Wheel of Prog - DreamTheater Albums Tier List 

Train of Thought in C was a crime 😢, even going to B, to me it will always be a S tier album

It's surprising that Kevin Moore was not mentioned as the main reason for IaW and Awake having a unique atmosphere that is not found in the following albums. It is quite obvious if you listen to his work post DT with Chroma Key, Fates Warning and OSI.

Putting systematic chaos that low is a crime imo. To me it's a top 5 album! And what a great tour that was, I think they were on top of their game during that time.

Scarred has to be DT's greatest song and it is among so many greats on that album. No way Awake is a C tier.

Awake = Dream Theater's finest hour, their absolute Zenith and one of my favorite albums of all time.

Happy to see Falling Into Infinity in that tier. It was so ahead of the technical prog sensibilites at that time that even the band wasn't prepared for it. Luckily people have learned that there's space for pop elements in prog, which in a pre-Steven Wilson world seemed unthinkable. It's one of their best-aged albums for that very reason.

S: Octavarium and Scenes from a Memory A: Black Clouds, Systematic Chaos, Images and Words

Great show. Looking forward to next episodes!

ALWAYS here for the DT content! Thank you!

Another great episode .. this is such a good idea , it’s sparks an interesting discussion!

Excellent episode!! I hope next one is Rush

Great episode! Scenes and Images always at the top :)

Dramatic turn is s tier for me. I heard it for the first time a couple years ago and I love the riffs and solos so much.

Props to anyone and everyone who put "Awake" at S-tier, and extra props to Kyle Fagala who I don't believe spoke a single word of untruth during this hour-long installment.

Great job guys! Six Degrees (the song) is a MONSTER of a song. I agree that the overture might be a little too long, but that is because we probably already know the songs. However, if it is the very first time you listen to it, it probably justify its length imo. I'd be great to see a The Dear Hunter episode 😉

Oh man... When Dream & Day Unite at the bottom breaks my heart. It's such a creative album.and the songs are so good.

The reason the first two records have a different feel is the lack of Kevin Moore. His overall feel is captivating once you focus on it.

Started screaming at my monitor halfway through until Awake was moved to S tier where it belongs 🙂. Why no A Change of Seasons!? Thanks guys, this was a fun one! Subscribed.

The problem with 6 Degrees IMO is that the title track sounds way better live on the Score DVD with the real orchestra vs the fake sounds on the studio album.

ADTOE was my first DT album, so I'm biased, but I love the sound production of that album. I like the way the drums sound. That album has more of an Octovacrium feel to me. I love the piano section of On The Backs of Angles. Lost Not Forgotten has one of Petrucci's best solos.

Great list! Just one note on the artwork for FII: It was created by Storm Thorgerson, not Hugh Syme. Syme started doing work for DT from Octavarium and onwards. Thorgerson is famed for his work with Pink Floyd among others.

That was a good show. Some interesting viewpoints on the DT catalog. Are you guys going to do this with RUSH LPs?

Man, my tastes in music has changed so much over the years. I stopped listening to DT after constant disappointment since Black Clouds. I agreed so much with Portnoy that they needed a break to get a fresh take. Everything since has been so stale, with only a few good highlights. Then every once in a while I'll throw on older DT, and just remember why i fell in love with this type of music. Their other stuff had so much more heart and creativity. If someone can point me to a song that has good melodies, creative vocals or ANYTHING other than playing instruments fast, please let me know.

Guys love this type of content, please do Devin Townsend and all of his groups, band project and SYL

This list is legit. Well done guys!

Hahaha glad I’m not the only one who hears a lot of Holdsworth in that Trial of Tears solo, maybe my favorite Petrucci solo ever

My list: 1.- Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 2.- Awake 3.- Black Clouds & Silver Linings 4.- Metropolis, Pt.2: Scenes from a Memory 5.- Images & Words 6.- Systematic Chaos 7.- A Dramatic Turn of Events 8.- Train of Thought 9.- Octavarium 10.- Falling into Infinity 11.- When Dream and Day Unite 12.- Dream Theater 13.- A View from the Top of the World 14.- Diatance Over Time 15.- The Astonishing

Train of Thought being in C tier is a crime against humanity. It’s my favorite by far and not coincidentally their most Metal album. I describe it as what happens when DT turn DOWN the prog and turns UP the metal…and that’s just fine by me. Disclaimer: I have complicated relationship with prog. I come to prog Metal via 80’s Iron Maiden, Fates Warning and most importantly Queensrÿche. So I’ve always struggle with the Proggy side of of prog Metal. 🤷🏼‍♂️🤘🏼

Images and Words, Scenes, Awake, Six Degrees. I don't know how there's even a question about those being their 4 best albums.

