Top 10 Best Dream Theater Albums

The Top Ten
1 Metropolis Part 2: Scenes from a Memory

Seriously, everything about this album is just too good to be true. Seventy-seven minutes of pure beauty. Not to mention it even has a story to follow. Sure, I might not call it the greatest album of all time. Dark Side of the Moon has that honor. I find it sad that this album will never get the sheer amount of respect it deserves. Dream Theater is, without a doubt, the current gods of music. But sadly, the media don't want to see them for what they are and are calling little teenage boys whose voices haven't even broken and busty women who like to dye their hair pink "Superstars". It just makes me sick.

2 Images and Words

I had never heard about this band, but since they say John Petrucci is such an awesome guitarist and Dream Theater is an innovative band, I had to try it out. Don't be startled by the size of the tracks. You'll be wishing they were triple their size because they are so awesome! If you're into awesome riffs, solos, and keyboarding, that's just it. There's even a legendary bass solo! I just downloaded this album, and I'm already downloading another because Dream Theater won a place in my heart.

Every song on this album is perfect! The recording is very good, and the MP snare is very powerful. Pull Me Under is well placed as the first track because the intro creates a lot of atmosphere. It then switches to Another Day, which is one of my favorite ballads. The refrain is something I never tire of listening to. The solo, I think, is better than Petrucci's - not too fast, but very melodic.

Anyone who has listened to Take The Time has fallen in love with it. Surrounded starts with just piano and voice, and then gradually expands to include all the instruments before returning to piano and voice. Metropolis pt.1 is the best song in the world, the most progressive on the entire album. Under A Glass Moon is almost power metal, very fast and challenging (of course). Wait For Sleep, composed only of piano and voice, made me cry when I was sad. Finally, Learning To Live is very well done, especially at the end, where there is a bass solo, then overlaid by a melodic Ibanez.

3 Train of Thought

It's not as progressive as other albums, but it's still an absolute masterpiece and by far my favourite DT album. It's super heavy, and there isn't a single moment where it feels dull. This is one of those albums where you cannot do anything but sit there and listen to the music. Anybody, whether or not you are into heavy music, should give this one a thorough listen. It was the album that introduced a whole new side of metal, and it changed the way I listen to music, and it still does every time I put the CD in.

4 Octavarium

Next to Supper's Ready by Genesis, the title track might be my favorite song ever, and I'm not even big on metal. I also loved it before I was really a fan of DT as a whole, which really says something about how good it is. The rest of the album is also very solid, especially in the context of the abstract concept of the whole thing regarding the number 8 and all the little Easter eggs.

Some of DT's albums are arguably more consistent, but the rest of this album is definitely still good enough to put it in the conversation for the band's best album. The Root of All Evil and Panic Attack are amazing, and These Walls and Never Enough are pretty underrated!

5 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

My personal favorite Dream Theater album, there's just so much greatness on it: Misunderstood, Disappear, The Great Debate, and, of course, the seven-part 42-minute suite that is Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, with my personal favorite, The Glass Prison. This album is criminally underrated, in my opinion. But honestly, is it really a surprise that Scenes From A Memory would take the top spot?

Seven?! Really?! This is, in my opinion, their third-best album, after Scenes From a Memory and Octavarium. When I first saw that this had a 40-minute song, I was too scared and overwhelmed to spend the time listening to this masterpiece. But 6DOIT is so easy to listen to. Every song is pure gold. It's worth your time.

6 Black Clouds & Silver Linings

If I had to pick just one release among everything I've heard so far, this would be it. Every song is different from the next, showcasing superb songwriting. You get a fine mix of rock (and some metal) elements in one package. The instrumental version is absolutely phenomenal, offering 70+ minutes of almost classical music, ideal just before sleep. Get this record if you love atmospheric music and if you're ready to take your time to get addicted and hypnotized by music, preparing for a voyage of the grandest kind. Also, check the second disc, which includes their version of Stargazer, a Queen medley (appreciated by May as the best Queen cover), and To Tame A Land.

7 Awake

It does not surprise me that Awake is only at number 8 (as I write this). When you first listen to it, this album is not nearly as accessible as, say, Images or Metropolis pt2. It takes a few run-throughs to realize what a masterpiece the band has come up with. I actually believe vocally this is James' best album. He really adds color to the dark tone, and combined with some awesome lyrics, after a while, you really understand what Dream Theater is trying to show. In my opinion, their best album, and undoubtedly top 3 with Images and Metropolis Part 2.

