Bands And Albums.

I love the way they change gears and ease / tighten the feel in their music........true masters. To me they are the link between 70's Progressive Rock ( Rush, Yes, E.L.P., Kansas ) and Metal. As for Petrucci, he's a master but he owes alot of his style to Yngwie Malmsteen/ Al di Meola, not being disrespectful to Mr. Petrucci and his followers.

have somebody heard symphony x?

Yes, Dream Theater fan here. They were the band that opened up my mind and ears to the possibilities of music. Before Dream Theater everything was four minutes in 4/4 time. Afterwards it was a new world.

Petrucci is also the guy who showed me a new world of guitar playing. His was the first stuff I came across that I went, "Wow, I can't play that." He's amazing and his technique is rock solid perfect. Watching him at G3 was a real schooling. I love Via and Satriani, but I thought they were not as good as Petrucci. He's on another planet it seems like. Virtuoso is a word invented for people like him.

I think Awake and Falling Into Infinity are the only weak spots when it comes to albums, and even those albums have some of my favorite tunes. It's actually difficult for me to listen to most non-progressive music now. It needs to have a really great hook or melody, otherwise I get bored (but there's still some great 4-minute music out there, don't get me wrong).

I agree, DT is amazing, they have an All-Star virtuoso line up.
But before DT there was still plenty of Prog music out there! Genesis, Yes, Emerson Lake And Palmer and even some Led Zeppelin stuff was not exactly in 4/4 all the time. Tarkus by E.L.P was 20 mins +.

But still. DT is awesome sick.

Fav. album is Train Of Thought. FTW.

I love Dream Theater and followed them since Images & Words, but there is something.....I can't quite put my finger on.

My ears and brain hear James LaBrie singing, and they both tell me that he is clearly highly talented and capable but something in my spine just crawls after too much of his singing. I can't explain it. It just bothers me. It makes no sense because he is so talented.

Make sure you check out that side project "Liquid Tension Experiment". They put out two CDs, I think.

Dream Theater is one of my all time favorite bands, i also have every CD and i cant really tell which one i like the best. I used to be so skeptical of the new album because for some reason i thought it was gonna be a "Pop" album so i decided not to get it then one day i got it and i think it is one of there best. I used to get tired of Labrie's voice but in Octivarium i feel he really nailed it. O yea and they sound amazing live I have seen them twice and they rocked the place, there tone was so good and Labrie's voice was EPIC! I cant wait for that new album to come out its gonna be great!

Yeaaaaah Hell Yaaaahhhh ! DT FAN HERE !!!!
DREAM THEATER RULEZ !!!!! MY #1 BAND ON MY FAVORITES LIST !

"Live another day, fly a little higher, find another reason to stay..."
-lovein' me some theatre!
Bout the worste thing you can say about DT is they are too good. Vocalist is a 10, john is a ten, bass player is a 10, drummer is a 10.
Metal really isn't my thing anymore but as far as technical skill -overall- considering each musician in the band... I would rate bele fleck first then dream theatre. I can't think of many other bands that would even be in this class: several awesome musicians.

It seems that no one really pays any attention to Metropolis. Train of thought is a totally metaled out sweet ass version of DT. But when it really comes down to it, I think that the Metropolis cd is top of the list for textbook DT material. It shows off each members great talent and expression through effortless styles of music. I think anyways. And to whom was asking about Symphony X, I have heard of them, and have like 4 or 5 albums. Really sweet band too.

Personally, I'm tired of Labrie on vocals. I wish they'd ditch him and get some fresh, young talent. Regardless, I think my favorite overall Dream Theater album is Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. That whole album is just phenominal all the way through. They've gotten a lot heavier now, which I do dig, but Metropolis Pt. 2 does me in in it's entirety every time. The new album... man, I swear, Petrucci improves 10-fold on every album. It's like he has a new sick solo on every album that captures where he is with his playing as a soloist. MAN. Outside of those, I must say that my favorite guitar solo of Petrucci's is the solo in Part 2 of 3 of the song Trial of Tears. It's a bit shreddy in parts, which I don't mind, but there's a ton of feel in that solo.

Symphony X is freakin' awesome as well. In my opinion, the album that puts them at the top of their game is V: The New Mythology Suite. That whole album is just phenominal. I must say I do enjoy their latest album a lot more than I enjoyed Odyssey. Russel's vocals on the new album are extremely passionate. I really think he shines on this album and he can certainly sing circles around James Labrie.

-Stephen

D.T...One of my personal, Favorite bands

have somebody heard symphony x?

OH yeah. I have DT and Symphony X CDs, incldg SC and PL. And my copy of The Lost Tracks of Danzig is on the way.

Huge DT fan here. What I really like about DT is the way the meld all different styles of music and transition between the styles in a single song.

John Petrucci is insane good. It's a given the whole band is. He is one guitarist that as much as I aspire to play like, I know I never will. Al Dimeola is another and I rate on par with Petrucci though the styles are different. Al is insane good on an acoustic.

Two of my top faves.

Dream Theater has been dominating my listening for the past 10 years

What I love about them is they KEEP GETTING BETTER AND BETTER!!

My favorite album is, believe it or not, is Octavarium. I know DT gets knocked by the hard core fans for wearing their influences on their sleeves, but that's what I LOVE about it. They do it SO well.

Funny thing: Octavarium has a huge Muse influence. (Portnoy even credits the influence, and calls Muse's "Abslotion" the "Best album of 2004, and possibly the decade." But I digress...) I had never actually listened to Muse before Octavarium. When I finally did, I thought "Awesome! these guys sound like Dream Theater!!" But no. Other way around. DT sounds like Muse these days, and I say great!

Consequently, I've become a hardcore Muse fan.

Dream Theater WHAT A JOKE!!!

the first time i saw them was on the Music HD channel and i was like "who the hell are these guys?!?" their singer sucks major ass who told him he could sing!?

Dream Theater WHAT A JOKE!!!

the first time i saw them was on the Music HD channel and i was like "who the hell are these guys?!?" their singer sucks major ass who told him he could sing!?

He is a big idle of Rush, hence the high voice. But they are fairly big amongst guitarists, Petrucci as I said in another thread, is a really good guitarist. His speed can break the back of most guitarists, even my favorite, Kirk Hammett. Kirk has slowed down, he is 45 and a bit exhausted. So he uses his wah pedal to cover up some sloppiness when he plays, he also uses it because he loves it. I do not blame the guy, he has been playing metal for 25 years, shredding the guitar necks into the ground, sooner or later you just collapse. His hands hurt him I believe you can see it in his face when he plays. I know if I play too fast my hands lock up and ache for hours.

Peace out, GuitarAnatomy.