Dream Theater album ranking and rating score

[Progmaniac1988]

I'm not sure if this has already been started, but I was wondering where everyone falls on this. Ranking every album but Also giving it a score from 1 to 10. 1 being unlistenable, 2 bad album, 3 disappointing, 4 below average, 5 average, 6 above average, 7 good, 8 great, 9 amazing, 10 masterpiece

If this was done already my apologies! I looked around and did not see anything with score and rank together.

1 - scenes from a memory - 10
2 - six degrees of inner turbulence 10
3 - images and words - 10
4 - octavarium - 9.5
5 - train of thought - 9
6 - awake - 9
7 - black clouds and silver linings - 8.5
8 - a dramatic turn of events - 8.5
9 - systematic chaos - 8
10 - falling into infinity - 7.5
11 - a view from the top of the world - 7.5
12 - distance over time - 7
13 - dream theater - 7
14 - the astonishing - 7
15 - when dream and day unite - 6

[Dream Team]

They're too scrunched together on a 10 point scale.

100 Images
  98 Scenes
  95 ADToE
  92 Dream Theater
  90 Six Degrees
  86 WDaDU
  81 View
  79 DoT
  77 Black Clouds
  75 Awake
  73 Octavarium
  69 Train of Thought
  59 Systematic Chaos
  48 Falling into Infinity

I left The Astonishing off because it's so different, it could be anywhere from 85 to 100 for me.

[Setlist Scotty]

If this was done already my apologies! I looked around and did not see anything with score and rank together.

Given this forum has been around since 2007, you can be sure that this has been done at least a few times, although I don't have the time to search for them. But I don't think it's been done for at least a couple albums, and people's opinions can change as well as who is active here and who isn't, so doing it all over again isn't a bad thing, IMO.

I do have the albums ranked up through the s/t, based on my individual rankings of the songs (on a scale of 0-10) and percentage of space they take up on their respective album. According to the scores, here's how they rate for me:
WDaDU: 769.82
BCaSL: 767.73
SDoIT: 730.45 (disc 1 – 876.39, disc 2 – 541.88)
SFaM: 730.15
s/t: 725.40
IaW: 719.91
Awake: 707.25
ToT: 687.59
ADToE: 678.68
8v: 675.99
FII: 639.40
SC: 636.12
Majesty demos: 563.06

Would probably be good for me to go back and reassess how I rate each song and of course the latest 3 albums plus Cleaning Out the Closet, but that's where the rankings stand from about 3.5 years ago.

[TheBarstoolWarrior]

What is interesting to me is that the way you describe the rankings changes my list of favorite DT albums slightly. This will probably be the most disagreed-with list on the forum, but hey, I'll give it a go:

1. Images & Words - 10
2. A Dramatic Turn of Events - 9.5
3. Distance Over Time - 9
4. DT12 - 9
5. View - 8.5
6. Scenes - 8.5 (Actually prefer listening to View but I acknowledge the greatness of Scenes is about a bit more than how much I enjoy spinning it)
7. Six Degrees - 8
8. Awake - 7
9. Train of Thought - 7
10. Black Cloud & Silver Linings - 4
11. Octavarium - 3
12. Systematic Chaos - 3
13. Falling Into Infinity -3
14. When Dream and Day Unite - 2
15. The Astonishing - 1 (I think it's a better album that WDADU but I truly cannot listen to this album)

[TAC]

6. Scenes - 8.5 (Actually prefer listening to View but I acknowledge the greatness of Scenes is about a bit more than how much I enjoy spinning it)

Huh..I was having this exact same thought this morning. I usually go I&W 1 and Scenes 2, but I've definitely played ADTOE way more than Scenes and was considering jumping Scenes in my standings.

[Jamesman42]

SDOIT = 10
8VM = 10
TOT = 9.5
ADTOE = 9
IaW = 9
Awake = 8.5
BCSL = 7
SC = 7
D/T = 6.5
DT12 = 6.5
FII = 5
SFAM = 5
View = 4.5
WDADU = 4

TA is unranked because it hasn't had proper listens at all.

