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Name a better prog rock album than Dream Theater's 'When Dream And Day Unite'



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Drake

Member
Images and Words and Octavarium are both superior IMO. Octavarium (the album) is their best overall work while Learning to Live (off images and words) is their best song. Just my opinion, however.
 
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lock2k

Banned
Awake is pretty good. My favorite. The First seven string riff I heard was Lie.

Wes Borland has some good points though. I like Images and Words, Awake, A Change of Seasons, and Six Degrees but most of DT's catalog while cool does not get stuck in my Head like Rush, or Tool or Opeth.

Also... anything Pain of Salvation does fucking rocks.
 
Dream Theater really isnt my thing, but I do enjoy the genre. Heres some favorites, all well known:

Animals As Leaders - The Joy of Motion



Gojira - The Way of All Flesh



The Dillinger Escape Plan - Miss Machine



Opeth - Blackwater Park


Out of those, I do really enjoy Dillinger Escape Plan.
 

Tschumi

Member
:/ Genesis Foxtrot, Selling England by the Pound, hell A Trick of the Tail... Songs from the Wood by Jethro Tull... IN THE COOOURT OF THE CRIMSON KIIIING



I love all the prog bands which came after but they're really just a metronome click in the auditorium that is Genesis raarrr (slight hyperbole)

Edit 2: just the idea that there's a chance someone might hear the above album for the first time thanks to my post causes me to clench in excitement
 
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Tschumi

Member
Not a fan of Tool, myself 🤷‍♀️ Too many songs are just soundscapes / ear candy instead of shredding guitars and unhinged drum solos.
I'm not going to ask for your response or anything, because this is subjective and you can most certainly be you.. but like, i can think of a plurality of Tool songs that are unhinged drum solos, shredding guitars, and like a bazillion other things.. if you want me to give some, first tell me what you have heard, so i don't name drop a track that you've already decided wasn't good enough. No drama, all love, see I'm a tool missionary is all.

Tommy, Deltron 3030.
I wanna devise a virussss
 

Tschumi

Member
It's so good.Somewhat related.

Bit cringy to watch the live performance on YouTube with Dan the Automator conducting the music with a baton when it.. doesn't quite call for it... But other than that, my favourite rap album after Madvillainy i think.. which is also a prog album.. i think..
 
Bit cringy to watch the live performance on YouTube with Dan the Automator conducting the music with a baton when it.. doesn't quite call for it... But other than that, my favourite rap album after Madvillainy i think.. which is also a prog album.. i think..
Madvillainy is blissful.

You might enjoy Pharoahe Monch. Intelligent rhymer.

 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
- Most "Yes" albums from 1971-74.
- Trilogy by ELP
- Merlin by Kayak
- Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, Ommadawn, Incantations, Amarok, QE2, 5 Miles Out, Crises, and Platinum

Maybe all aren't better but tough to beat.
 
all of these


If you want metal excluded 80% of prog in the '70s is better, I don't get why anyone would think this particular DT album is special.

edit - I'm giving it a second chance right this second, maybe I was being too hard? It feels like Rush worship but that's fine, I remember HATING this back in the day, though.
 
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I'm not going to ask for your response or anything, because this is subjective and you can most certainly be you.. but like, i can think of a plurality of Tool songs that are unhinged drum solos, shredding guitars, and like a bazillion other things.. if you want me to give some, first tell me what you have heard, so i don't name drop a track that you've already decided wasn't good enough. No drama, all love, see I'm a tool missionary is all.


I wanna devise a virussss
I've listened to Fear Inoculum, Undertow, and 10,000 Days albums in their entirety.
 
Fields of the Nephilim - Elizium

"At the gates of silent memory" is a track from this album.



They are usually counted as "Goth Rock", but in my opinion what they did was more Prog than anything else.
 
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Gentle Giant generally goes unmentioned, sadly, but yeah this is a great album. Good callout.
I was tempted to go with Octopus but this is my favourite GG album.

I think you meant to say:

”Name a better prog metal album than Dream Theater’s Images & Words”

And I agree, it’s impossible to name one.
To be fair, I actually like this album but there are just so many that are iconic.

