Album Rating: 3.0

Professional ratings

Review scores

Source Rating

AllMusic [18]

BW&BK 8/10[19]

Loudwire [20]

Metalholic.com [21]

About.com [22]

PremierGuitar.com [23]

Neobeat.co [24]

Dream Theater has received critical acclaim. Allmusic called it "one of the more dynamic, far-reaching albums in DT's catalog," giving special praise to Mike Mangini's full integration into the band. Loudwire gave the album a score of 4.5/5, praising its more streamlined sound compared to previous Dream Theater albums and saying that "Towering and atmospheric, ‘Dream Theater’ pushes the envelope into some new musical dimension, a cosmic realm reserved for the best".



It's like did we hear the same album???

Album Rating: 4.0

"one of the more dynamic, far-reaching albums in DT's catalog,"



"Towering and atmospheric, ‘Dream Theater’ pushes the envelope into some new musical dimension, a cosmic realm reserved for the best"



Calling so much bullshit, how is that even real? It's more like they've never heard DT before. But generally speaking, so many of their audiences are going to be expecting a good review, so they probably just got the biggest DT fan on site to review it. Loudwire too? A website which said that Blackwater Park was the second best metal song of the last decade, really?

Album Rating: 3.0

"This is one of the albums where a lot of thought and effort went into some masterful mixing and

producing. " -Ultimate Guitar



Sorry but the production and mixing are shit imo. They completely changed the sound of the bass, and

the album has one of the worst snare sounds ever. The reviewer said this was their best since 2002...

I'm surprised to see quite a lot people actually consider the s/t a top 3 DT album. Maybe we just

don't get it

Album Rating: 4.0

Bass? What bass?



I think they're newer DT fans and they worked backwards from the s/t

Album Rating: 3.0

The bass? Well, you know, the instrument your hear during 5 seconds on the album. But if anything, Myung's playing is the highlight of the album for me. Even though they completely change the sound of his bass, he has some very awesome lines.



Yeah, I guess maybe if I started listening to DT with the s/t, then I'd probably be digging it a lot more

Album Rating: 4.0

Probably, but the fact that DT have done so much better and that I've heard better means the s/t was only ever going to be poor for me. I'd much rather listen to more subtle prog anyway these days

Album Rating: 3.0

Yeah DT are growing off me a little, recently. For a long time they were my favorite band, but about two years ago I jammed a lot more classic 70s prog. I also discovered Steven Wilson and the whole Kscope label, and, well, I can easily say that I find a lot of those newer prog bands more creative, original and musically entertaining for me. They have something DT doesn't have; they have a larger vision of prog music, a vision that puts emotion before virtuosic stuff and that approaches a more subtle complexity.

Album Rating: 4.0

I grew up with DT and PT and I called the former my favourite band for years, but I only started exploring more styles within the last year, including Opeth and The Pineapple Thief. They have so much more depth to them, emotionally and musically and it was a nice experience. I find all of DT's flash too much if the songwriting is crap, which is generally is as of late. I just value songwriting over anything else right now and that subtle approach you're talking about

Album Rating: 3.0

It seems like everyone I talk to who loved DT as teenagers whos like almost 20 or around that age now have outgrown DT for most of the reasons you all mentioned, including me. It seems like they're just too cheesy and melodramatic to be taken seriously by adults. Not to sound pretentious or condescending, they're still amazing and I love their albums, but they really need to mature/expand their songwriting if they want more than just kids who haven't heard anything before Black Clouds listening to them

Album Rating: 4.0

Funny you say that. So you're kind of saying they were more mature in their songwriting when they were all in their 20's than now when they're in their 50's. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, but musically.



I'm not quite sure how they got to this stage of cheesiness. Perhaps they're still trying to be the prog band that do 'epic' songs when in reality their 'epic' songwriting capabilities is in dire need of some kind of rest to refuel

Album Rating: 3.0

I meant the fans like us not DT themselves, but a case could definitely be made for that too. In terms of the cheesiness, they were always pretty cheesy but it worked for them in the 90's, but after 6Deg (probably their least cheesy album for whatever reason) the cheese and melodrama just got worse and worse. I'm sure signing with RR didn't help things, especially since that first album was SC...

Album Rating: 4.0

When most of us loved this band when we were younger, we weren't into more challenging music e,g opeth. So when we did get into that stuff, DT's flaws became all too apparent, but a new listener obviously won't think that when having their first album being the s/t or SC.



However, the quality drop is noticeable and it's unreal how those music websites wank over it almost as much as DT themselves.

Album Rating: 3.0

They're probably just paid by the label to promote it, not that I have any idea just a guess. I'll admit I liked it at first, it was my first real review for this site and I think I gave it a 4 lol

Album Rating: 3.0

You know, when I was a diehard DT fan, a lot of people usually told me: "This band is just a bunch of pretentious guys who are simply really good at musical masturbation." And I always disagreed and argued. But yeah, my musical taste has matured since then, and I can say sometimes I agree with these people telling the band is just complexity for the sake of complexity. I mean, since Scenes, DT have only gone worse and worse with every album, with a few exceptions such as ToT and ADTOE (imo). Sometimes I think they simply could have stopped after Scenes or 6Deg. It's sad to say, but either they have lost all their will to create interesting music, either they have forgotten all the potential they have.

Album Rating: 4.0

"The progressive wankery shoved into all their previous records has been restrained in favor of improved and more consistent songwriting." - Oh, Talons.



I was told the exact same thing when I showed someone Stream a couple of years ago and I just could not wrap my head around how it was 'wank' of any kind. Let's be honest though, playing technical music is fun and definitely more interesting to play 1000 times live than something slow and atmospheric. I think that's the main thing that's holding them back, rather than forgetting all the potential they used to have. Call me naive, but maybe they just care about having fun than producing some genuinely thought provoking music anymore

Album Rating: 2.5

^ This



EDIT: Well, actually, the one above this...

Album Rating: 3.0

I think it's just complete lack of selfawareness, they think they're making this revolutionary epic technical music but no one will challenge them because of their talent and rep in the metal scene. These freaking metal magazines giving them amazing reviews certainly isn't helping

Album Rating: 3.0

Maybe, well, you know, if they love what they do know, good for them, their new sound just doesn't appeal me anymore. I don't blame them for wanting to have fun; after all, that's what music is for in the first place. However, to me it seems that for years they have been in a dilemna betweem having fun and pleasing the fans, with pleasing the fan finally winning over having fun. Which gave us albums like SC and Octavarium where they actually holded back their wants of having fun and made music strictly for their fans. And now, with the s/t, it seems that they made an album for their personal fun, which is a good thing, but we realize that they have fun in a suprisingly unoriginal way. I might be wrong though, it's just a hypothesis

Album Rating: 4.0

Yeah, I agree with both of your points. I wasn't saying they weren't entitled to their fun, I just think it limits them to what they can do and they just seem very unadventurous. Then again, I remember reading an interview in anticipation for the s/t where Petrucci said that it was that they only released the self titled after so long because it's supposed to be a typical Dream Theater album and them going back to their roots. Granted, DT did typical DT badly, but maybe that was the reason for the lack of originality on the album.

Album Rating: 4.0

Also, having fun is no excuse to poor lyricism!