This album is amazing!!!!!!!

The best they've done since "Six Degrees...". Love the album and this is what a special edition should look like! Not just one random bonus or demo track.

Very good album in my opinion. It's quickly risen to be one of my favorites of Dream Theater.

On the cover, the mouse has no shadow

Bought it today ;3 Starting the listening... NOW!

Great album, though there aren't exactly any surprises here, and its far from their best. But 'The Count of Tuscany' is one hell of an epic song...

Perfect...this album is absolutely perfect, i love it! Specialy the first cover track...it's my all favorite time song! The almighty Stargazer...from my hero Ronnie James Dio, from Rainbow era!

R.I.P. Dio!

You will always live in our souls and our hearts!

Heavy Metal will never die! \m/

So far this album is holding up well, but I must say Tyr's cover of "Stargazer" is better...

Written by abacinatee on 19.09.2011 at 20:08

So far this album is holding up well, but I must say Tyr's cover of "Stargazer" is better...

I like both, but the singing of TYR cover is a bit "mechanized", i mean, that's a bit mixed! i like the rest, but the singing ...bah

Pretty polarizing - it has two absolutely bland slower numbers ("Wither" and "The Best Of Times"), three quite mood-dependant long songs ("Nightmare", "Rite", and "Shattered Fortress") and once again a great epic to close it. Stargazer is probably the best cover they ever did though, Rainbow's 70's style fits them well.

It's a shame because I find this band to be great instrumentally. But the singing and the lyrics are just so... gay.

For me, this is DT's weakest effort, although I don't think it's a bad album, but I've heard so much better from these guys; I rated it an 8 for the 3 cds version of the album (album + covers + instrumentals). BTW, the instrumentals sound surprisingly good.

Written by [user id=17278] on 02.05.2012 at 00:52

For me, this is DT's weakest effort, although I don't think it's a bad album, but I've heard so much better from these guys; I rated it an 8 for the 3 cds version of the album (album + covers + instrumentals). BTW, the instrumentals sound surprisingly good.

I like this album, has a "Rush" feel to it more so than any of there other works.

Written by tea[m]ster on 02.05.2012 at 03:01

Written by [user id=17278] on 02.05.2012 at 00:52

For me, this is DT's weakest effort, although I don't think it's a bad album, but I've heard so much better from these guys; I rated it an 8 for the 3 cds version of the album (album + covers + instrumentals). BTW, the instrumentals sound surprisingly good.

I like this album, has a "Rush" feel to it more so than any of there other works.

I find their debut to have the biggest Rush feel to it.

Rites of Passage's the best!

Written by [user id=34158] on 28.05.2010 at 07:21

Very good album in my opinion. It's quickly risen to be one of my favorites of Dream Theater.

And... 6?

Performance - 10
Songwriting - 5 ( conglomerates of solos - Not songs )
Originality - 5 ( the old schemes from the previous albums + inappropriate and unnecessary influences - blast beat )
Production - 5 (The sound of instruments is digitally aligned = broken. The dynamics and the depth are missing.)

There is quality and innovation here and there but as an album, it is weak. The production is great though.

This one is pretty great. I don't really understand why Wither and A Rite Of Passage exist, they're pretty average tracks, and the second half of The Count Of Tuscany needed a lot more polish, but A Nightmare To Remember, The Shattered Fortress and The Best Of Times are such masterpieces that I can't rate this album any lower. The deluxe edition has some great covers too, they should have put Lark's Tongue In Aspic or Stargazer in the actual album and removed Wither and A Rite Of Passage, it would have made for an almost perfect release. Overall a very solid 8.5 leaning to a 9.

One of my favs by DT. The Count of Tuscany is a masterpiece, but the album is consistently solid all the way through.

The Shattered Fortress and The Count Of Tuscany alone made this an 8 for me. The rest of it was very hit and miss for me unfortunately. But those 2 tracks were just outstanding

Lovely album. I think it's a concept album and really good one.
My favorite song is propably Wither because it has some deep meaning to me from the time of this record was released.
Best of times guitar solo really takes me somewhere else. Solid 8.5/10

A very good album, but it's like Portnoy decided to take a dump on a few songs just before he left, and stained some pretty good gems. Those rap-like vocals really annoy me, and they don't fit the songs at all imo. Fortunately they are few and far between or else I'd never listen to this album again.

Wither and Count of Tuscany are probably my favorite songs. Though I wish the latter had better lyrics. The music is like this grand opus, but then lyrics are about some random encounter with a dude whom the narrator misjudged.