The Unofficial DTF Album Ranking Project

[425]

Someone let me know if something like this exists without my knowledge, but I thought this would be an interesting idea of something to do here and I thought I'd take the initiative of running it.

What I want to do, basically, is try to get a general idea for how the DT side of the forum as a whole ranks the band's albums.

This is inspired partially by Destiny of Chaos's DT the League which achieves the same thing with songs (and is much more meticulous than this thread will be so props) and lonestar's top epics thread that he ran over in general music a while back (which inspired much of my format). It was ultimately inspired, though, by the realization in the overrated/underrated albums/songs threads that our understanding of where the forum stands on the particular DT albums is nebulous—we don't know too well at all.



What I'm asking you to do is simple. Rank the DT studio albums #1 through #12.

You're on DTF, so you should know how to rank things and even have a mysterious yet compelling urge to do so. However, I have to ask that you just stick to the 12 studio albums—we just won't include things like A Change of Seasons and Cleaning Out the Closet on this. I also have to ask that you stick to the original tracklistings of the albums. I know some of you have custom versions of the albums where you've mixed in the demo tracks to Images and Words and Falling Into Infinity, and I think that's great, but for this exercise you should rank those albums as though they are the official versions, not your custom versions. If you don't have an album, simply leave it off the list.

Basically, after an amount of time has passed and everybody who wants to has put in their rankings, I'll compile them to create a forum composite. It'll simply be a system where I award an album 12 points for being #1 on somebody's list, 11 points for being #2, 10 points for being #3, and so on down to 1 point for being #12, and then I'll rank the albums by the average number of points received (total number of points received divided by number of voters), which should hopefully give us a good idea of the general forum consensus ranking!

I will try and give people enough time on this to put some thought into their rankings and relisten to some albums if necessary, so don't feel like you have to rush. If you want to participate but don't have a ranking ready right now, just post in here saying that you're interested but need some time and then either post again or edit your original post when your list is ready. Hopefully y'all like this idea and a lot of people participate so we can get a solid idea of how the forum feels about DT's albums!

[bl5150]

How does this fit in with the other thread?

https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=352.msg1920248#msg1920248

Do you wish to start again from scratch ,or use that thread back to the time of DT12 release......etc..

[425]

Honestly just thought we'd start over here. That thread has been around for so long that it dates back to pre-DT12 as you alluded to. Some people have ranked multiple times in that thread, some people's rankings in that thread may have been last done a year or two ago and therefore might not  be accurate... I'd like to see as best as we can a snapshot of the forum's opinions as of right now. Besides, if you posted over there and want to use exactly what you've posted over there, it's as simple as copy-pasting that list over into this thread (or I would even accept it if someone just said "look at my list on page __ of the other thread").

[bl5150]

Okey dokey.  Emphasis added to denote gaps in rating.


1.Images and Words


2 Dream Theater
3. A Dramatic Turn Of Events
4. Awake
5 When Dream and Day Unite


6 Falling Into Infinity
7 SDOIT
8 Octavarium
9 Scenes From A Memory
10 BC&SL




11 Systematic Chaos
12 Train of Thought

I haven't listened to a few in some time but I would only expect the bottom half to change around a little if I did.

[Outcrier]

1. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
2. Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory
3. Images and Words
4. Awake
5. Train of Thought
6. Octavarium
7. A Dramatic Turn of Events
8. Falling Into Infinity
9. Dream Theater
10. When Dream and Day Unite
11. Systematic Chaos
12. Black Clouds & Silver Linings

[Prog Snob]

Nice to see Six Degrees at the top of your list!   


1. Images and Words
2. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
3. Metropolis Part 2
4. Awake
5. A Dramatic Turn Of Events
6. DT12
7. Train of Thought
8. Octavarium
9. Falling Into Infinity
10. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
11. Systematic Chaos
12. When Dream And Day Unite

[CharlesPL]

1. Images and Words
2. Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory
3. Awake
4. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

5. When Dream and Day Unite
6. Octavarium
7. Dream Theater
8. A Dramatic Turn of Events
9. Falling Into Infinity

10. Train of Thought



11. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
12. Systematic Chaos

Number 2-3, 8-9 change often.
5-6 (seldom)

[BlobVanDam]

1. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
2. Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory
3. Images and Words
4. Falling Into Infinity
5. Train of Thought
6. Octavarium


7. Systematic Chaos
8. Awake
9. Black Clouds & Silver Linings

10. A Dramatic Turn of Events
11. Dream Theater
12. When Dream and Day Unite


It's funny how easy it is for me to rank the top half of their discography, and how that's pretty much set at this point, but past that there's a pretty big divide for me and there's not much separating them for me. The only certainty out of them as WDADU permanently occupying bottom place.