[jammindude]

Octavarium - 10
IAW - 10
SFAM - 10
Awake - 9
DT12 - 8
TOT - 7
View - 7
SDOIT - 7
ADTOE - 7
FII - 6
WDADU - 5
D/T - 4
The Astonishing - 3
BCASL - 3
Systematic Chaos - 2

[brakkum]

I never would have expected this amount of variety, but it's cool not everyone is just a I&W/SFAM simp.
I'm going to try and do a ranking tomorrow, I'm afraid of how hard it will be

[DTwwbwMP]

1. Images & Words - 10
2. Scenes From A Memory - 10
3. Train of Thought - 9.5
4. Awake - 9.5
5. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - 9
6. A Dramatic Turn of Events - 8.5
7. Falling Into Infinity - 8
8. Octavarium - 8
9. Black Cloud & Silver Linings - 7.5
10. Systematic Chaos - 7
11. When Dream and Day Unite - 6
12. DT12 - 5.5
13. Distance Over Time - 5
14. A View From The Top of The World - 4
15. The Astonishing - 1

[Progmaniac1988]

What is interesting to me is that the way you describe the rankings changes my list of favorite DT albums slightly. This will probably be the most disagreed-with list on the forum, but hey, I'll give it a go:

1. Images & Words - 10
2. A Dramatic Turn of Events - 9.5
3. Distance Over Time - 9
4. DT12 - 9
5. View - 8.5
6. Scenes - 8.5 (Actually prefer listening to View but I acknowledge the greatness of Scenes is about a bit more than how much I enjoy spinning it)
7. Six Degrees - 8
8. Awake - 7
9. Train of Thought - 7
10. Black Cloud & Silver Linings - 4
11. Octavarium - 3
12. Systematic Chaos - 3
13. Falling Into Infinity -3
14. When Dream and Day Unite - 2
15. The Astonishing - 1 (I think it's a better album that WDADU but I truly cannot listen to this album)

Yeah I was having a hard time figuring out a good score system lol. All my rankings were 8-10. So I made 5 average. Helped spread it out. Also just numbering them as a rank was hard, because some albums are very close ranking wise. So having both helped me get a bigger view on it. Made me realize there is not an album I'd say is below average for me.

[Progmaniac1988]

Really interesting how different all our lists are. I'm glad to see six degrees getting some love! I adore that album.

Back in 1999 11 year old me was handed down a used cd of a change of seasons. I loved it, and my family did that Columbia house 10 cds for 10 cents each thing. (Remember that??) and I got every DT album from images to scenes. Fell in love with DT. So six degrees was my first DT album that I was there on release day. Went to my local cd store. I remember being blown away by it. My first DT tour too. NY show at beacon. They played master of puppets in its entirety. Ok enough rambling lol

[Zydar]

01. Images & Words - 10
02. Scenes From A Memory - 10
03. Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence - 8
04. Awake - 8
05. Falling Into Infinity - 7
06. A Dramatic Turn Of Events - 7
07. Octavarium - 7
08. Train Of Thought - 6
09. Distance Over Time - 6
10. Systematic Chaos - 6
11. Dream Theater - 6
12. When Dream And Day Unite - 5
13. Black Clouds & Silver Linings - 5
14. A View From The Top Of The World - 4
15. The Astonishing - 1

[KevShmev]

The bottom half of my list is always pretty fluid, but my top 4 is pretty set in stone, and my numbers 5 and 6 are pretty locked in at this point as well.

01 Awake - 10
02 Scenes from a Memory - 10
03 Images and Words - 9.5
04 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - 9
05 Train of Thought - 8
06 Falling into Infinity - 8
07 A View from the Top of the World - 7.5
08 A Dramatic Turn of Events - 7
09 Distance over Time - 7
10 The Astonishing - 7
11 When Dream and Day Unite - 6.5
12 Octavarium - 6.5
13 Systematic Chaos - 6
14 Black Clouds and Silver Linings - 6
15 Dream Theater - 5.5

[commanderbob]