"Train of Thought"...S tier man! I'm biased tho, love their metal stuff, and saw em on, and met John and Mike on this tour!

Scenes from a memory is the best album of time. S tier: six degrees, awake, train of thought, change of season, i&w.

Dan had a chance to make this the correct layout if he had put SC in A and move FII down to C. That would be the correct order IMP

I wish to propose a challenge to you all .. This might take some time, as some or even most / all of you have never heard of this band .. That being said, this is a proj channel, and this band is definitely .............. prog! I know at least one of you (or some) know of Opeth and it's relation to Porcupine Tree .. Speaking of PT, there are certainly elements of PT in this band as of Opeth .. The band I speak of, is Extol .. I would love to see this get played in the Wheel of Prog at some point .. This band, though on possible permanent hiatus, deserves so much more attention and exposure .. Ask the likes of Alex Rudinger, Bill Champlin, and Jay Graydon ..

Daniel puts Systematic Chaos in C then goes on to say he loves basically every song.

Train of Thought is hands down tear S and Endless Sacrifice top 3 songs from them

Great episode! As a huge fan of DT since 2007, I agree with you on my top 5. The biggest difference from my list I think, is that I'd swap Systematic Chaos with Falling Into Infinity. I'll always have a soft spot for SC since it was my first album from them that I bought after getting into their music. Other than that, our lists look identical, actually 🙂

The best thing about Dream Theater is that for some people an album is S tier and for others it's D tier.

Really like this concept. Good work putting it together. I just would like to know who these people rating the albums are. Who's the person I agree with and who's the one I don't agree with. They are only mentioned by first name both in the video and in the description. I just discovered this channel. So for others like me who are not familiar with people assosiated with this channel it should not be neccesary to google it or watch all other content to puzzle it together. Thanks again and keep up the good work.

The riff in Rite of Passage for the solo section, and the riff in Shattered Fortress just before and during the keyboard solo, that develops from riffs in both Glass Prison and Dying Soul, are two of my favorite DT riffs.

I would love to see a Shadow Gallery, Ayreon or Pain of Salvation tier list.

I love The Silent Man! one of my favourites on Awake.

Thank you for representing Falling Into Infinity. I've loved that album forever. In my personal opinion I would have top 3 albums being Awake, I&W, and 6 Degrees. Love SFAM, but that's just how it works out.

Awake as a C tier is criminal. It is one of their best albums. A tier if not S tier.

They've been my favorite band since I bought Awake after reading a review in the local newspaper. I had played drums for a few years, and THAT drum intro hit me 💪 IMO they made four perfect records in a row: SFAM, 6DOIT, TOT, 8, but have been kind of uneven after that. Many great songs though, on every record.

An impossible list to make!!! Nice job compromising. I love that you all have different opinions on each album.

Random comment: anyone remember the last DT/MP release (Raw Dog)? Cool song!

Falling Into Infinity in fourth place sure is a hot take! Not sure if I agree with all of your opinions, but an interesting listen for sure.

IMO: From worst to best D - The Astonishing, When Dream And Day Unite, A View From The Top Of The World C - Dream Theater, A Dramatic Turn Of Events, Distance Over Time B - Systematic Chaos, Falling Into Infinity, Octavarium A - Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence, Black Clouds And Silver Linings, Train Of Thought S - Images And Words, Scenes From A Memory, Awake

Not exactly prog but if y'all like Maiden please do a ranking of them!

I bought all the albums from When Dream and Day unite came out on vinyl..then moved forward...And so my ranking is as they came and I digested them. Awake is in 'S' every time...'Voices' is epic!

Black Clouds is an S teir album for me. I love how that album sounds and it’s been my biggest inspiration for my own drum sound

Lol the first time I got a chance to see DT live was with the Astonishing tour. I actually really enjoy it, enough to have gotten a signed vinyl at the show I went to 😂

If you do Rush, I need to be on the show. Not trying to be arrogant, but it’s the truth 😂

"I could put it in D and move The Astonishing up to S..." "NOOOOO" lmao

Wow, no love for the new stuff, I could not put any under a B.

Ok, after watching this, the only album I wanna put on is Awake, not to confirm what theyre saying, I just love that album ALOT

Been looking for an excuse to make one of these, so now I'm making one, and making one. :) Your format (ordered within tiers): S Metropolis Pt.2: Scenes From A Memory (1999) Images and Words (1992) Awake (1994) A Octavarium (2005) When Dream and Day Unite (1989) Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002) B Train of Thought (2003) A Dramatic Turn Of Events (2011) Falling Into Infinity (1997) C Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009) Dream Theater (2013) Systematic Chaos (2007) D The Astonishing (2016) Distance Over Time (2019) A View from the Top of the World (2021) My usual format (not ordered within tiers): S+ Metropolis Pt.2: Scenes From A Memory (1999) S Awake (1994) Images and Words (1992) A+ Octavarium (2005) Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002) Train of Thought (2003) When Dream and Day Unite (1989) A A Dramatic Turn Of Events (2011) Falling Into Infinity (1997) B+ Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009) Dream Theater (2013) B Systematic Chaos (2007) The Astonishing (2016) C-F/Meh A View from the Top of the World (2021) Distance Over Time (2019)

Would love to see a Rush wheel next!

