This album for me would've been a lot stronger if they were a little more disciplined in shortening the length of the tracks. As the saying goes, "sometimes less is more". There are some really nice constructive lead-in riffs, melodies, versus, and choruses here. It's the overly and unnecessarily long bridges that spoil it for me. I know its Dream Theater, but surely not every song they write has to be 4 hours long...

Allow me to be bold here: This album is a masterpiece and should be placed directly alongside 'Images'.

From front-to-back this album is perfect. It is meant to be listened to as a whole, and if you do listen to it as such you will see it's perfection. They keep you enthralled the whole hour. It is 90% heavy (which keeps you interested and moving), 5% slower, prettier parts (which come at just the right time to break-up the onslought of distortion) and the other 5% is 'Stream of Consciousness' (which is a lovey break, fun to sing along with).

Written by Regolith on 24.09.2011 at 20:46

Allow me to be bold here: This album is a masterpiece and should be placed directly alongside 'Images'.

From front-to-back this album is perfect. It is meant to be listened to as a whole, and if you do listen to it as such you will see it's perfection. They keep you enthralled the whole hour. It is 90% heavy (which keeps you interested and moving), 5% slower, prettier parts (which come at just the right time to break-up the onslought of distortion) and the other 5% is 'Stream of Consciousness' (which is a lovey break, fun to sing along with).

I agree, this album PERFECTION.

This album is just Perfect. "This Dying Soul" is a masterpiece, the best song of the Alcoholics Anonymous Suite and the best song by Dream Theater!

Written by Korah on 01.03.2012 at 21:16

This album is just Perfect. "This Dying Soul" is a masterpiece, the best song of the Alcoholics Anonymous Suite and the best song by Dream Theater!

I really like 'This Dying Soul' as well. The particularly angry parts of this album set it apart.

Dream Theater have obviously veered towards the mainstream for the last decade or so, but the idea for such a movement probably came about with the making of 'Train of Thought'. First things first, its ABSOLUTELY FUCKING HEAVY. That may be an exaggeration in some people's eyes, but this is probably the heaviest dream theater album, and supposedly will be, on evidence of their latest album. There is a good deal of variety here, though the riffs and melodies seem to repeat themselves for minutes on end. 'Vacant' in my opinion kind of cuts the flow of the album as a whole-it could have been better as the end of 'Honor thy father'. However, as i gave this an 8 and not a 6 (which i originally considered giving it), the consistency on this album is excellent. The performance of each instrument (particularly with vocals and guitar) never lets up for a single solitary second, and 'As I am' is one of the grooviest tracks i've ever had the pleasure of listening to. I'd say this is the best 21st century dream theater album, but i'm sure some would disagree with that completely.

A masterpiece !

I consider this as their best album!

Out of Dream Theater's first 8 albums... this is my least favourite.

I love the agressive side of DT , this is one of my favorites asides of Images and words , Awake and Metropolis pt.2

I forgot that I actually really enjoy this record. Too long though.

Listened to it today as well. Indeed a bit too long, but definitely one of their few worthwhile ones post-2000.

Written by Renard Solitaire on 10.03.2012 at 17:14

Written by Korah on 01.03.2012 at 21:16

This album is just Perfect. "This Dying Soul" is a masterpiece, the best song of the Alcoholics Anonymous Suite and the best song by Dream Theater!

I really like 'This Dying Soul' as well. The particularly angry parts of this album set it apart.

Heavy Dream Theater = awesome. 'Masterpiece' is not an overstatement.

This album is so awesome that I can't stop listening. Stream Of Consciousness is godlike.

Is the proof you can be prog and harsh at the same time!

Favorite tracks: Endless Sacrifice and IN THE NAME OF GOD. This last one is a great approach into Doom Metal from those guys.

IMHO is not better than Six Degrees (my favorite one from them) but this one also deserves the 10

Re-discovering this album in recent weeks. Deliciously angry and heavy, fucking love the anger on this album. I Especially adore the ironically titled "Honor Thy Father", I'd play that song at my father's funeral.

I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE this record. By far my favorite DT album. I love the heavy side they displayed on this album. Endless Sacrifice is such an underrated song. In my opinion, it is one of DT's best songs.

One of my favourites!

For a while, I thought this album was pretty long and boring. But after giving it another shot during lockdown, I'm sorry for even having these thoughts. I must have listened to it 3 times a day at some point, I completely fell in love with it, most notably with Honor Thy Father and Stream Of Consciousness. Only song I somewhat dislike is Endless Sacrifice, which is pretty odd considering it was 2 years ago one of my favorite DT songs, but I must have listened to it too much because I really feel like it drags on for too long now. Other than that, pretty much a flawless record (yes, even LaBrie rapping). 9.8 or so, just pretty much a 10.

How can you not like the cover ? it's so weird and cool IMO
this is indeed a masterpiece

The one I started with
Will always be one of their best, probably my only DT opinion that is not unpopular.

My favorite Dream Theater album! The only song I don't care for is the opening.


PS. I love both the art and the title!