1. Awake - 10
2. Images & Words - 10
3. Scenes From A Memory - 10
4. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - 9.8
5. DT12 - 9.8
6. Octavarium - 8.5
7. Train of Thought - 8.5
8. Falling Into Infinity - 8
9. Systematic Chaos - 7.8
10. Distance Over Time - 7.7
11. A Dramatic Turn of Events - 7.5
12. Black Cloud & Silver Linings - 7
13. A View From The Top of The World - 7
14. When Dream and Day Unite - 4.5
15. The Astonishing - 4

[illusionist]

SFaM 10
I&W    10
Train of thought 9
The Astonishing 9
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence  8,5
A View from the top of the World 8,5
Awake 8
A Dramatic Turn of Events 8
Falling into Infinity   7
BC&SL                       7
Distance over Time 7
DT12                           7
WDaDU                     6
Octavarium              5
Systematic Chaos   2

[krands85]

Something like this I guess:

1. Images & Words - 10
2. Train of Thought - 9.5
3. A Dramatic Turn of Events - 9
4. Scenes From a Memory - 9
5. Octavarium - 8
6. Awake - 8
7. Distance Over Time - 7.5
8. A View From the Top of the World - 7.5
9. Systematic Chaos - 7
10. The Astonishing - 6.5
11. Falling Into Infinity - 5
12. Six Degrees - 4.5
13. Dream Theater - 4
14. Black Clouds and Silver Linings - 3.5
15. When Dream & Day Unite - 3

[Volante99]

1. Awake - 10/10
2. Images and Words - 10/10
3. Scenes from a Memory - 9.5/10
4. A Dramatic Turn of Events - 9/10
5. Six Degrees - 9/10
6. Black Clouds and Silver Linings - 8.5/10
7. Train of Thought - 8.5/10
8. Octavarium - 8.5/10
9. Falling into Infinity - 7/10
10. When Dream and Day Unite - 6.5/10
11. Dream Theater - 6.5/10
12. Systematic Chaos - 6.5/10
13. Distance Over Time - 6/10
14. The Astonishing - 5/10

My scale is kind of like a grade percentage.
10/10 = 100% A+ perfect!
5/10 = 50% F come see me after class - looking at you "Astonishing"

Honestly can't rank "A View From the Top of the World"- I came to the realization that I'm just not a big fan of Mangini-era DT, so I've never listened to it front to back, but what I DID hear was underwhelming and more of the same. Like many, I'm hoping Portnoy's return will be a return to form overall and inject some freshness to the band.

[Schurftkut]

Images & Words (10/10)
Scenes from a memory (10/10)
Six degrees of inner turbulence (9/10)
Awake (9/10)
A dramatic turn of events (7/10)
octavarium (7/10)
Train of thought (7/10)
When dream and day unite (6/10)
Falling into infinity (5/10)
the astonishing (5/10)
Distance over time (4/10)
A view from the top of the world (3/10)
black clouds & silver linings (2/10)
systematic chaos (1/10)
Dream theater (1/10)

[Jamesman42]

black clouds & silver linings (2/10)
systematic chaos (1/10)
Dream theater (1/10)

Interesting bottom 3.

[Volante99]

Black Clouds is so underrated. It's no Images/Scenes but it was a HUGE improvement over Systematic Chaos, and honestly crushes 80% of the Mangini era material.

[brakkum]

it was a HUGE improvement over Systematic Chaos

💯

[TAC]

Black Clouds is so underrated. It's no Images/Scenes but it was a HUGE improvement over Systematic Chaos, and honestly crushes 80% of the Mangini era material.

I couldn't disagree more with this post.

[Dream Team]

I don't understand giving 1s . . . that implies the music is atonal, without rhythm or melody, the instruments played without competence, and has Dylan-level vocals. None of this is true. If these are 1s it implies it's the worst music you've EVER heard; unless you give out 0s.

[Adami]

I don't understand giving 1s . . . that implies the music is atonal, without rhythm or melody, the instruments played without competence, and has Dylan-level vocals. None of this is true. If these are 1s it implies it's the worst music you've EVER heard; unless you give out 0s.

Can't say I agree, but wouldn't that mean that 10 means that no other music has ever been better on any level?

