MP's Decade's End Album Poll

DT: Train of Thought
Opeth: Ghost Reveries (Although I'd place BWP as a very close second)
Pain of Salvation: The Perfect Element (RL being very close as well)
PT: In Absentia

And just two others I'd throw up there...
Coheed and Cambria: Good Apollo IV Part 1
Riverside: Second Life Syndrome  (Easily my favorite band this decade)

The albums that inspired me the most:

DREAM THEATER
-- Train of Thought (2003)

NEAL MORSE:
- Sola Scriptura (2007)

OPETH:
-- Ghost Reveries (2005)

PORCUPINE TREE:
-- Lightbulb Sun (2000)

  PAIN OF SALVATION:
-- Remedy Lane (2002)


 

I know...its very hard!!!

That's what she said

What a great decade!!
Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009)
Sola Scriptura (2007)
Watershed (2008)
Fear Of A Blank Planet (2007)
Remedy Lane (2002)

MP you should have set it up as a poll with multiple options
 
1) DT - SDoIT. BC&SL is very, very close to this and in some ways (like Jordans playing) I like slightly better. But
all in all SDoIT highlights everything that I love about DT. Heaviness alongside beauty. This album would easily be
in my top 10 of the decade. Both this album and BC&SL relied less on the 'inspirational corner' feeling I get from
DT's other albums this decade, and to me sounds like pure DT. Plus...we get more music with SDoIT
 
2) NM - Testimony. 'I wish there was a way to start again'...god this is a beautiful album. I imagine NM had these
feelings and emotion pent up for quite awhile, agonizing over what to do about Spock's and all the while this
music was welling inside of him. And when it all flowed out it came alive. IMO no NM album will ever top this.
 
3) Opeth - Ghost Reveries. A few short years ago I would have NEVER believed that I would choose a Black/
Death metal album for my personal top 10. This is easily the best album (IMO) released in the last 10 years
and I've even started a thread and asked others if they agree...several did. Heavy, beautiful, intense, ambience...
man this album has it all. Best album in 10 years by ANY band.
 
4) PT - Deadwing. So maybe I give this a slight edge because it's the first PT album I bought. But it didn't take long
until I had my hands on ALL the PT albums and I heard them all side by side in a matter of 2 years and this one
still stands out to me as the strongest. I love it and when I amended my personal top 10...this made the list.
 
Can't comment on PoS.

My gut-feeling tells me to vote as follows:

DREAM THEATER: Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (2002)
NEAL MORSE: Sola Scriptura (2007)
OPETH: Ghost Reveries (2005)
PORCUPINE TREE: Lightbulb Sun (2000)
PAIN OF SALVATION: Be (2004)

My mind says you could make a case for every album of each artist. Ah well, some acts might just be TOO good to limit them to a single album. And since every album has it's own personal emotion attached to it, no answer can be wrong.

Good luck with your own list!

DREAM THEATER:
-- Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (2002)

NEAL MORSE:
-- ? (2005)

OPETH:
-- Ghost Reveries (2005)

PORCUPINE TREE:
-- In Absentia (2002)

PAIN OF SALVATION:
-- Remedy Lane (2002)

DREAM THEATER 
SDOIT
NEAL MORSE
I don't like Neal Morse, and I'm not too familiar with most of his stuff, so I can't pick an album.
OPETH
Watershed
PORCUPINE TREE
The Incident
PAIN OF SALVATION
Be

DREAM THEATER:
-- Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009)

PORCUPINE TREE:
-- Fear Of A Blank Planet (2007)

PAIN OF SALVATION:
-- Remedy Lane (2002)

DT--- Octavarium

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence had an amazing balance of the older sound, the newer sound, and sounds you've yet to explore further (parts of Misunderstood and Disappear kind of stand out in the DT catalog).  The epic on the second disc is beyond awesome.  So for DT, I think that's your best for this decade.  Systematic Chaos comes close, and if it was "song" of the decade I'd consider the title track of Octavarium, but for albums, Six Degrees (which you autographed for me a few months back, thanks Mike XD).

For Opeth, Blackwater Park, hands down.  All of their albums are strong but Blackwater was what really brought them to a whole other level.  That album will always be a classic for me.

Porcupine Tree I totally can't decide.  In Absentia, Fear of a Blank Planet and The Incident all have their merits and if it were up to me they'd all be in the proverbial Prog history books.  They just have an amazing talent for well-structured, balanced prog rock albums.  But, if I absolutely must pick one... Fear of a Blank Planet.  There wasn't a weak moment on that album.  Not a moment.  Nothing that left you disappointed or bored.  It was pretty damn near perfect.

As for Pain of Salvation and Neal Morse, I don't think I'm well-listened enough to give an enlightened response, unfortunately.