[Zydar]

1. Images And Words
2. Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes From a Memory
3. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence

4. Awake
5. Falling Into Infinity
6. Dream Theater
7. A Dramatic Turn Of Events

8. Octavarium
9. Train Of Thought
10. Systematic Chaos
11. Black Clouds And Silver Linings
12. When Dream And Day Unite

[Polarbear]

Right now, my list looks like this:

1. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence
2. Scenes From a Memory
3. Awake
4. Images And Words

5. A Dramatic Turn Of Events
6. Train Of Thought
7. Systematic Chaos

8. Black Clouds And Silver Linings
9. Falling Into Infinity
10. Octavarium
11. Dream Theater
12. When Dream And Day Unite

8 and 9 change places very often...

[The Presence of Frenemies]

1. Images and Words
2. Scenes From a Memory
3. Systematic Chaos
4. Train of Thought
5. Falling Into Infinity
6. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
7. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
8. Awake
9. Octavarium
10. Dream Theater
11. A Dramatic Turn of Events
12. When Dream and Day Unite

First three albums are essentially tied. Tempted to put SC first just to give it a boost, but can't quite justify. Also, FII's made a big jump over the past two years, would've been clear 9th out of the 10 MP albums when he left.

[BlackInk]

Purely on song-based statistics, this is how i rank them:

1. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
2. Train of Thought
3. Systematic Chaos
4. Octavarium
5. A Dramatic Turn of Events
6. Images & Words
7. Metropolis - Part 2: Scenes From a Memory
8. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
9. Awake
10. Falling Into Infinity
11. Dream Theater
12. When Dream & Day Unite

[The Stray Seed]

Here we go!!!!!!!!! (with comments based on personal opinions xD)

1. Images and Words (My all time favorite album)
2. Awake (Absolute Masterpiece no.2)
3. Falling Into Infinity (Has 4 killer tracks in it)
4. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (Features the best epic ever recorded in a DT album)
5. Scenes From a Memory (Features some of the greatest and catchiest melodies in DT discography)
6. DT12 (What a solid album! A great return to the splendours of the past)
7. When Dream And Day Unite (So much creativity and potentialities!!!)
8. Octavarium (I swear this was not on purpose anyway: DAT title track)
9. A Dramatic Turn Of Events (All tracks are actually very good, but then there's Breaking All Illusions, and you just... fly)
10. Train of Thought (Not really my piece of cake, but still... man if the guys were on fire on this one!)
11. Systematic Chaos (Something feels a little bit too mainstrem-oriented... somehow. An album that is saved by the epic)
12. Black Clouds & Silver Linings (yeah, it's the last, but I'll just tell you this: it's still a thousand miles better than anything most bands have ever come up with IMO)

Aaaaand it's done! =D

[BlackInk]

12. Black Clouds & Silver Linings (yeah, it's the last, but I'll just tell you this: it's still a thousand miles better than anything most bands have ever come up with IMO)

This just makes me feel like you should listen to more stuff.

[The Stray Seed]

I'm always open to any suggestion!!

[Mladen]

Scenes from a memory
Images and words
Awake
A Dramatic turn of events
Six degrees of inner turbulence
Systematic chaos
Black clouds and silver linings
Train of thought
Dream Theater
Octavarium
When dream and day unite
Falling into infinity

Great idea, by the way. 

[JediKnight1969]

1. Metropolis - Part 2: Scenes From a Memory
2. Images & Words
3. A Dramatic Turn of Events
4. Awake
5. Falling Into Infinity
6. Systematic Chaos
7. Train of Thought
8. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
9. Octavarium
10. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
11. Dream Theater
12. When Dream & Day Unite

[?]

Nice idea, it'll be interesting to see the results!

1. Awake
2. Images & Words
3. A Dramatic Turn of Events
4. When Dream & Day Unite
5. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
6. Scenes from a Memory
7. Train of Thought
8. Falling into Infinity
9. Dream Theater
10. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
11. Octavarium
12. Systematic Chaos

[Another_Won]

I have a question.  It's certainly personal preference but, do you rank each song and the album is ranked on the sum of those?  Or  . . . do you look at the album as a whole?  Because my rankings are very different depending on the approach.

For example, SFAM is an awesome album as a whole and it would rank high.  But when I look at it by the individual songs there are some that are just so-so for me which brings the ranking down when using the individual songs as a criteria.

[BlobVanDam]

I have a question.  It's certainly personal preference but, do you rank each song and the album is ranked on the sum of those?  Or  . . . do you look at the album as a whole?  Because my rankings are very different depending on the approach.

For example, SFAM is an awesome album as a whole and it would rank high.  But when I look at it by the individual songs there are some that are just so-so for me which brings the ranking down when using the individual songs as a criteria.

