3.5 great

Nick Butler STAFF | February 21st 07

In Train of Thought, Dream Theater have made possibly their most intelligent move yet. Unlike most of the band's other outings, which boil down to fairly derivative prog rock, this album is, at its core, a catchy, driving metal album in the vein of Metallica's self-titled. And that means that you don't need to be a Dream Theater fan to love this record. Brilliant! "As I Am", "This Dying Soul", and "Endless Sacrifice" are all knockouts, lifting willy-nilly from Slipknot, Pantera, and Metallica, and then dressing it up in the ludicrous instrumental wankery their fans love. It's thrilling stuff. The rest of the album doesn't quite reach those heights, but it's still good stuff. This is where every newcomer should start. 4 Bumps | Bump

1.0 awful	Larry "John" Rossfield | February 11th 07
This album is utter garbage. The music is largely unstructured, very the tradional "intro/verse/chorus/bridge" structures being abandoned. While the musicianship is of a highstandard, the playing style resembles those of session musicians playing off charts rather than virtuso instrumentalists playing self-composed master pieces. 1 Bumps | Bump

4.5 superb

whatduffhuck7 | September 4th 06

Endless Sacrifice, and In the Name Of God are going to be two of my favorite songs for 20+ years. Just becuase of the musicianship, melody, and sheer talent. This is my favorite dream theater album just above Scenes From A Memory. The long songs grows on you when you really know the song front to back. At first listen the long songs just annoy you, but when you really listen to the song many many times and know the song front to back, you wish they were longer. The 14 minute masterpiece "In the Name of god" have some of the best lyrics ive herd in awhile. somewhat contervercial but i agree with what he says 100%. Vacant, the only song under 7 minutes, and way under, is a nice slow dream theater song. surely not a skipable track. im sure people who actually play guitar, or bass, or drums would appreciate this album more than others but surely people who do not play these instruments will also love this progressive metal band/album 1 Bumps | Bump

4.0 excellent	Progmaster85 | October 22nd 09
Dream Theater's heaviest album is one of their most underrated. Bump

4.0 excellent	Maxwell Shindippon | August 19th 09
Much heavier than prior DT releases, Train Of Thought still manages to be a spectacular, aggressive sonic assault that shows a heavy side to DT. Keyboards are much less prominent here, but when they do emerge and combine with the heavy riffing, the end result is spectacular. Bump

4.0 excellent

Alexander | April 23rd 09

Dream Theater for me was always one of those bands that are better musicians then they are songwriters. But I personally believe that they know how to use their heavy sound very well. So despite its slightly more straightforward approach in comparison to most records: Train Of Thought is there debatably their best written album with the songwriting on par with their given incredible musicianship/technicality. Also props for them taking their heavy influences-(Metallica, Iron Maiden, even some Slipknot) and mixing it with their progressive sound and outdoing it alltogether. Bump

4.5 superb

James McDermott | February 23rd 08

For the longest time, I had been meaning to checkout Dream Theater. I heard that they were a great band, but for one reason or another I just never got around to it and nothing looked to appealing to me. Finally I decided to see what all the talk was about now that I will be seeing them live on the Progressive Nation Tour this year. I have to say that I was very impressed with what I heard and sad to see that I had been missing out on some good stuff. From the start Train of Thought blew me away. As I Am was such a refreshing song to hear and the masterful guitar solos throughout the album were a real treat. The only track I really didn’t care for much was In the Name of God. Bump

2.5 average

clairvoyant | April 2nd 07

I have noticed that this album gets quite a lot of praise on this site. I for one, was quite disappointed when it was released. So As I Am was impressive, but it was awfully metal-like and continued that trend from Six Degrees...one album in which I was not too fond of. The biggest thing I noticed was John Petrucci's soloing on this album, which is at its all time worst. Straight shred with absolutely no meaning, but that would fortuantely change on the next album. Songs like This Dying Soul and Honor Thy Father come off feeling trite, with Dream Theater playing on somebody elses turf. They do a good job on Endless Sacrifice and Vacant, but neither of those two are very memorable songs. The only completely standout track is the closer, In The Name of God, a very dark song about several cult leaders, most notably David Koresh and the Branch Davidians. Topped off with Jordan Rudess's only true "moment" on the album (right after the dueling guitar/keyboard solos), this is truly one of Dream Theater's best songs ever. Any metalhead who wants an intro to Dream Theater should with this album, but otherwise, I'd pick up several other DT titles first. Bump

4.5 superb

The JoZ | August 14th 06

This album is one of the best for what it is. It is relatively straightforward, epically written, ball-busting progressive metal. It's a furious assault on the senses that never fully stops, it simply catches it's breath. Whether or not you enjoy listening to 3 minute solo sections and 11 minute long songs on a regular basis, the musicianship and headbangingness of this album cannot be denied. Bump