For example:


xh7VJTa.jpg


And if you want an example of prog-metal that's relatively modern.....

eC6nvqX.jpg
 
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Tschumi

Member
I've listened to Fear Inoculum, Undertow, and 10,000 Days albums in their entirety.
Well, I'll just say.. Fear Inoculum is probably their most polarizing, Undertow and 10,000 days are, to me, their two worst albums. Aenima and Lateralus are the best studio albums, and Salival contains a few great tracks - including a cover of Led Zeppelin's No Quarter that I think is the superior take.. If you want specific songs... I'm willing to venture onto that limb with the 'subjectivity' caveat firmly understood :p
 

Duellist

Member
Easy, absolutely adore this album. And although I liked future albums, they never came close to this again.

erWJz08.jpg
 
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Fbh

Member
Liquid Tension Experiment 1.

Because you get the same Dream Theater instrumental goodness without LaBrie making your ear bleed with his horrible singing:
 
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Liquid Tension Experiment 1.

Because you get the same Dream Theater instrumental goodness without LaBrie making your ear bleed with his horrible singing:


Not even the best LTE album (though Universal Mind is probably their best song)

I, for one, happen to like James' singing on the whole
 
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Drake

Member
I was tempted to go with Octopus but this is my favourite GG album.


To be fair, I actually like this album but there are just so many that are iconic.

For example:


xh7VJTa.jpg


And if you want an example of prog-metal that's relatively modern.....

eC6nvqX.jpg

I've been meaning to listen to Crimson. I hear it's an incredible album/song. I've been on quite the Death Metal kick lately.
 
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You plebs need some culture
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I've been meaning to listen to Crimson. I hear it's an incredible album/song. I've been on quite the Death Metal kick lately.

It's pretty much the death metal Thick as a Brick. One song - 40 minutes. It's amazing.
 
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Well, I'll just say.. Fear Inoculum is probably their most polarizing, Undertow and 10,000 days are, to me, their two worst albums. Aenima and Lateralus are the best studio albums, and Salival contains a few great tracks - including a cover of Led Zeppelin's No Quarter that I think is the superior take.. If you want specific songs... I'm willing to venture onto that limb with the 'subjectivity' caveat firmly understood :p
In fairness, since I haven't listened to Aenima or Lateralus (okay, I'll probably put them on and recognize one or two songs, inevitably) I will pick up the ball and give those albums a listen before commenting further. If I happened to hear their two "worse" albums then maybe I didn't get to hear the band in its prime.


People keep bringing up Train of Thought, which I have owned and enjoyed since debut back in 2003. Excellent album. I was learning drumkit back in 2001-2004 which is what got me into Dream Theater in the first place. The instrumentals are great. Train of Thought -- specifically -- is the album I listened to for the whole summer while I saved up money to buy a double-bass pedal, and I learned quite a few of the beats from this album when I bought that pedal.

But here's the thing: Dominici's vocals on When Dream And Day Unite are pure magic. That's why I still rate the OP album higher. It's a technically-sound album in terms of the instrumentals -- any good prog rock album should be. The glitzy vocals stitch it all together into the crowning achievement of prog rock.

For sure, Train of Thought is prog rock that a metalhead could get into and has far wider appeal. The vocals were also more diverse and... contemporary.

I stand by my claim in the OP though. 🤷‍♀️
 

TrainedRage

Banned
I can beat that....

Queensryche - Empire





Come at me bro!!!!


Hush now dont you cry, wipe away the tear drop from your eye.
 

Relativ9

Member
Any Tool album

First post nails it.

Sadly the music video seems to have been pulled from basically everywhere, it really adds something to it. But holy hell The Pot is good, I mean there are like 20 other amazing Tool songs, but The Pot man...The Pot.

 
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Tschumi

Member
I will pick up the ball and give those albums a listen before commenting further.
Great! I think Undertow was the better of the two you've heard, Prison Sex being a highlight.. 10,000 days just felt shallow across the board, i know people just a few years younger than me probably think a lot more highly of 10k because songs like The Pot would might made it a phenomenon in certain highschools, or cliques, but after Aenima and Lateralus it was a big come down in lyrics, vocals, subject matter, and experimental music.

Aenima was the first masterpiece, but Lateralus is the great masterpiece.. and like i said, if you don't wanna put so much time into listening, the Salival live album has a few top covers and reworkings.. I think a lot of tool might fall under your "soundscape" designation, but i guess it's what they do with that effect that counts.. the message they convey. Also probably depends on how much you need to hear that message at the time.
 
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