place, although I do like that 6/8 Phrygian riff.
 
The Ministry Of Lost Souls is a ridiculously silly, absurd mess. I actually kind of like it in the first three minutes but after that, my mind turns off and starts playing Apocalypse Is Pretty Screwed Up AKA Tomorrow Never Knows AKA Problems With Naming Your Song? Ask Ringo. That, on an endless loop. During that instrumental section, I can't help but laugh uncontrallably. Then my mind goes back to a cryogenic state. And when it ends, I don't even notice that I may be six minutes or so into the second part of Presence. But I often get the two songs confused. Part two of Presence is so boring compared to the first part in my opinion that it brings down the entire piece a few points. I still really like part one, though.

You know what I think is this album's greatest flaw? It's not memorable at all. Not in the slightest. At least with other albums, there would be parts I remember. For example, I could probably point out one memorable thing about every other song from the last three albums, no matter how small it may be.

Systematic Chaos? Yeah, just remove the first word in that, and you've got your album.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top