Dream Theater vs. Symphony X
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URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=121030
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Topic: Dream Theater vs. Symphony X
Posted By: Odvin Draoi
Subject: Dream Theater vs. Symphony X
Date Posted: September 22 2019 at 14:15
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Dream Theater is way more popular and one of the pioneers of prog metal. They seem to be the instant winners of this poll. While, They also have ample haters. Also lots of people think that Symphony X has been more consistent regarding their discography. I respect and like Dream Theater to an extent, yet I'm a big Symphony X fanboy. What about you? |
Replies:
Posted By: Dopeydoc
Date Posted: September 22 2019 at 15:10
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Neither really. |
Posted By: omphaloskepsis
Date Posted: September 22 2019 at 15:59
| DT |
Posted By: Progosopher
Date Posted: September 22 2019 at 18:32
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I use Symphony X as my go-to example of what is wrong with Prog Metal. ------------- The world of sound is certainly capable of infinite variety and, were our sense developed, of infinite extensions. -- George Santayana, "The Sense of Beauty" |
Posted By: Fischman
Date Posted: September 22 2019 at 19:47
| DT, not even fair IMO. |
Posted By: dougmcauliffe
Date Posted: September 22 2019 at 20:01
| Don’t know too much by symphony x, but I think their album V is the second best album named V with a yellow desert on the cover released in 2000. First is Spocks beards V |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: September 22 2019 at 23:58
wow, really? what's so wrong with them? there are far worse bands than Symphony X...
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Progosopher wrote:Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: September 23 2019 at 00:44
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X ------------- Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect. |
Posted By: digdug
Date Posted: September 23 2019 at 06:30
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DT for sure ------------- Prog On! |
Posted By: Mormegil
Date Posted: September 23 2019 at 07:08
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Dream Theater. Can't get into Symphony X. ------------- Welcome to the middle of the film. |
Posted By: Manuel
Date Posted: September 23 2019 at 07:09
Same with me. Some of their stuff I like, but not enough to consider them on my list of favorites, or even great bands.
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Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: September 23 2019 at 19:48
| Dream Theater easily, what I have heard of Symphony X hasn't impressed me nor made me want o check out more from them. |
Posted By: Catcher10
Date Posted: September 23 2019 at 22:29
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Dream Theater easily......What I have from Symphony X has not been played in years. -------------   
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Posted By: Frenetic Zetetic
Date Posted: September 24 2019 at 01:23
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Symphony X all day. Divine Wings of Tragedy, Twilight in Olympus, V, The Odyssey... Dream Theater makes me want to take a nap. The definition of sterile prog for me. ------------- "I am so prog, I listen to concept albums on shuffle." -KMac2021 |
Posted By: Enchant X
Date Posted: September 24 2019 at 04:25
| Symphony X gets my vote I think but that takes nothing away from dream theater its just Symphony X is more to my taste and I think each release has been slightly more consistent overall. I'm looking forward to a new Symphony X CD ... I hope there will be one. |
Posted By: Libor10
Date Posted: September 24 2019 at 04:27
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My vote goes to Symphony X. I own a lot of records from both bands but I like SX probably more. But it's true to say that my interest in both these bands diminished during passing years. Last record I really like from SX is The Odyssey from 2002 and Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (2002) from DT. I do buy both bands new records but in fact they seem to me rather sterile. Especially DT works (every two years a new record - yes, the music is ok and they play it great - but all these record are rather unimpressive, predictable...). The same (to a smaller extent) is true for SX (but they've done only three such records during 17 years comparing with 8 from DT). ------------- 
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Posted By: Progosopher
Date Posted: September 24 2019 at 19:52
I am sure they are nice guys who I would like to have a beer with. They are certainly technically proficient, but that is all it is. Just technicality. And every time I have listened to them I was immediately reminded of some other band. Generic. ------------- The world of sound is certainly capable of infinite variety and, were our sense developed, of infinite extensions. -- George Santayana, "The Sense of Beauty" |
Posted By: Odvin Draoi
Date Posted: September 24 2019 at 20:17
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Pure technicality and generic? Perhaps it is Dragonforce (your avatar reminded me of them).  I think Symphony X has lots of signature elements and shows a great variety of emotions. Of course it is a matter of liking and perception, after all. I barely saw anybody who isn't at least impressed by this song's spirituality, BTW. |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: September 24 2019 at 22:53
| ^ Actually, Comunion and the Oracle is the only song I have particularly liked from Symphony X. Yeah, mostly everything else is nice, and hardly anything makes me want to skip it, but neither does it make me want to hear them. |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: September 25 2019 at 00:46
Finding them generic and calling them an example of what is wrong with prog metal are two different things imo. Just technicality?! But they are very melodic as well. |
Posted By: Psychedelic Paul
Date Posted: September 25 2019 at 02:44
| I'm a big fan of Dream Theater, but I'm not familiar with Symphony X, so my vote goes to Dream Theater. |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: September 25 2019 at 06:13
| Not a huge fan of either band although I'm not very familiar with Symphony X. However, I think a more evenly matched poll would be Dream Theater vs Queensryche. Even then I'm pretty sure DT would win. |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: September 25 2019 at 06:34
Queensryche does not stand a chance against DT, too many generic and a couple of really bad albums. In my opinion DT got only one bad album, their very unastonishing concept album from three years ago.
