Dream Theater

Recently I was at newbury comics for the first time. I must say, it's a really cool place! I was intrigued by the vinyl section, because I collect records and It seemed interesting that a comic store would sell such a thing, of course I soon learned that newbury comics has a HUGE selection of music. Anyway, I noticed dream theater's systematic chaos album for 10 bucks. It happened to be cheaper than the CD which was 12, which seems odd, because brand new vinyl is generally a little more than CD's. Anyway, I bought it and I'm loving it! I had never listened to dream theater before but I heard they are a kind of progressive metal/rock type of deal.

I'm listening to the album right now and it's great! So...what are your thoughts on the band? favorite albums or songs or something like that?

Never listened to them? Check out the song Panic Attack, and the Album, Images and Words, that's a good place to start with them.

I like them because their music is very intricate and fun to really listen to. They are all excellent musicians.

I agree, their music is very...involving? It's complex and they play a variety of styles. They can go from metal-esque dark eternal night to the much more mellow repentence seamlessly. Some of the lyrics are good, but others I feel are like, stereo-typical fantasy based metal lyrics. I will definately be checking out more of their work

Dream theather is amazing I love the songs Forsaken, Dark Eternal Night, and Constant Motion. I really haven't listend to alot of they're stuff but from what I have heard I can only say amazing.

They have some OK stuff here and there, but they also have their fare share of terribly boring material. Their latest album is just plain lazy at points, with recycled ideas and riffs from some of their earlier albums (and I'm not talking about The Shattered Fortress) and some terribly constructed songs. I personally like most of their early works, but most of their newer material ranges from great to painfully bad.

agree, their music is very...involving? It's complex and they play a variety of styles.

Its known as Progressive.
As for as DT goes, these days its a bit hit-and-miss. I really did like alot of their earlier stuff (Awake is an amazing record!!) but they have tendancy to be a bit pretentious these days. Also LeBrie's voice is certainly an aquired taste. I dont mind him much but he can get annoying. Petrucci is really an amazing guitarist.

Mike is a drummer god.

haha "I are like Portnoy!"
Ehh hes pretty good but he, like the rest of the band these days, fancies showing off.

I recently picked up Our Greatest Hit and 21 other Cool Songs. Really good.

Ah, Systematic Chaos? It's good, but definetely go for some of their earler stuff, Images And Words and Scenes from a Memory. Those in my opinion are the best, I haven't listened to Awake, but I'm sure it's probably great too. If you're more of a person who likes Dream theater's more metal music, Octavarium and Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence would be other good albums to listen to... though Scenes from a Memory can also be that category...

My favorite personally would have to be Images and Words, definetely their pinnacle to me, the vocals that James LaBrie pulls off, brought me high when I first heard them haha, a pity he ruptured those vocal cords of his, he said they're back to normal, but I don't think they're as good as they used to be.

Anyway, if you like those musicians, they do play in other bands as well, Mike Portnoy plays in Transatlantic, he also plays with Neal Morse, and he plays with John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess in Liquid Tension Experiment. He's REALLY good on those drums!

If you like progressive metal altogether there's other artists such as Ayreon, Shadow Gallery and Riverside... And if you like progressive in the whole there's Peter Gabriel's Genesis, early Yes, Rush, Marillion... Those bands play different styles of progressive rock. They're not metal, but they play great music too.

Of course, the Progarchives would be the best place to go to learn about this stuff.

Originally Posted by zeldask8r

I agree, their music is very...involving? It's complex and they play a variety of styles. They can go from metal-esque dark eternal night to the much more mellow repentence seamlessly. Some of the lyrics are good, but others I feel are like, stereo-typical fantasy based metal lyrics. I will definately be checking out more of their work

I personally am not a lyric man. Images and Words was a magnificent album, if you haven't heard that, check it out NOW.

Dream Theater is full of very good musicians. I just don't find their progressive technique very involving compared to other progressive outfits like Rush and Coheed and Cambria. It's a lot harder for me to get into a Dream Theater song for some reason. I guess there's just less hooks, less contours. Their songs are complex and progressive, just not quite complex and progressive enough to keep my attention. They have a song or two that's an exception to this, though.

Originally Posted by Zoltar

Mike is a drummer god.

Can't write a good song to save his life though.

My favourite Album is "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" what with the titular song being my Favourite song that is no surprise. "Scenes From a memory " Was very good -though is a bit confusing at first- ."Images and words" is undoubtedly amazing. I never really liked Awake as a whole it felt a little choppy. "Systematic Chaos" was good, but not as much as the rest of their work, it lacked any defining song and was kinda dull. "Black Clouds & Silver Linings" their newest album is a must by for people who are already fans if only for the end of the AA series. Though Whither in the same album was amazing, one of my personal favourites. Now "Octavarium" I can say nothing bad about, I have a soft spot for it. it was my first Dream Theater Album (BTW, they just happen to be my favourite band) and I loved it since the opening note so I am a bit biased in that regard.

I am a big fan of "when dream and day unite", specially the songs "Only a Matter of time" and "Light Fuse and get away". The titular song in "A Change of Seasons" is good enough to buy the entire CD, and "Falling into Infinity" is a pretty solid CD.

So yeah, they're good but the type of music is not really for everyone. They my Favourite band so I am a fairly biased source.

Pretty much I love everything Dream Theater does. Being a musician myself I love analyzing the musical structure. When I first heard them it was probably 3 years ago and I turned to my brother and said ", Jesse......WHO IS THIS????" and he told me and I've listened to them ever since.

My favorite Album is probably a mix of Awake and Scenes from a Memory. Its almost becoming a life-style now. I listen to them every day as constantly as I can and drum their stuff on tables and stuff wherever I go. lol There hasn't been a thing they've done that I haven't liked. I'd have to say that Black Clouds and Silver Linings completely blew my mind. The Count of Tuscany is by far my favorite of the six.

And I mean, the Twelve-Step suite...Come on! thats the most fantastic thing to ever happen anywhere! lol And my colleague recently showed me that Scenes from a Memory through Octavarium when in their chronologically released order run smoothly together ending a beginning the same when in between them. Its amazing! I mean, who does that?! its SO cool. I think I have a crush on them. lol

boring fake progressive band with very skilled instrument players who cant write decent songs or decent lyrics.

I can tell you about actual metal bands that are actually progressive.

I kind of lost respect for Dream Theater after Octavarium, but then I went to see them live in Copenhagen, and it was a really cool show. One of the best concerts I've been to this year. So they've regained some points in my book. They've released too much crap to be a favourite of mine, though. If you like Dream Theater you should listen to Circus Maximus. Their music is similar to Dream Theater's only ten times better.

Links:
Circus Maximus - Glory of the Empire
Circus Maximus - Sin

One of the finer things coming from Perucci

Dream Theater used to be my favorite band. Everything after Scenes From a Memory absolutely blows, except for maybe In the Presence of Enemies from Systematic Chaos.

Awake and Images & Words just soothe and heal like no other albums can.