[TAC]

Can't say I agree, but wouldn't that mean that 10 means that no other music has ever been better on any level?

Yes. Image & Words is a 10 and that means that no other music has ever been better on any level.

[DTwwbwMP]

I don't understand giving 1s . . . that implies the music is atonal, without rhythm or melody, the instruments played without competence, and has Dylan-level vocals. None of this is true. If these are 1s it implies it's the worst music you've EVER heard; unless you give out 0s.

I use a "Dream Theater scale" for my ranking, and imo, TA compared to their other work IS ABYSMAL. Therefore the 1 ranking. At least it didn't get a ZERO! LOL

[pg1067]

We did an extensive DT album countdown not quite two years ago:  https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=57682.0

My rankings:

1. Metropolis Part 2: Scenes from a Memory - 10
2. Images and Words - 9.5
3. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - 8.5 (it would be an easy 10 if TGD and Disappear were removed)
4. Awake - 8.5
5. Octavarium - 8
6. Train of Thought - 8
7. Dream Theater - 8
8. A Dramatic Turn of Events - 7.5
9. When Dream and Day Unite - 7
10. Black Clouds & Silver Linings - 5.5
11. Distance over Time - 5
12. Falling Into Infinity - 3.5
13. A View from the Top of the World - 3.5
14. Systematic Chaos - 3
15. The Astonishing - 2.5

I don't think anything has changed.  I've applied scores based on your scale, but those could be subject to change if I gave it more thought.

[Mosh]

I don't understand giving 1s . . . that implies the music is atonal, without rhythm or melody, the instruments played without competence, and has Dylan-level vocals. None of this is true. If these are 1s it implies it's the worst music you've EVER heard; unless you give out 0s.

Only if that's your criteria. Pretty sure this isn't an exact science.

[Progmaniac1988]

Black Clouds is so underrated. It's no Images/Scenes but it was a HUGE improvement over Systematic Chaos, and honestly crushes 80% of the Mangini era material.

I'm with you 100%! One of my most listened to DT albums. I do skip wither often, and a right of passage is a ok song to me, that's why it got a 8.5 total from me, all 4 of the bigger epics are all 10/10 for me tho. Count of Tuscany is probably in my top 5 DT songs ever.

[Setlist Scotty]

3. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence - 8.5 (it would be an easy 10 if the title track was removed)

FTFY   

[jammindude]

FTFY   

Sorry Scotty. I'm 100% with pg on this one.

[Setlist Scotty]

Sorry Scotty. I'm 100% with pg on this one.

Well, there are times you are wrong, too.   

[HOF]

1. Awake - 10
2. FII - 9
3. I&W - 8
4. ACOS - 7
5. SFAM - 6
6. SDOIT - 5
7. WDADU - 4
8. TOT - 3
9. 8V - 2
10. SC - 1

Don't know the others well enough to rank.

[MarkFitDT]

1 Images and Words - 9.75
2 Scenes from a Memory - 9.5
3 A View from the Top of the World - 9
4 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 8.75
5 A Dramatic Turn of Events - 8.5
6 Awake - 8
7 Octavarium - 8
8 Distance over Time - 7.75
9 Dream Theater - 7.5
10 Train of Thought(!) - 7.25
11 The Astonishing - 7
12 When Dream and Day Unite - 7
13 Falling into Infinity - 7 (some of my fav DT songs on here but also some of my least fav)
14 Black Clouds and Silver Linings - 6
15 Systematic Chaos - 5

[nobloodyname]

1 Images and Words - 9.75
2 Scenes from a Memory - 9.5
3 A View from the Top of the World - 9
4 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 8.75
5 A Dramatic Turn of Events - 8.5
6 Awake - 8
7 Octavarium - 8
8 Distance over Time - 7.75
9 Dream Theater - 7.5
11 The Astonishing - 7
12 When Dream and Day Unite - 7
13 Falling into Infinity - 7 (some of my fav DT songs on here but also some of my least fav)
14 Black Clouds and Silver Linings - 6
15 Systematic Chaos - 5

What did the number 10 ever do to you?