I’m trying to get some more music on my iPod. I’m a big fan of Dream Theater’s first album and bought it when it came out. Pull Me Under is still one of my favorite songs. For some reason I never really tried any of their other stuff. From the rest of their catalog what can you recommend to me to fill out my collection?
They make me depressed beyond all reason, but my husband is a huge fan. I’ll ask him to pick some which are similar to your favorite and get back to you.
He’s currently bummed that we are not rich enough to make a multi-state drive down to Florida a few months back to have caught their concert there promoting their latest album. I have to admit, I was a bit relieved that it wasn’t a possibility - I was trying to figure out how to convince him that I really would be perfectly fine at home reading for a weekend while he rocked out.
My two favorites are Octavarium and Black Clouds and Silver Linings.
Slee
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Pull Me Under is from their 2nd album, Images and Words. Their first album was when Dream and Day Unite, with vocalist Charlie Dominici. The album showed a skilled group of musicians, but came off as fairly derivative of Queensryche, in no small part because of Domini’s contributions. Image and Words was their first album with new (and still current) vocalist John LaBrie.
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I can recommend 3 albums, but only of you like prog rock. I mean, if you like Rush but think their songs are too short, you’ll prolly like this stuff.
Train of Thought (2003) is a terrific album. Filled with grinding, buzzsaw riffs and excellent pick-sweeping solos, it also boasts prolly the darkest lyrical subject matter of any DT album. Not murder and demons dark, more like alcoholism and despair and personal tribulations kind of dark. Five of the seven tracks clock in at well over 10 minutes, so be prepared to invest some time in everything you hear.
Systematic Chaos (2007) is prolly their most accessible album; it’s one of the things I play for non-headbangers to show them they just might be missing out on something good. Shorter songs predominate, with only 3 of the 8 tracks clocking in over 9 minutes. John Petrucci is able to really let his love for Zappa shine through on a couple of tracks, and John LaBrie’s tendency to channel Steve Perry is mostly held in check (both plusses AFAIC). The songs are filled with good hooks, too.
Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009) is heavier than it’s predecessor, and features a return to longer song formats: four of the six tunes are well over 12 minutes each. There’s a lot of thrash-iness here and lots more growling than on any of their albums since Train of Thought. Once again it’s easy to hear Petrucci’s Zappa influence, but this time the band also seems to be pretty much channeling Rush on about half the album. The lyrics again reflect the music and are darker than on Systematic Chaos.
After Mike Portnoy left the band, they got Mike Mangini to replace him for last year’s A Dramatic Turn of Events. Mangini is an amazingly talented drummer, and by all reports their new album is pretty much like their previous output. Based on my experience listening to Mangini in other bands (Annihilator, Steve Vai, etc.) and considering his first drum hero was Buddy Rich (not to mention his title as World’s Fastest Drummer), I wasn’t surprised to read this. I’ve read a couple of things that say that Mangini was mostly a session drummer for this album tho; that the songs were written before he came onboard. And with Portnoy gone, the only vocals are from LaBrie, which leads to this album having 3 ballads on it (ugh!).
all of it.
Personally, I like DT’s heavier music rather than the softer jazzy stuff. Train of Thought is a great metal album in the sort of in the vein of Metallica and Rush.
John Petrucci’s solo album Suspended Animation is also great for those like me who get a little nauseous listening to LaBrie’s vocals. It’s an uninhibited shred-fest.
Thanks for the recommendations. I wanted to add for Dream Theater fans that Mike Portnoy and Steve Morse have formed a band with a few others called Flying Colors. Record should be out in a month or so.
Husband recommends the 42-minute long Disk Two on Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, and their latest (A Dramatic Turn of Events) if you’re ok with extended angsting, er, I mean, ballads.
If you like political or current-eventsy singing, from Disk One of Six Degrees, he’s also recommending Misunderstood and the Great Debate.
He’s also fond of the Glass Prison cycle, but that’s scattered throughout their work, so you’ll probably want to check it out first before committing to buying the whole thing or not.
If you’re not so much a ballady or deep thoughtful vocals fan, he says that Train of Thought and Black Clouds & Silver Linings are pretty good and heavy. He also likes Suspended Animation (not technically Dream Theater) when he’s in a pissy mood and needs some “kill everything” music.
Hope that helps!
If you liked “Pull Me Under” specifically, that was written by Kevin Moore, who is no longer in the band. He also wrote quite a bit of Awake, the follow up to Images and Words, so you may want to check that one out as well (it’s my personal favorite).
If you find you like the K-Mo stuff, I can’t recommend his side project OSI highly enough. Any of their three albums are all top notch, and there is another one reportedly on the way.
I think Metropolis Part 2: Scenes from a Memory is their best, though I really like the heavier stuff that came out afterward as well. Scenes expands on the instrumental Metropolis from Images and Words.
If you like the heavy prog metal aspects (and if you like Pull Me Under, you probably do), anything from 6 Degrees of Inner Turbulence to Black Clouds and Silver Linings may appeal to you. After Scenes (and with the addition of Jordan Rudess on keyboards), Dream Theater was heavier than they were before with a lot of play between the guitar and keys. There are some ballads, but they’re in the minority.
I haven’t heard the latest album (A Dramatic Turn of Events), so I can’t comment on post-Portnoy Dream Theater, though I’m sure it’s too early to tell.
If you like Kevin Moore’s compositions (He wrote Pull Me Under, Surrounded, and Wait for Sleep), give Awake a shot. Moore wrote two songs on that album. You could also give OSI or Chroma Key a shot, which are Moore’s projects after Dream Theater. Chroma Key is not a metal band. It’s kind of a melancholy electronic feel and very little of the instrumental flash of Dream Theater. OSI is much more like Dream Theater, which isn’t shocking since it also has Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater. It’s much more of a progressive metal project. Moore does the vocals for a lot of OSI as well, but the feel is different from Chroma Key due to the larger emphasis on musicianship.