8 A Dramatic Turn of Events

Frankly, this might just be a masterpiece. It takes a few listens perhaps, but give it a chance, and it WILL reward you. It definitely needs to be high up on a list - even though it's very difficult to list Dream Theater albums in an ordered sense, as they are all pretty much awesome, just in different ways. I can name less than perfect ones, like Falling into Infinity and Once in a Lifetime, but even they are not exactly terrible.

This is the album that really got me into Dream Theater. So many epic songs, and not a bad song on the entire album. Most albums nowadays you're lucky to get more than two good songs, but practically every track is a masterpiece. Epic is the only way to describe this album and this band. It is now almost a toss-up between DT and Rush as to who is my all-time favorite band.

9 Systematic Chaos

This album was when I truly fell in love with Dream Theater. There isn't a single bad song in here. It starts with In the Presence of Enemies, featuring amazing rhythm breaks. The more "pop" song Forsaken is followed by Constant Motion, a song that is so not-Dream Theater yet amazing (the drumming in this song is incredible, in my humble opinion). Dark Eternal Night comes straight after, getting you to bang your head without noticing. Both songs are absolutely mind-breaking. Repentance comes next and is a beautiful song in its own right, helping you to chill. Ministry of Lost Souls, which comes next, was actually my favorite song for a long time!

10 Dream Theater

An amazing and memorable album, with a lot of new flavors and experiments. False Awakening Suite is just the ultimate opener, The Bigger Picture is beautiful, and Illumination Theory is up there with Six Degrees and Octavarium!

Incredible album. A progressive gem, as well as a metal meltdown that we don't see enough from Dream Theater. The Enemy Inside, Behind the Veil, The Bigger Picture, Along for the Ride, really, every song on here is among their best of all time.

Masterpiece with incredible musicianship from all band members, especially Mike Mangini. Really pushes the boundaries technically and has some great riffs like Enigma Machine and The Enemy Inside.

The Contenders
11 The Astonishing

It is really hard for me to choose a favorite album by these unbelievable artists. Scenes from a Memory was my favorite one for a long time. I absolutely adore Octavarium and Six Degrees. After hearing The Astonishing several times and then seeing it live, I can honestly say that it is the most creative, organic, and musical piece of art I've ever heard from a band like them. This album really showed me that these guys are literally capable of anything.

The production of the show was incredible, as well as the overall flow of the album. Each leitmotif presented in this album complements the characters and situations impeccably well. Thank God for this band. So far, this is turning into my new favorite record of theirs.

12 Falling Into Infinity

A very good album. Consistently great songs with lots of replay value. The keyboards have a different, more upfront sound, which is really good. It has a beautiful, simplistic feel. Definitely one of, if not the best, Dream Theater albums. Also very underrated.

This is criminally underrated and easily better than every Dream Theater album released after SDOIT. It is such a relaxing album. Sure, it is restrained by DT standards, but that's what makes it special. It isn't the most consistent, but the best songs on this album are among the best that DT has to offer. I advise everyone to take another look at this hidden gem.

13 Distance Over Time

This album is great, definitely their best album since they have Mike Mangini as drummer. At Wit's End is one of my new favorite songs by them. In my opinion, I actually think they're getting better and better with each album since Mike Mangini became the drummer. I actually really liked The Astonishing, and the self-titled album, especially Illumination Theory. Honestly, I like all their albums. I even like Falling Into Infinity. I think it's underrated. It's not their best, but it's not as bad as people make it out to be.

Although this is a great album, it should rank around midway because of the sound shift, best described as a shift from their grassroots original music style to something more contemporary and mass-appealing. There were definitely some outstanding tracks on the album, but it isn't nearly as unique and creative as some of the music on some of the other albums (just my two cents).

14 A View from the Top of the World
15 When Dream and Day Unite

This and Falling Into Infinity are incredibly underrated, while Octavarium and Train Of Thought are overrated, in my opinion. Especially Octavarium was extremely cheesy and poppy (except for the title track, which I love).

But let's talk about When Dream And Day Unite: The songs just sound "fresh" and alive, not as overproduced as, for example, Octavarium. This is Dream Theater in its purest form! The playing may not be as perfect as on other albums, but still... When Dream And Day Unite has soul!

I think this album greatly portrays their 80's sound. It's a very underrated album. I liked the whole album. My favorite songs have got to be The Killing Hand, Ytse Jam, Afterlife, and Status Seeker. They have momentum, build-up, soul, and dynamics. I like it. Of course, James' voice sounded shrill on the non-remastered album. I don't know why, maybe it's my player, but James' voice never sounded better than on the Awake album. That's his best in my opinion.

BAdd New Item