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

Satisfied with the results?

  • Total voters
    10
So I thought long and hard about it, and my personal top 10 would consist of the following songs:

Take the Time
Learning to Live
A Change of Seasons
Trial of Tears
The Glass Prison
Blind Faith
Endless Sacrifice
Stream of Consciousness
The Count of Tuscany
Lost Not Forgotten

Which comes out to a 6 song overlap with this top 10, which isn't bad at all. There's probably close to 30 songs which could make legitimate arguments to be considered top 10 worthy.
Mosh said:
This is also the second survivor where the latest album doesn't have any songs in the top ten.
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I'd have to seriously question my own sanity if an Astonishing song made the top 10. Nothing from that album honestly belongs in even the top 50.
 
Lampwick 43 said:
The Glass Prison
Blind Faith
Endless Sacrifice
Stream of Consciousness
The Count of Tuscany
Lost Not Forgotten
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:ok:

Add ITPOE and Ministry for me. I'd might reconsider, though.


However ... since it's so beloved and since I keep voting against it, I wanted to give ACOS a most fair chance (as if I've haven't done so already) and I listened to it repeatedly many times over during the past three days.

I admit this - the instrumental opener, from the strumming to the first bunch of riffs might be one of the most awesome moments in DT's history. Every time it gets stuck in my head and it's an absolutely killing beginning of an epic track. That vocal part right after that is also quite decent.

That whole "Tripping through the light fantastic" -> "Seasons change and so can I" part is pretty great, too, and I love the JP solo right after that.

But as a whole, it's overlong. Sorry, it is. From the "Seeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiize the daaaaaaay" up to that part above, it's just treading water and going really nowhere. The buildups are great on their own, but get lost in the 24 minutes and many parts are not really that memorable, because they contain neither a strong melody or an interesting riff. As if the length came first and the ideas second, tbh. I have no such problems with their other epics (maybe bar Illumination Theory, which also sounds a bit like the band cruising on autopilot from time to time, but less so).

That said, I've warmed up quite a bit to it. I will still vote against it, but there'll be no table flipping should it won (still better than LTL, at least).

Also, while it's been said many times over how Jordan is the cold robotic monster and those other two blokes "played with feeling" (*cough *cough Mangini *cough Portnoy *cough), listening closely to Derek's work here I don't think he's really that far removed from Jordan. Sure, their styles and sound choices etc. are different, but the differences, while still significant, are actually much smaller than between these two and Moore or even Portnoy and Mangini, IMHO. I could imagine Jordan playing this track very similarly in the studio. Or I'm slowly going deaf. :D
 
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Trial Of Tears, Blind Faith, Breaking All Illusions.

This was really tough. Only certain vote was Blind Faith.
 
Well, there's a difference between finding 8um overrated (which I think I could kinda sorta lika get behind; I have my reasons for and against, but that'd be for a longer digression) and saying you'd never listen to it again, which I don't think I've ever said about any track, ever. Of course, if you find it that offensive, I guess that's your right and IRYO, but still...

Anyway, cool you've tried. :ok:

EDIT: okay, I think I might have said something like that about Mayhem, because there's the blasphemy and "Satanism" (which I could stand, if the music was good) and the criminal record and overall darkness of the people involved (which I could also stand, if the music was good) only to get very poorly done black metal that's singlehandedly surpassed by pretty much anyone in the black/white metal genre and Attila Csihar is one of the most annoying vocalists I've ever heard, maybe even worse than that crabcore band.

But that's, like, a very specific case.
 
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JudasMyGuide said:
Well, there's a difference between finding 8um overrated (which I think I could kinda sorta lika get behind; I have my reasons for and against, but that'd be for a longer digression) and saying you'd never listen to it again, which I don't think I've ever said about any track, ever.
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Oh, I don't share the exact same opinion as jazz. Octavarium is still a 9/10 or maybe even 10/10 song for me, but a good bunch of DT fans seem to think it is the Holy Grail whereas I wouldn't even put it in my top 25.

And also: there are definitely things that I will actively never listen to again, like the first few Porcupine Tree albums. :D
 
Octavarium is not the best DT song that many make it out to be, but still a damn fine one. Certainly top 10 for me.
 
Hey, I'm not offended or anything. I just thought that "not listening to something again" is pretty harsh and extreme, at least in my book. But you're certainly entitled to that opinion :D (heck, just compare my avatar and yours :D). It's mostly about the fact that I tend to give various songs, albums and artists new chances and try to find out where's the spirit and where's the magic - simply because I rather like something than dislike - so that's why I very rarely cross something out and this sounded like that. But I realise that might be just me.

Of course we kill songs all the time. But I can still listen to the dead songs! My favourite track has been already killed in this Survivor and I'm listening to it right now. :D

If you ever feel like summarising your opinions about the track, I'd be very interested, but if you don't, that's okay :)
 
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Top 10
01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
06.
07.
08.
09.
10. Stream Of Consciousness

Stream Of Consciousness lost the tiebreaker against Trial Of Tears, based on the average number of votes.
 
Thank H! That song should have been gone a long time ago.

Only going to vote for Trial of Tears until it's gone. Everything else is quite a bit ahead of that song.
 
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