The Dream Theater Appreciation Thread

So, any Dream Theater fans out there? I'm sure there are a lot of Dream Theater fans.

Some years ago they were mostly untouchable around here... at least as far as prog metal goes. But now they seem to be rather unpopular. However, I do love them and they are my favourite prog metal band, and one of my very favourite band of all, along Pink Floyd, Yes, Mike Oldfield, and Rick Wakeman.

Edited by Dellinger - April 14 2016 at 21:52

They are one of my favourite bands.

I will have to agree with you guys to an extent. I really think all their albums were top notch, and awesome (besides The Astonishing).

Catcher10 wrote: Pretty much the same for me, I enjoy their music and musicianship, very high level. What is lacking in recent years has been creativity, they are in a rut where it seems they are trying to find themselves again. At this point if they do not take a break and recharge the creative batteries, the latter part of their career will be forgettable. Train of Thought is my fav album of theirs, that set the bar for prog-metal for me and recently have been very locked in with Falling Into Infinity, been getting lots of spins lately on the turntable. I don't even want to mention the the last album, have only heard about an hours worth of it and have no interest in hearing the whole thing right now. They should have taken Portnoy's suggestion and taken a 5yr break, which means right about now they would have been releasing a new album.

Train of Thought is also my favourite album from them. Almost no weak track... and the few weaker ones are enjoyable just as well. And Train of Thought is among my very favourite songs from the band. Actually, 6 degrees would be my favourite, if it was a single disc album, and that disc was the first one (the one that is NOT the suite), but since it's a double album, and I almost don't like any song from the second disc, Train of Thought gets it's place as my favourite one. Falling into Infity doesn't do much for me, though. It still has a few very good songs and all, but it does sound weaker that the rest. Actually, I do enjoy the demos version, indeed many of the weaker tracks were better the way the band originally intended them. As for their last albums and Portnoy's departure, I have found them notably weaker indeed, and they should have taken that break... though I do have enjoyed a little bit better the listens I have given to their latest; at least they do vary their sound a litte bit more... still, I think that if this album had been done with Portnoy in the band, it would have been so much better, even if most of the music and story remained Petrucci's, Portnoy did give direction to the efforts in a better way.

KimberlyPierre wrote: Dellinger wrote: Catcher10 wrote: Pretty much the same for me, I enjoy their music and musicianship, very high level. What is lacking in recent years has been creativity, they are in a rut where it seems they are trying to find themselves again. At this point if they do not take a break and recharge the creative batteries, the latter part of their career will be forgettable. Train of Thought is my fav album of theirs, that set the bar for prog-metal for me and recently have been very locked in with Falling Into Infinity, been getting lots of spins lately on the turntable. I don't even want to mention the the last album, have only heard about an hours worth of it and have no interest in hearing the whole thing right now. They should have taken Portnoy's suggestion and taken a 5yr break, which means right about now they would have been releasing a new album.   Train of Thought is also my favourite album from them. Almost no weak track... and the few weaker ones are enjoyable just as well. And Train of Thought is among my very favourite songs from the band. Actually, 6 degrees would be my favourite, if it was a single disc album, and that disc was the first one (the one that is NOT the suite), but since it's a double album, and I almost don't like any song from the second disc, Train of Thought gets it's place as my favourite one. Falling into Infity doesn't do much for me, though. It still has a few very good songs and all, but it does sound weaker that the rest. Actually, I do enjoy the demos version, indeed many of the weaker tracks were better the way the band originally intended them. As for their last albums and Portnoy's departure, I have found them notably weaker indeed, and they should have taken that break... though I do have enjoyed a little bit better the listens I have given to their latest; at least they do vary their sound a litte bit more... still, I think that if this album had been done with Portnoy in the band, it would have been so much better, even if most of the music and story remained Petrucci's, Portnoy did give direction to the efforts in a better way. One of the reasons why I think Train of Thought is weak is actually because of Honor Thy Father and Endless Sacrifice. HTF is a good song, but the song is too long. Trim the instrumental section in the middle at bit and it will be much better. And Endless Sacrifice...well, the verses are good and the bridge is awesome, but the instrumental section! What was supposed to a love song is ruined by the instrumental. I think Systematic Chaos or Black Clouds and Silver Linings is one of their strongest, but I've seen so much hate to it.

I have no problems with SC, again more metal than not. BC&SL is also a big rotation album for me, but it is the last of them. DT12 and ADToE gets minimal plays but there are some decent songs....Production is what has been lacking since Portnoy left and Petrucci is trying to do it all and the quality is suffering.

Dellinger wrote: Some years ago they were mostly untouchable alround here... at least as far as prog metal goes. But now they seem to be rather unpopular.

I wonder why

SWilson is next btw...

Catcher10 wrote: I have no problems with SC, again more metal than not. BC&SL is also a big rotation album for me, but it is the last of them. DT12 and ADToE gets minimal plays but there are some decent songs....Production is what has been lacking since Portnoy left and Petrucci is trying to do it all and the quality is suffering. Also getting bored of Rudess's sound, I like him very talented, artistic but again the creativity is lacking, especially when I think about his performances in SDoIT, Scenes and Octavarium. Petrucci is also missing the mark by leaving out Myung in the mix.....he needs to be more forward. The good thing is their back catalog is very good, enough that I can leave the recent releases alone.

I'm not sure how much is lack of creativity on Rudess' part, and how much is puting Dream Theater music in a box and not wanting to get out of it. I really loved what Rudess did on Steven Wilson's Grace for Drowning, and I really wish he would use some of that playing with DT... I mean, not all the songs, but on parts where it could help to give some diversity. He can surely play, and compose I hope, on many stiles... he should use them, what the band needs most right now is more variation in their songs.

Dellinger wrote: Catcher10 wrote: I have no problems with SC, again more metal than not. BC&SL is also a big rotation album for me, but it is the last of them. DT12 and ADToE gets minimal plays but there are some decent songs....Production is what has been lacking since Portnoy left and Petrucci is trying to do it all and the quality is suffering. Also getting bored of Rudess's sound, I like him very talented, artistic but again the creativity is lacking, especially when I think about his performances in SDoIT, Scenes and Octavarium. Petrucci is also missing the mark by leaving out Myung in the mix.....he needs to be more forward. The good thing is their back catalog is very good, enough that I can leave the recent releases alone. I'm not sure how much is lack of creativity on Rudess' part, and how much is puting Dream Theater music in a box and not wanting to get out of it. I really loved what Rudess did on Steven Wilson's Grace for Drowning, and I really wish he would use some of that playing with DT... I mean, not all the songs, but on parts where it could help to give some diversity. He can surely play, and compose I hope, on many stiles... he should use them, what the band needs most right now is more variation in their songs.