Dream Theatre Albums Ranked

Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to concentrate further on the band that would eventually become Dream Theater. Though a number of lineup changes followed, the three original members remained together until September 8, 2010, when Portnoy left the band. Mike Mangini was announced as the new permanent drummer on April 29, 2011. In 1991, James LaBrie joined replacing Charlie Dominici as the lead singer of the band and has been the singer ever since. The band’s first keyboardist, Kevin Moore, left the band after three albums and was replaced by Derek Sherinian in 1995 after a period of touring. After one album with Sherinian, the band replaced him with current keyboardist Jordan Rudess in 1999. To date, Dream Theater has released fourteen studio albums. The band’s highest-selling release is their second album Images and Words (1992), which reached No. 61 on the Billboard 200 chart. Both the albums Awake (1994) and Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002) also entered the charts at No. 32 and No. 46, respectively, and received critical acclaim. Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory was ranked number 95 on the October 2006 issue of Guitar World magazine’s list of The greatest 100 guitar albums of all time. It is ranked as the 15th Greatest Concept Album as of March 2003 by Classic Rock Magazine. As of 2018, Dream Theater has sold over 12 million records worldwide and has received two Grammy Award nominations. Here are all dream theatre albums ranked.

Don’t miss out on the TIMELESS Dream Theatre music below! Click to experience the power of the famous Progressive Metal band.

10. Distance Over Time (2019)

“Distance Over Time appears to be somewhat of an appeal to those fans, with some solid heavy riffing and should erase any doubt that DT can still write amazing heavier songs.
Highlights: Paralyzed, Barstool Warrior, Room137, S2N, Pale Blue Dot. Honorable Mention: the surprisingly classic rock sounding Viper King. Make sure you get the version of the album with this bonus track on it.”

9. Systematic Chaos (2007)

“I can honestly say this album is one of their better ones. The musicianship, as always, is top notch and this album is one you can really listen to for long periods of time. James is singing some amazing melodies, Jordan is playing very well, John and John are great as ever, and Mike’s drumming is out of this world, but his singing…we’ll get to that later. John P.’s guitar skill is very well shown off on this album, especially on the 1st and 3rd tracks. He shreds it throughout the album, but he also plays some very passionate, well executed melodies that soar through the songs. Mike’s got huge drumming parts in these songs and John M. is there to back him up in keeping the rhythm section tight. All in all, the lineup on this album works.”

8. A Dramatic Turn of Events (2011)

“So, to A Dramatic Turn of Events, which in no way is reference to the departure of Mike Portnoy. From the classy beginning of the album, it smacks of a band given licence to do what they collectively want – and are good at – without being steered toward styles which don’t really do them justice. This licence has led them in the same direction and produced 9 outstanding progressive numbers, seemingly with ease.”

7. Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009)

I really see Black Clouds as a breakthrough album for DT. This is different, and in my opinion, better than almost everything that has come before. It’s more progressive without losing any of the hard edge. Long epic songs that are theme based but with abundant variety so that you are never even momentarily bored. Just when you think ‘wow, this is a great theme’ it changes to another great theme. It is almost as if each song is 5-6 good songs tied together. The only song on the album that gets repetitive is The Best of Times, which is still a very good song. We get growling from DT for the first time ever – not LaBrie but Portnoy – and as someone who generally does not like growling, this plays out very well. “

6. Octavarium (2005)

“It seems that the progressive heavy metal groups do not suffer from the same problems that plague their neo-prog counterparts (namely stagnation) and offer up one potentially viable direction for progressive rock in the 21st century. Dream Theater achieves this by fusing aspects of the classic 1970s progressive rock style with contemporary trends in heavy metal and other experimental styles – the fact that they favor more direct and relevant subject matter for their lyrics also helps. Indeed, Octavarium (2005) is a fresh sounding album that provides me with the same level of excitement that albums like Relayer (Yes, 1974) brought me many, many, years ago.”

See more: Pink Floyd Albums Ranked

5. Train of Thought (2003)

“”Train of Thought” was a transitional album for Dream Theater on which they embraced a harder-edged sound, less progressive and more metallic. It is interesting that the progressive metal band Symphony X also transitioned to a rawer sound with “The Odyssey” in 2002. The harder-edged sound of ToT was continued by DT on “Octavarium” and “Systematic Chaos”. Based on pre-release reviews, DT’s new album “Black Clouds & Silver Linings” will continue this trend.”

4. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002)

Dream Theater is a very exciting ensemble and has churned out some thrilling progressive heavy metal. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002) is certainly no exception and comprises the band’s magnum opus; a 2 disc set split between relatively shorter tracks and the progressive heavy metal suite on disc 2. Although I prefer the artier sound of disc 2, I found both discs to be electrifying. Indeed, I can not just listen to one disc.”

3. Awake (1994)

“This album was released in 1994 as their 3rd album. What a great 3rd album this is. John Petrucci is arguably at his best here and all hands down, Portnoy has never done anything better than this album; His drumming is at it’s top form and I haven’t heard it sound cooler than this. LaBrie sings much differently than on Images and Words (See my review for that), but it’s nevertheless extremely good. Kevin Moore would ultimately leave after this album, but he leaves the band after 3 amazing albums of his talent. He makes Rudess sound like a child in comparison to sheer skill and mastery on Keyboard. Moore is also a much better song-writer.”

2. Images and Words (1992)

“Every fan of progressive metal knows this album in one shape or form, so there isn’t anything I’m going to add about the original that’s helpful here. But I’ve only recently started adding the Music On Vinyl Dream Theater LPs to my collection and so I thought I would start with where it all began (figuratively of course, since this was obviously their second release as DT). The record sounds incredible at both low and high volumes, there is really almost no surface noise and it was very clean upon arrival (although most of the MOV records arrive in excellent condition). I do notice that I have to turn the volume up a little higher on this pressing compared to some of the others, which is not a problem. I think it would be interesting to hear this recording on a wider groove double LP like some of the others in the series, but on the other hand, the longer play per side feels more like listening to records from that era. The glossy cover looks and feels spectacular and the lyrics sheet (I page insert) is very easy to read. Perfect.”

1. Metropolis, Part 2: Scenes From a Memory (1999)

“This album goes a long way to proving those criticisms wrong and establishing DT as a force to be reckoned with beyond just their ability to shred. What was originally just a follow up to a single song from their Images and Words album ends up being a masterpiece that has it all. It’s a concept album that tells a story. It’s a cohesive album with an overture (arguably dream theater’s finest instrumental song ever), movements and recurring themes throughout the album. Not only do they bring their trademark shredding and technical prowess, but the song writing is top notch and very powerful and the vocals have never been better. For any prog-metal fan, it just doesn’t get much better than this album. Quite frankly, any fan of prog or prog-metal who hasn’t heard this yet is missing out on what is essentially Dream Theaters equivalent to Close to Edge for Yes.”