They are truly amazing. Thoughts?

dream theater are very good, im still trying to really get into them

cant see (yet) why people think they are one of the best bands ever

give me a bit longer and ill tell ya what i think

I think they are amazing by the diverse spectrum of music they play and all of them are true masters of their instruments, John Pertucci could easily be considered one of the best guitarists of all time, he's right up there with Yngwie Malmsteen, IMHO.

That being said, their music just isn't the same as power metal, which I love, but it's truly progressive and amazing in it's own right, probably the most advanced technical music I've ever heard.

dude john petrucci is amazing hes an excelent guitarist see dream theater rocks..everything about them rocks except the FUCKING SINGER he is the only reason why i dont listen to them more often seriously they guy has no low end to his voice it annoys the hell outa me but yeah dream theater has an excellent line up the drummer is fuckin amazing i think his name is mike portnoy im not sure if thats the bassist. and i like "the glass prison" thats a cool ass song if you ask me well those are my thoughts

Yeah, I don't really like the singer either. His voice is quite whiny.

Agreed. It's good stuff. I wouldn't say it's unrivalled and mindblowing in it's complexity. It's pretty conservative in prog terms (not saying much there). But it's good impressive and enjoyable. I like that they can draw a song out 10 minutes and it doesn't get dull (usually). I like that they can play amazingly well, and can infuse melody into it.

The drummer mike Portnoy makes the kit sound like and extension of his body. (and is one of the 3 or 4 drummers that impress me most)

If you dig Dream Theatre, check out Liquid Tension Experiment!!

I think that when Dream Theatre got their big push, the only other two "main stream" Prog Rockers still in the game (outside of Yes & King Crimson) were RUSH & Fates Warning. They helped give Prog Rock / Prog Metal a nice kick in the pants. They were also able to get heavy enough to entice the METAL fans, but "brainy" enough to keep the prog rockers enthralled.

They're one of the few bands outside of RUSH that some of my friends and I can listen to together. Heavy enough for me, but proggy enough for them.

Not to mention, when Mr. Peart hands the torch to someone, the industry takes notice. Mike Portnoy is a beast on that kit --- "Animal" is one of his nicknames. I still prefer Lombardo most days, but Portnoy can "git r done".

For me, my favorite Dream Theatre songs are:
Pull Me Under, Lie, The Mirror, Burning My Soul, + their entire EP (Change of Seasons). Of the releases that I have, I think that those are the 4 heaviest songs that I could find. Go figure . "I like Metropolis......" "Put on Pull Me Under so that I can go lift!!"

• Benedictum
• Hydrogyn
• Victim
• WildeStarr

A Change of Seasons.

I'd abandon a lot of things to listen to that song without any morons around.

And John Petrucci is THE guitarist.

i like a change of seasons an hollow years has gotta be my fave. havent heard alot of their other stuff really..

Good, but overrated in my opinion. They do come up with some kickass riffs.

Ok lets set something straight with DT.

They're my fav band ever - hence the huge DT tattoo on my back.

Their singer, James Labrie had ruptered a vocal chord during a vacation with his wife. He had food poisoning in some south american country and puked so hard his chord ruptured.. so that being said, he became very inconsistent with his voice. Missing high notes left and right and creating his "whiny" phase. That took like 5 years to even start to heal since he was constantly on tour and couldn't give his voice the time off it needed, and FINALLY he's back up to his prime level.. like 8 years later. He's an absolutely amazing singer - you just need to hear recordings of him prior to being injured or after his healing.

Yes, Mike Portnoy is the drummer, not the bassist. His drum set is insane:


John Petrucci, the guitarist, is a perfectionist. I've seen guitarists with similar technical skills, but never with the technical AND composition skills of petrucci. The guy knows every scale, mode, and technique ever documented, and in no way shape or form can be compared to Yngwie Malmsteen, a man with no formal training and horrible technique. Sorry.

The above mentioned "cool" songs are nowhere near their best tracks. My personal opinion is that they didn't even start making their best music until Jordan Rudess started playing keys. The guy's a Juliard grad. Some DT fans prefer Kevin Moore's work (WDADU, Images & Awake) and most DT fans hated the tracks with Derek Sheredian (CoS/FIF). Their best CD in MY opinion is Scenes from a Memory...hands down. It's a story album and has characters and plot that follow through the tracks - incredible release. Go buy it, listen to it WHILE READING THE LYRICS (so you know which character is speaking), then come back here and discuss.

