Dream Theater

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
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Yea, just having JR and JP write everything was a bit of of a bummer, but I'm not sure if it made as much a difference as I would've expected.

On the bright side, listening on a good set of speakers shows that JM is actually pretty high in the mix on a lot of songs and has a few good moments (albeit more in the background). This compared to other albums where he only stands out if he's playing lead.
 
Listening to the songs one by one is actually really satisfying. The whole package may be a bit tiring but there are many awesome songs in there, definitely. The production is a massive improvement from DT13.
 
Production is probably their best since Octavarium. I still can't get into Mangini's drum sound though, it just sounds really stale.
 
I love the guy, but it's true Mike is somewhat "machinal" by himself and the production and sound they use doesn't help.

If he kept playing the same way, but evened it out by a more organic sound (like, for example Jaki Liebezeit used to in Can), that would definitely endear him to more listeners.
 
I really enjoy the melodic style DT have adopted for The Astonishing. It's like the essence of DT evolved into the right direction. Most songs have an uplifting effect on me, although there are a few too many ballades, I agree. They have also managed to add some operatic elements but not so much that it would ruin the album. LaBrie, Petrucci and Rudess shine on their instruments but considering what a 'soft' album this is, I feel like I need to listen to their heavier songs to balance it out. At the moment, The Astonishing ranks at about #6 in DT albums for me.
 
Pretty much agree with all of that. If I had to rank it I think #6 or 7 would be about right. I haven't decided if I like it more than DT12 yet though, they're very different albums which is hard enough but then The Astonishing is so out there compared to everything else they've done I have a hard time comparing it to anything in the discography. So far it's definitely in that middle tier though for me, along with DT12, ToT,and Octavarium.
 
Right now my DT ranking looks something like this:

Perfection
1: Six Degrees
2: Awake

Close to perfection
3: Images and Words
4: Scenes

Awesome
5: DT12
6: Train of Thought
7: The Astonishing
8: Octavarium (Nuggets!)

OK
9: Falling Into Infinity
10: Black Clouds & Silver Linings
11: A Dramatic Turn of Events

Bad
12: When Dream and Day Unite
13: Systematic Chaos
 
I suppose I'll do one too...

Amazing
- Images and Words
- Train of Thought

Pretty Awesome
- Awake
- Falling Into Infinity
- Scenes
- DT12

Moderate
- Six Degrees
- ADTOE
- The Astonishing

Lukewarm, Like the Taco Dip I'm Currently Eating
- WDADU
- Systematic Chaos

Not Very Good At All
- Octavarium
- BC&SL
 
I have always been a particular fan of "soft" Dream Theater. Though I am not going to rank it when it has only been out a week or two.
 
I'm about to blow some minds, but Systematic Chaos > Awake

The former is a very solid DT album, the latter seems vastly overrated to me.

My rankings look something like this:

Amazing
1) Six Degrees
2) Scenes From a Memory
3) Train of Thought
4) Images and Words
5) Octavarium

Very Good
6) A Dramatic Turn of Events
7) Black Clouds
8) Systematic Chaos
9) Dream Theater

Mediocre
10) Astonishing
11) Awake

Meh
12) Falling Into Infinity
13) When Dream and Day Unite
 
My list is very approximate because my DT listening "career" has not lasted too long yet.

God tier
1) Scenes From a Memory
2) Black Clouds
3) Images and Words
Note: IaW has more quality songs than BC but the style of the latter suits my taste more - the good songs are really good.

Good stuff
4) Awake
5) Octavarium
6) The Astonishing
7) Dream Theater
8) Train of Thought
9) A Dramatic Turn of Events
Note: most of these are very close together. I might easily pick ToT over DT12 one day and vice-versa the next.

Could be better
10) Systematic Chaos
11) Falling into Infinity

Uncategorised (because I don't know these well enough)
Six Degrees
When Dream and Day Unite
 
Amazing
1. Train of Thought
2 Images and Words
3. Scenes
4. A Dramatic Turn of Events

Really Good
5. Awake
6. Systematic Chaos
7. Six Degrees
8. Octavarium

Meh
9. Black Clouds
10. DT12
11. Falling into Infinity

Bad
12. Astonishing
13. When Day and Dream Unite
 
Let's do one too. Can't hurt too bad.

Amazing
1: Images And Words

Great
2: Scenes From A Memory
3: Awake

Good
4: Six Degrees Of Inner Turbolence
5: A Dramatic Turn Of Events
6: Falling Into Infinity
7: When Dream And Day Unite

Meh
8: Octavarium (I swear, this wasn't done on purpose)
9: Black Clouds & Silver Linings
10: DT12
11: The Astonishing
12: Train Of Thought

The Worst One
13: Systematic Chaos
 
Great
1. Images and Words
2. Scenes from a Memory
3. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

Good
4. Awake

Decent
5. Train of Thought
6. A Dramatic Turn of Events

Weak
7. Falling Into Infinity
8. Octavarium
9. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
10. Dream Theater

Bad
11. When Dream and Day Unite
12. The Astonishing
13. Systematic Chaos
 
Great
Awake
Images and words
Scenes from a memory

Good
Falling into infinity
Black clouds and silver linings

Mediocre
A dramatic turn of events
Dream theater
Train of thought
Six degrees of inner turbulence

Poor
Systematic chaos
When dream and day collide
Octavarium

Not bothered to check out the new one ATM, will do in a few weeks
 
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