Dream Theater Week On Maidenfans (November 12-November 18)

Which band would you like to discuss next week?

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Mosh

Mosh

PM me your Opeth album rankings!
Staff member
Welcome to Dream Theater week! Here we'll discuss the Progressive Metal giants. We could use a few more band nominations.
 
Since I nominated Amon Amarth, Kreator and Mastodon and they aren't getting any votes, can you put Alice In Chains instead of those 3 in the next poll?
 
Dream Theater is one of my top 10 bands. I knew and loved Rush before them, but these guys really showed me what Prog could be. After getting into DT I was totally into prog, checking out as many bands as possible. It's still a genre I haven't completely explored. I'll try to cover most of the discography this week, starting with the classic..

Images and Words: If someone asked me what Prog Metal was, I'd give them this album, no question. It's all here, and there isn't a bad song to be found. This one's a grower though. It took me an insanely long time to get into, but I was still new to prog at the time. Every time I listened to Metropolis, my mind was blown. It took tons of listens for me to be able to even hum along to the main riff. Once you get into to this album, though, it is totally worth it. It's perfect. With the powerful opener Pull Me Under, the album starts off epic. Surrounded is when it really gets going though. This ballad acts as a calm before the storm, so to speak. With great lyrics by Kevin Moore, and beautiful melodies, it is one of DT's best short songs. Metropolis is THE Prog epic. If I had to define Dream Theater by one song, it would be this one. There is so much going on, yet it all comes together in a genius way. Under A Glass Moon is a really cool rocker, and has one of my favorite Petrucci solos. Wait For Sleep and Learning To Live really end the album on a high note. It flows seamlessly, and you can really hear the Yes influence on this track.

Overall, an awesome album. The band was just perfect on so many levels for this one.
 
Dream Theater was the first prog band I've ever listened to. After getting into heavy metal through Iron Maiden back in 2009, I didn't start exploring other genres until 2010. Dream Theater was one of the first bands I've ever checked out that wasn't heavy metal. But since they had metal elements in their music, it was easier for me to relate to and discovering/loving them is a cornerstone in my improvement of musical taste.

I wasn't really astounded by their technicality since I wasn't into the technical side of music back then. Their blend of complexity, power and emotion did it for me and that probably is why I never understood people who called them musical masturbators or pretentious. They're far from it, although they had some pretentious stuff in their career (will talk about this on the respective albums)

When Dream and Day Unite : Being an album that isn't really cared about even by Dream Theater fans, the debut was the last DT album I completely listened to. The compositions are truly awkward. They have technicality and nice melodies, but the arrangements are horrific. Vocalist Charlie Dominici is not that bad in fact he's pretty good but the lyrics sound of place on this album. If it was an instrumental album throughout, it'd work out just fine. The Ytse Jam, instrumental track of the album, sets a great example of it since it's by far the best arranged song on the release. My favorites off the album are that one and Afterlife, The Ones Who Help to Set the Sun is also pretty cool. It lacks a "go-to-song" and overall song quality is pretty low.

Images and Words : Could be my favorite album of all time if it had a better atmosphere as an album. Still, composition wise, my favorite album of all time. No weak song. I used to consider Another Day weak but it has grown on me. Pull Me Under is a fantastic rocker. Its rhythm is incredibly catchy for a progressive song, I find myself tapping my foot in the rhythm of it even when I'm not listening to the song. Another Day is a song that best described as "nice". A bit of fresh air before hitting Take the Time, a truly progressive song with absurd time signatures and various rhythms. Features some tasty Petrucci guitar playing, too. Again a fresh air with ballad Surrounded which is possibly Kevin Moore's greatest work with the band, fabulous keyboard melodies, I think it's safe to say that it's the most atmospheric song on the album, too. Metropolis Part 1 is the ultimate progressive epic like Mosh said. Just a flat out masterpiece by every standard, one of the greatest songs of all time. Under a Glass Moon is a well constructed song a perfect blend of odd rhytmic patterns with nice melodies. Fabulous intro, an amazing build-up to the solo, a great solo and after that comes the best part of the song. Portnoy goes nuts, and around 6th minute, a basic, yet amazingly powerful rhythm part just before the last chorus. Wait for Sleep has the best lyrics on the album a great piano piece by Moore. Learning to Live is the richest song in terms of melodies along with Metropolis, the second part of the song is just fascinating. One of their best, for sure. Just an amazing, amazing album. A great band at their very best.

I'll carry on if I have the time.
 
I'm pretty much noob to DT but I can say for sure I fell in love in a very short time - they went to my top bands only in a few months. I still have to get to know two latest albums and I'm not sure what to expect without Portnoy, cause he's probably my favourite fella from this band. In my opinion, him leaving, was one of the biggest mistakes. I absolutely love his style of songwriting (the connection in suite songs etc) and his funny nature.

I had no idea about this ingenious stuff until I heard Scenes From A Memory in my pal's car.
My faves are Awake, Scenes, IaW, Train and Degrees.

NP: In The Presence Of Enemies 1+2
 
I'm glad Portnoy left. He was heading the band to a more "hardcore" direction and it was causing the band to lose their magic, if you will. There are fucking growls on A Nightmare to Remember from Black Clouds & Silver Linings. Not saying that I don't like the way they tried new things, but it was making them just another technical metal band.

A Dramatic Turn of Events, first album without Portnoy, sounds like classic Dream Theater with the influences of their 2000's period. And it's awesome.
 
Hmm. Maybe I will change my opinion after listening to it.
I agree that his "digitalized from the grave" voice inputs were more and more often as I went through the discography and sometimes it feels really unnecessary.
 
Another thought: I really admire Mangini for the courage to have to learn all the songs from the catalogue, with all the crazy jumps and timings. Seems nearly impossible to me, simple mortal. :)
 
Mangini is technically superior to Portnoy and it's really saying something.

@ NP

I don't really care about the difference since I despise growls at all costs. Except for the ones that are on Opeth's and Death's music. :D
 
Yea that bit on Nightmare isn't growls, just bad singing.
Dream Theater is progressive metal, no question.
My favorite lyrics on I&W are Surrounded, though WFS is great too.
I don't like early 90's cheese of Another Day, in fact that early 90's production sound as a whole doesn't really sit well with me, and I think the Soprano Sax is a dreadful instrument. However, I love Spyro Gyra and Jay Beckenstein is great.
I listened to WDADU once or twice. Like the Genesis debut, I tend to forget that it exists.
 
I never denied that DT is progressive metal <_< I just think they're more on the progressive side than metal.
 
You got me wrong. What I meant was %100 heavy metal, one of the first bands that wasn't %100 heavy metal. The first ones I checked out were Maiden, Priest and Sabbath if that makes it easier to understand.

You know, there's that heavy metal which is a sub-genre of the genre of the same name.
 
The actual name of the genre "metal" is heavy metal. Heavy metal (which is also called classic heavy metal to avoid confusion) is one of the sub-genres of it.
 
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