Top 3 Dream Theater Albums

it's from 2014, probably during the tour promoting their self-titled album. 

Despite how much A View has grown on me since it came out, I think I still wouldn't put it in that upper echelon. It comes down to melody for me, and A View just makes those strong, soaring DT melodies less of a thing, either by choice or perhaps because of James' aging vocal chords. DoT has some super catchy lead melodies, on pretty much every song too, even if many of them aren't too high. I will say this in favor of View though, it's the most perfect sounding DT album since, probably...Octavarium? Maybe Train Of Thought? ... honestly... thinking about it... it might just be their best sounding album period. The drums are exactly as heavy as they need to be to really pop out of the mix, without ever becoming distracting (like the snare on 6DOIT sometimes can be), the Jordan picks some absolutely killer tones for the keys. The guitars sit just right perfect in the mix (those first few solo guitar riffs of Sleeping Giant, panning form one channel to the other... mmm, so good), the bass is not only audible but has a bit more character than on many DT albums. And the vocals don't sound mixed back and drenched in effects like they sometimes do on DoT, plus the vocal harmonies (an area I'm not sure DT has never really prioritized until the past couple albums, which I've been enjoying hearing more of) are really cool in many places (Sleeping Giant again comes to mind). The whole mix is just really really pleasing, everything super tight and super punchy, but still warm and inviting and colorful. DoT sometimes felt cold.