Great! Can you do Riverside?

I've tried a couple times to make it through this video, but I just keep stopping it to listen to an album.

"the count of tuscany is my favorite DT song" but also says he cant get into Systematic chaos because "the vampire and all that I dont dig that stuff" 🧐

The Astonishing was definetly made to be seen live. It was amazing in that setting with the visuals and it being a bit heavier. It is hard to listen to just the album though. I would have view a bit higher and FII a bit lower because of the few really bad teacks, but all in all this is pretty close to mine

Pretty sure Hugh Syme did not do Falling Into Infinity. Someone who had done art for Floyd

I agree with miuch of this. Here's mine (I should make a video. I already did a SONGS list video a few months ago). S: Awake, Images and Words, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence A: Scenes from a Memory, B: Falling Into Infinity (this would be A is you include the Cleaning out the Closet Tracks), When Dream and Day Unite, Train of Thought C: Octavarium, Black Clouds and Silver Linings, A Dramatic Turn of Events, Distance Over Time D: Systematic Chaos, Dream Theater Haven't Heard in full: The Astonishing and A View from the Top of the World, although I suspect both would go in D.

Falling Into Infinity is so underrated. Love the Derek Era and loved that Sons of Apollo played a few live. Also Astonishing is a great album with some of James' best performances. I will die on this hill.

Falling into infinity A tier… someone give Kyle a cup coffee and a chill pill 😅

I think that when you bump an album without using the wildcard, you should only be able to move it up or down 1 tier, this way it would take multiple votes to drastically shift the order.

S - Scenes From a Memory pt2, Train of Thought, 6 Degrees A - Images and Words, Awake, Systematic Chaos B - Octavarium, Black Clouds, Dramatic Turn of Events C - Falling into infinity, View from the top, Dream Theater, D - Distance over Time, When Dream and Day, Astonishing

My List S - Scenes, Images, Six Degrees A - Awake, Black Clouds, Train of Thought B - Octavarium, Astonishing, Dramatic Turn C - Distance, Infinity, Dream and Day D - Systematic, Self Titled, View Overall you guys had a great list!

Funny to see that SDoIT isn't A tier for some of you, which makes me think other fans have the same opinion, but it's up there for me, top 3 easily! And I also love ADToE, not their worst drum sound at all, better sound and song writing than the self-titled and BCSL for example imo. Great show, guys! Keep up the good work

Wow, I don't agree with Geoff on *_anything_* 😂

The Astonishing is one of my favorites albums by any band. Dream Theater is my favorite band. I have every album of course and I don't understand why this album gets so much hate. Yeah it's very different for a Dream Theater album. It doesn't have a lot of metal in it. Yes it's probably a bit longer than it should be. But it's one of the most beautiful albums I have ever heard in my entire life. I would have to put it in S tier with Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence and Metropolis Part 2: Scenes from a Memory. It's a very mature and different direction for my favorite band and I think it pretty much blows away any Ayreon album as much as I really like Ayreon.

Commenting on the "covers disk"... It's hit or miss for me, but I have to say that the best ones I have heard so far is the one with A.A. Lucassen's Lost In The New real. I just LOVE his version of Welcome to the Machine. Check it out!

Thanks for doing DT, been a fan since 92 and they are my favourite band, my favourite album is A VIEW FROM THE TOP OF THE WORLD, for me there is no other band that comes close to the amount of QUALITY songs they have produced ❤❤❤

Can’t believe no one liked Rite of Passage!!!?? Images is timeless and to me one of the best albums ever made and I still get called to it once a week at least. Minus pull me under cause it was commercially pushed.

S: Images & Words, Black Clouds & Silver Linings, Awake A: Train of Thought, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, Scenes From a Memory B: A Dramatic Turn of Events, Octavarium, A View From the Top of the World C: Falling Into Infinity, Systematic Chaos, The Astonishing D: Dream Theater, Distance Over Time, When Dream and Day Unite

Great tier. My only changes would be moving Distance Over Time to B, Black Clouds & Silver Linings to C and Dream Theater to D. Cheers!

