Dream Theater vs. Psychotic Waltz

I was just thinking, probably the two top American prog metal bands in the early 90's... one quickly became popular and the other never really took off although they made two of the best prog metal albums ever (imo).  Which one do you think really made the better music?

I'd say PW by miles and miles... it really isn't even close at all for me, better vocals, better lyrics, more consistant and nteresting music and no BS.  I wonder how the prog metal scene would be if the bands listened to them instead of DT   Maybe I'd even pay attention to it.

Psychotic Waltz of course, and not because I want to vote for the obscure band. One listen to "a Social grace" will suffice!

PW pwns DT all day, everyday.

I am not a DT fan, though they are great musicians with a true prog metal approach. But PW has something different, more identity, the music seems to have a soul. Definitely hard to compare those two very different groups but for me it is PW without a doubt!

An interesting poll. I'm not sure yet ... I think that I'll vote for Dream Theater, but by a somewhat narrow margin. If only Psychotic Waltz had continued to perfect what they had begun on the first two albums ... instead they turned away from it.


Edited by MikeEnRegalia - January 08 2008 at 10:24

I slightly prefer Psychotic Waltz for the sake of diversity

Psychotic Waltz.
They are more original.

I've never heard PW, but I like DT

Yorkie X wrote: when I listen to Psychotic Waltz I hear stoner metal more so than prog metal.

Ha, listen to High on Fire and see if Psychotic Waltz still sounds like "stoner metal".

I love both bands, actually. PW's two first are near-masterpieces, but DT's I&W and Awake releases are among Prog-Metal's finest albums. I'll vote DT for now, since PW's last two albums are much weaker than their two first.