You could do it however you want, but I'd just go by the overall albums. Don't overthink it.

[BlackInk]

The ranking I posted here is made in the first way you described. The only way to do it with aspergers really

[Evermind]

1. Metropolis pt.2: Scenes from a Memory
2. Images and Words
3. Train of Thought
4. Systematic Chaos
5. Awake
6. Octavarium
7. A Dramatic Turn of Events
8. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
9. Falling Into Infinity
10. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
11. Dream Theater
12. When Day and Dream Unite

[hefdaddy42]

1: Images & Words
2: Awake
3: Scenes From A Memory
4: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
5: A Dramatic Turn of Events
6. Dream Theater
7: Train of Thought
8: Falling Into Infinity
9: Octavarium
10: Systematic Chaos
11: Black Clouds & Silver Linings
12: When Dream And Day Unite

[bosk1]

1.  Six Degrees
2.  Scenes From A Memory
3.  A Dramatic Turn of Events
4.  Dream Theater
5.  Awake
6.  Images & Words
7.  Octavarium
8.  Systematic Chaos
9.  Falling Into Infinity
10.  Train of Thought
11.  Black Clouds
12.  When Dream And Day Unite

[Another_Won]

Ok, I just started with the ranking based on songs then moved albums up/down based on their strength/weakness as a whole album.  Yes, completely over-thought it

1. Scenes From A Memory
2. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
3. Train of Thought
4. Images & Words
5. A Dramatic Turn of Events
6. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
7. Awake
8. Octavarium
9. Dream Theater
10. Systematic Chaos
11. Falling Into Infinity
12. When Dream And Day Unite

[emtee]

1) Awake
2) I&W
3) FII
4) SDoiT
5) SFaM
6) WDaDU
7) BC&SL
8) ToT
9) SC
10) 8V
11) DT12
12) ADToE

[Zyzzyva17]

Perfect in my mind:
1. A Dramatic Turn of Events
2. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
3. Images and Words

Really great, but not perfect:
4. Train of Thought
5. Falling into Infinity

Great, but not really great:
6. Dream Theater
7. Octavarium
8. Scenes from a Memory
9. Systematic Chaos

Good, but not great:
10. When Dream and Day Unite
11. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
12. Awake

[Dublagent66]

Updated from last post.  ADTOE moved up a notch to #7.  8VM slipped to #8.  Edited again on 3/3/15.  SC moved up to #9 spot.  BC&SL slipped to #10.

1. SDOIT
2. I&W
3. SFAM
4. Awake
5. FII
6. ToT
7. ADTOE
8. 8VM
9. SC
10. BC&SL
11. DT12
12. WDADU


-AAgent66

[JiM-Xtreme]

1) SFAM
2) I&W
3) BC&SL
4) 6DoIT
5) 8V
6) ToT
7) Awake
8) FII
9) ADToE
10) WD&DU
11) SC
12) DT

[RoeDent]

1. A Dramatic Turn of Events
2. Images & Words
3. Scenes from a Memory
4. Octavarium
5. Awake
6. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (by coincidence)
7. Dream Theater
8. Falling Into Infinity
9. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
10. Systematic Chaos
11. Train of Thought
12. When Dream and Day Unite

[JediKnight1969]

1. Metropolis pt.2: Scenes from a Memory
2. Images and Words
...
10. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
11. Dream Theater
12. When Day and Dream Unite

We agree on the best 2 and the worst 3 

[erwinrafael]

1. Awake
2. Dream Theater
3. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
4. Scenes from a Memory
5. A Dramatic Turn of Events
6. Train of Thought
7. Images and Words
8. Octavarium
9. Falling Into Infinity
10. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
11. Systematic Chaos
12. When Dream and Day Unite

Why is it that when we do a poll, DT (and the songs in the album) always do much better than when we ask people to actually post their votes? The vocal posts always seems to contradict the silent votes.

[Evermind]

1. Metropolis pt.2: Scenes from a Memory
2. Images and Words
...
10. Black Clouds and Silver Linings
11. Dream Theater
12. When Day and Dream Unite

We agree on the best 2 and the worst 3 

Yeah, that's pretty cool!

[Randaran]

1. Awake
2. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
3. Train of Thought
4. Images and Words
5. Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From a Memory
6. When Dream and Day Unite
7. Systematic Chaos
8. A Dramatic Turn of Events
9. Octavarium
10. Falling Into Infinity
11. Dream Theater
12. Black Clouds and Silver Linings

[Podaar]

1. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
1a. Awake
1b. Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory
2. A Dramatic Turn of Events
2a. Images and Words
3. Dream Theater
4. Train of Thought
5. Falling Into Infinity
6. Octavarium
7. Systematic Chaos


11. Black Clouds & Silver Linings
12. When Dream and Day Unite