--S--

That's one fuck of a set.

AlienWebguy wrote: Ok lets set something straight with DT. They're my fav band ever - hence the huge DT tattoo on my back. Their singer, James Labrie had ruptered a vocal chord during a vacation with his wife. He had food poisoning in some south american country and puked so hard his chord ruptured.. so that being said, he became very inconsistent with his voice. Missing high notes left and right and creating his "whiny" phase. That took like 5 years to even start to heal since he was constantly on tour and couldn't give his voice the time off it needed, and FINALLY he's back up to his prime level.. like 8 years later. He's an absolutely amazing singer - you just need to hear recordings of him prior to being injured or after his healing. Yes, Mike Portnoy is the drummer, not the bassist. His drum set is insane: John Petrucci, the guitarist, is a perfectionist. I've seen guitarists with similar technical skills, but never with the technical AND composition skills of petrucci. The guy knows every scale, mode, and technique ever documented, and in no way shape or form can be compared to Yngwie Malmsteen, a man with no formal training and horrible technique. Sorry. The above mentioned "cool" songs are nowhere near their best tracks. My personal opinion is that they didn't even start making their best music until Jordan Rudess started playing keys. The guy's a Juliard grad. Some DT fans prefer Kevin Moore's work (WDADU, Images & Awake) and most DT fans hated the tracks with Derek Sheredian (CoS/FIF). Their best CD in MY opinion is Scenes from a Memory...hands down. It's a story album and has characters and plot that follow through the tracks - incredible release. Go buy it, listen to it WHILE READING THE LYRICS (so you know which character is speaking), then come back here and discuss. --S--

Jesus. Fucking. Christ. I knew Portnoy was using an absurd set, but seeing the actual pictures make me want to cry with joy.

No.. its Theater. Look it up dumbass.

--S--

listened to the whole of images and words today i was very impressed, what other albums should i check out?

AlienWebguy wrote: No.. its Theater. Look it up dumbass. --S--

Hah - that was a response to a post which was apparently deleted.. went something like "you guys are faggots, it's theatre."

--S--

I really enjoyed Images & Words. Awake, Changes of Seasons & Falling into Eternity (Infinity?) round out my DT collection.

I went towards the other spectrum of metal for a while and have recently started to work my way back towards DT, Sy-x, Seven Witches, Stratovarius, Fates Warning, Kamelot, etc.

Enjoy.

• Benedictum
• Hydrogyn
• Victim
• WildeStarr

Hey sledge go buy Scenes From a Memory when you get a chance, and don't listen to it unless you have 90 minutes to listen straight through while reading the lyrics. It's highly debated as DT's best work ever since it was the first release with Jordan Rudess on keys and they just ate that shit up.

The lyrics are extremely important cuz the whole thing is basically one story/play broken up into different acts (tracks), but in any given song there will be like 5-6 characters speaking n conversation and internal thought, and you'd never know if you just listened to it cuz you wouldn't know who's saying what.

At the end of that CD - especially the "ending of the story", I just sat there and spent like 20 minutes letting it all sink in cuz it was so well-thoughtout and deep.

Just an FYI, this CD is called "Metropolis pt 2: Scenes From a Memory". Think of "Metropolis pt 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper" (track 5 from Images and Words) as a metaphoric trailer to a movie, and Scenes From a Memory is the whole movie itself... fucking amazing.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000021XS0/sr=8-5/qid=1164569161/ref=pd_bbs_sr_5/002-6149287-8224856?ie=UTF8&s=music

--S--

that drumset is fuckin insane

They are all God's at what they do, and to have them come together and make music as a whole it is truly an awesome experience to listen to their music.

Reading one of the first posts, it is hard to get into them, especially if you're not a musician, since they're are really just all over the freaking place as far as their progressive side goes, but man on train of thought I was like, "What freaking awesome heavy metal band did this group turn into???"

Dream Theater, I think in the end, can be summed up as the musician's favorite band. If you know your music theory Dream Theater is ear candy of the sweetest kind. Don't get me wrong, I love sword metal with all of my fiber and being, but claiming a favorite band you're not just taking the songs into mind you're taking all of what the band -is-. That is why I claim Dream Theater to be my favorite. I'm pretty sure that if they wanted to, they could make the most kick ass sword metal album ever.