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Posted By: King of Loss
Date Posted: September 27 2019 at 10:38
| Dream Theater by far. End. |
Posted By: Odvin Draoi
Date Posted: September 27 2019 at 16:15
End of what? It is quite predictable that DT would win this, yet what is the particular "End" that you mean? Are you the ultimate decision maker of this? |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: September 27 2019 at 17:36
| Can we assume those who put neither are not prog metal fans or not necessarily? |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: September 27 2019 at 17:38
Three years ago already? Wow, how time flies. I'm not a DT expert but I think falling into affinity is pretty lame too.
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Posted By: King of Loss
Date Posted: September 27 2019 at 18:03
| Falling Into Infinity is probably in my top 3 favorite Dream Theater albums. Some fantastic songs on that album. Quite underrated IMO. |
Posted By: AFlowerKingCrimson
Date Posted: September 27 2019 at 18:07
There's some good stuff on it but I just found it to be very inconsistent. Maybe it would have been improved with a different song order. YMMV.
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Posted By: Odvin Draoi
Date Posted: September 27 2019 at 18:17
Most probably, yes. Yet some of them might prefer the Fates Warning school or more modern prog metal. |
Posted By: King of Loss
Date Posted: September 27 2019 at 18:19
Minus one or two songs, I think it's still a highly enjoyable album. Much better than the Astonishing!!!
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Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: September 28 2019 at 05:17
not lame at all, when it came out I for one was surprised how different it was and I blamed it on the line up change, a new keyboardist. The strange thing is that if you listen to the FII demos, they left out some very good songs and there was an epic that would become later their 1999 concept album. The DT albums I rarely pay attention to these days are SDOIT, Systematic Chaos (so much showing off on this one) and BC&SL (kinda tired of it). ADTOE is uneven, and Rudess is all over the place... my favorite DT is the one with Kevin Moore.
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Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: September 28 2019 at 13:31
| Falling into Infinity is indeed one of their weaker ones for me, but it still has some good moments. And some more good moments on the demos album indeed. They could have done something even better if they had used some of those songs. And the Metropolis 2 epic, it would have been great if it had been finished like that. I'm not fond of Medley's, but I wouldn't mind if they did a Medley of the album using those musical passages. |
Posted By: Barbu
Date Posted: September 28 2019 at 23:06
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DT ------------- |
Posted By: micky
Date Posted: September 29 2019 at 07:21
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oh dear God... easily Symph X... Divine Wings alone bitch slaps any album DT ever did... but how easy.. like deciding between geting blown and getting castrated. A singer who can actually sing.. great songwriting over 'look at me' playing. Zero f**king contest man... ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: rogerthat
Date Posted: September 29 2019 at 07:39
Seriously though, I think Romeo is a pretty boring "watch me shred" guitarist. And their range is pretty narrow compared to DT which has its pluses but they got one-note a long time ago. Russell Allen's sheer charismatic presence makes all the difference, especially when compared to LaBrie. Who let them down even on the albums they did write well like Images & Words or Awake. |
Posted By: Odvin Draoi
Date Posted: September 29 2019 at 07:47
| Romeo is also a riffmaster. I can understand finding such shredding boring, yet dat damn riffs! |
Posted By: A Crimson Mellotron
Date Posted: August 25 2021 at 13:24
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DT all the way! |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: August 25 2021 at 13:30
It says "You have already voted in this poll" , but I don't remember what I chose.  
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Posted By: geekfreak
Date Posted: September 25 2022 at 23:23
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By far Dream Theater ------------- Friedrich Nietzsche: "Without music, life would be a mistake." Music Is Live Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. Keep Calm And Listen To The Music… < |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: November 02 2022 at 11:33
gentle bump! 