Dudes! When WDADU came out, l was working at a record store on Long Island, New York. A coworker of mine knew MP and was good friends with him. The WHOLE band came down to the store to sign the display that she had made in the store. I remember the five cats arriving, all dressed in all black. They probably signed something for me, maybe my CD or a poster. So, since l was there from (basically) the get go, l have a particular fondness for their debut record. I also saw the late, great Charlie Dominici play a full show live with the boys as well. Living in NY, I’ve seen a lot of classic DT shows and special events. I was at the infamous Steve Stone show at Sundance, the acoustic trio show at Mulcahy’s Pub in Wantagh, the Score show at Radio City Music Hall, etc. l plan on doing a show on this on my tiny, little, small potatoes 🥔 channel in the near future. I’ll leave you with the fact that MP sent me an advance cassette of I&W, months before it officially came out. That’s because he knew how much l loved the debut release, especially “Only a Matter of Time.” Somewhere in my rather voluminous collection, l still have that audio cassette tape. Time to watch your tier ranking of my fave all time act, YES! Keep up the funky, fresh work. Cheers from The Big Apple. 🍏 Rock Out & Prog On… … in each and every lexicon! Your pal and mine, ~ The Dreaded, Shredded and Unleaded Davey Cretin from CRETIN CLASSICS.

Switch Systematic Chaos and Falling Into Infinity (barely a C tier, dont know what you guys are hearing) and its a fine list.

I used to be a big DT fan -- saw them in 2000 on their original 'Scenes' tour, and it was one of the greatest concerts I've ever been to -- but I gave up on them (in large part, anyway), after Six Degrees, as Train of Thought just didn't do it for me, personally. Some exceptions for me, though: I enjoyed large parts of Octavarium and Black Clouds very much. But maybe I should give their more recent albums a fair chance, in all honesty.

Images and Words on top, then whatever you want

Falling Into Infinity was the first DT I heard, listened to the whole thing at a Tower Records listening station. I like it a lot, but haven't really resonated with any other DT albums.

The S and A tiers are right out of my preference. A Change of Seasons is also S tier, for me, and shoutout to Kyle for mentioning it.

S - Images and Words - Metropolis Pt. 2 - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence A - Awake - Train of Thought - Black Clouds & Silver Linings B - Falling Into Infinity - Octavarium - Systematic Chaos C - Dream Theater - The Astonishing - A View From the Top of the World D - Distance Over Time - A Dramatic Turn of Events - When Dream and Day Unite

I’d do.. S: scenes, six degrees, I&W A: falling, Awake, TOT B: debut, black clouds, octavarium C: self titled D: etc

Dudes... you forgot my fav ever track from them, a change of season. I think it's their masterpiece and most epic piece. Otherwise it's a well done tier list, totally agree with it.

I'd definetely swap falling and octavarium with train and black clouds. Also, a change of season if considered an alvum is number1 top S tier !!

Fun video, Gents. That's a bold statement putting Falling Into Infinity in A-tier. I think it should be D-tier, Black Clouds should take its place and Distance Over Time move up into the B-tier spot that Black Clouds was in. But still a fun watch!

Turned out surprisingly close to my ranking, except I would place "When Dream And Day Unite" to B tier. And I think astonishing would be much higher if it was much shorter and more varied.

It's hard just to put 3 in each area, But I think you guy did it, If the limit was removed It would have been an easier choice. Great job guys.

Distance Over Time in D tier is just about the craziest damn thing I've ever heard of in my entire life.

When dream and day unite is an S album. A fortune in lies...ytse jam ....the killing hand...afterlife...only a matter of time ...light fuse and get away....simply incredible

Surprisingly good list! I thought I was gonna be angry. Only REAL changes to be made: Astonishing - S-tier Kyle - RIP headphone users Fun episode! Hour easily went by.

Atta boy, Geoff.

correction on Manfred ... no unicycle

This is a VERY well thought out list. The only change I would make is to switch out Six Degrees and Awake. It's funny, because when Falling Into Infinity first came out, I thought it was a steaming pile of garbage. But over the years, it has grown on me immensely....particularly Peruvian Skies. I'm actually pretty content seeing it at an A tier. In any case, you guys are awesome! This was my first time watching you all, and I subscribed immediately. Looking forward to catching up on all of the content I've missed!

Love the second half of Falling into Infinity, not so much the first.

In the end not a completely crazy tier list for DT. FII is pretty high in A-tier but I wouldn’t rank it lower than B. FII is definitely DTs most under appreciated album. I would have included A Change of Seasons in this and it would be B tier for me as well. ACoS is one of the only 20+ minute “songs” I actually like. Train of Thought is S tier from me but I can see this being a polarizing album. The more prog leaning fans wouldn’t like it as much but the pure “metal-heads” like me were waiting for this album. Glad I recently found this channel.

Would love to see you do this again but with Portnoy as a guest.

Just started this and I'm wondering: Who is this Jeff guy? We really wouldn't get on much 😂