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Posted By: mellotronwave
Date Posted: November 02 2022 at 12:42
| Neither not my cup of tea |
Posted By: Necrotica
Date Posted: November 02 2022 at 12:48
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Gonna go with Dream Theater, but this is a bit of a cruel poll as I love them both ------------- Take me down, to the underground Won't you take me down, to the underground Why oh why, there is no light And if I can't sleep, can you hold my life https://www.youtube.com/@CocoonMasterBrendan-wh3sd |
Posted By: Jared
Date Posted: November 02 2022 at 14:16
| Both equally... |
Posted By: PaulG
Date Posted: November 02 2022 at 18:17
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I voted for Symphony X. I like Dream Theater just as much yet the vote is swayed to much for Dream Theater so I voted Symphony X. When it comes to a favorite album from both bands Symphony X wins with V and Divine Wings of Tragedy. Otherwise if I look at both bands and their respective releases as a whole Dream Theater wins. They have more good releases. I haven’t been impressed with either band recently, especially Symphony ax’s last three releases. When it comes down to it the last time I was blown away by either band was the early 2000’s. Time for a new release from Symphony X similar to the Divine Wings of Tragedy through The Odyssey period. I would be more than happy. The last release from Dream Theater that blew me away was Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. Oh well. Those were the days. |
Posted By: HeyItsJustJP
Date Posted: November 02 2022 at 18:43
| SymX without a second thought |
Posted By: essexboyinwales
Date Posted: November 03 2022 at 02:57
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Dream Theater for me, been following them since the first album. Like so many others, I agree they’re a shadow of the band they used to be, but they have made some amazing albums - WDADU, I&W, SFAM, SDOIT, Octavarium and BCASL are my favourites. ------------- Heaven is waiting but waiting is Hell |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: November 03 2022 at 03:06
So has Symphony X. Their debut album gets a lot of flak because of the vocalist, but the albums with Russel Allen are great. They don't have as many albums as DT, but they're a very consistent band, consistently good that is. Also the two solo albums of Michael Romeo (War of the Worlds 1 and 2) are great, definitely worth checking out.
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Posted By: Rick1
Date Posted: November 03 2022 at 06:51
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Prog-metal? The best prog bands incorporate metal into their palettes - not ram it down our throats. Even the instrumental bridge midway through Henry Cow's 'Living in the Heart of the Beast' qualifies them. I saw Dream Theatre (sic) in 2011, one of a tiny handful of bands I walked out early on (along with Dire Straits...)
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Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: November 03 2022 at 06:58
Who's ramming it down your throat? Exaggerating much? The poll already has a "neither" option. No need to express your hatred further.
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Posted By: Rick1
Date Posted: November 03 2022 at 07:29
| It's not hatred as such but I struggle to think of any band in this 'genre' that has anything of interest to offer. It's as if 'metal guitar' somehow papers over a lack of ideas and to go for something that is more commercially acceptable. Sun O))) for instance seemed to offer more interesting approaches within the genre without playing to the crowd. I still found Dream Theater unbearable and I resent them for the hype that surrounded them and that I was daft enough to pay good money to see them! |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: November 03 2022 at 07:34
That's fine. Thanks for explaining. When I discovered Dream Theater in the 90s, they were a breath of fresh air. Most progressive metal I listened back then was more than welcome. DT has a few albums I struggle with as well, they're either predictable, or uneven, especially later day DT.
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Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: November 03 2022 at 07:59
Symphony X for me. Love the comments that say they have nothing to offer other than loud metal guitars. LMFAO  -------------  https://rateyourmusic.com/~siLLy_puPPy |
Posted By: Rick1
Date Posted: November 03 2022 at 08:13
| Horses for courses! |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: November 03 2022 at 08:15
I googled it to see what it means. I learn something every day.
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Posted By: essexboyinwales
Date Posted: November 03 2022 at 11:20
Can’t disagree with that! ------------- Heaven is waiting but waiting is Hell |
Posted By: Archisorcerus
Date Posted: November 04 2022 at 03:30
Cool that SX is garnering more votes! Kudos to the Odvin guy who created this poll; whoever he is.  ------------- 
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Posted By: Archisorcerus
Date Posted: November 04 2022 at 03:45
There's a both option there. That Odvin guy seems like an angelic person. Just a gut feeling.  -------------
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Posted By: Jared
Date Posted: November 04 2022 at 04:29
I voted for both. I've been lucky enough to see Symph X live twice and they are truly awesome, although in fairness they don't get as many spins these days than they did 15 years ago. I don't listen to as much PM these days, but I have undying respect for SX's artistry and technical skills...
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Posted By: bardberic
Date Posted: November 04 2022 at 17:40
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Symphony X.... no contest. Like not even close. They can't compare.
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Posted By: siLLy puPPy
Date Posted: November 04 2022 at 19:08
 Well said. Symphony X seems to be a "musician's" band. Dream Theater has crafted some excellent albums but has fallen into the rut of stuck in a rut. Symphony X just takes all the prog metal dynamics to its logical conclusion and personally i find the band to be extremely adept in about every way.------------- https://rateyourmusic.com/~siLLy_puPPy |