DT: Train of Thought
Neal Morse: ?
Opeth: meh
PT: meh
POS: meh

Very, VERY hard to choose, indeed. Specially for DT. But here are my picks:

- DT: Siz Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (very close to BC&SL, but it has more strong songs, imho)
- Neal Morse: ? (also close to Testimony, but stronger in general)
- Opeth: Watershed (already a classic)
- Porcupine Tree: In Absentia (always my favorite)
- Pain Of Salvation: Be (not really a big fan of PoS but this is surely my favorite)

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
?
Blackwater Park
Lightbulb Sun

DT - Train of Thought
First DT album I purchased, so it has a bit of a sentimental value. Plus it fucking dominates.

NM - Testimony
Only NM album I've really listened to, so there you go.

Opeth - Blackwater Park
Tough to chose between this or Morningrise as my favorite Opeth album, but clearly the best of the decade IMO.

Porcupine Tree - Lightbulb Sun
Favorite album by them period

Pain of Salvation - Remedy Lane
This was the toughest choice for me, because TPE, RL, and Be are all incredible. But Remedy Lane wins because of the title track and A Trace of Blood.

Dream Theater - It was really tough to chose between Octavarium and 6DOIT, But I will go with 6DOIT mainly becuase of the second disc. I am happy to see that the majority agree with me about those two ^^

Porcupine Tree - Here it was very difficult to chose between In Absentia and Deadwing, but at the end the amazing song "3" off IA made me chose - In Absentia!

Pain of Salvation - The Perfect Element.

DT:  (wow this is a really hard one)
SYSTEMATIC CHAOS
I know this isn't the popular choice, but I always thought this one had the best production (actually BC&SL might have better production, but JP's guitar tone I think is better on SC) and incredible songwriting

Opeth: (In my opinion, this is a "Hands-down, no contest" pick)
GHOST REVERIES

DT - 8V (like Rushman, BC&SL hasn't been out long enough, but very close)
Neal Morse - One
Opeth - Watershed
Porcupine Tree - In Absentia
Pain of Salvation - BE

DREAM THEATER:
--  Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (2002).......even though "This Dying Soul" (my favorite of DT) is on Train Of Thought

NEAL MORSE:
--  One (2004)........................I do love Sola Scriptura & Testimony, but One is amazing

OPETH:
--  Watershed (2008)

PORCUPINE TREE:
-- Deadwing (2005)

PAIN OF SALVATION:
-- Remedy Lane (2002) 

(1) Six Degrees
(2) One
(3) Watershed
(4) Fear of a Blank Planet
(5) Remedy Lane


I agree with MP for the most part, but Pain of Salvation is on a constant decline since Remedy Lane.  Their recent EP was horrendous.

I think Devin Townsend should have been added to this list.

DT: Six Degrees (8V would be my second choice)

Neal Morse: ?

Opeth: Ghost Reveries (this is the hardest choice of all. I love Blackwater Park and Watershed just as much)

Porcupine Tree: Deadwing

Pain of Salvation: Remedy Lane

DT: SDOIT
Opeth: Black Water Park
PT: In Absentia
PoS: Remedy Lane
 
tough choices for Pt and PoS..

I'll go:

DT - 6DOIT (The Glass Prison is my favorite song, ever!)
PT - Actually going to say the incident, just can't stop listening to it
Opeth - Deliverance
NM - Testimony
 
Can't answer on POS, haven't really gotten into them yet.

DREAM THEATER:
-- Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (2002)

NEAL MORSE:
-- Sola Scriptura (2007)

OPETH:
-- Blackwater Park (2001)

PORCUPINE TREE:
-- In Absentia (2002)

PAIN OF SALVATION:
-- The Perfect Element Pt 1 (2000)

Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Neal Morse - Testimony
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Porcupine Tree - Deadwing
Pain of Salvation - Remedy Lane

Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (BC&SL running up very closely)
Neal Morse - Sola Scriptura
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Porcupine Tree - In Absentia
Pain of Salvation - Be

Dream Theater: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence.  Still my second favorite DT release behind Awake.
Porcupine Tree: In Absentia.  This is my favorite album of the decade.
Opeth: Ghost Reveries.  This was the album where Opeth finally clicked for me.  Watershed is a close second.

Not really a big fan of Neal Morse or POS.

This are my votes:

DT 6DOIT
Neal  Sola Scriptura
opeth ?
PT In Absentia
PoS  BE

For me would be:

Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence Neal Morse - ?
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Porcupine Tree - Fear Of A Blank Planet
Pain Of Salvation - Be

'Twas really hard, specially DT and PT...I was between 6DoIT and 8V...and with PT I was between Deadwing and FoaBP

Very hard to pick, indeed.

And I can't pick a Dream Theater album, I love them all!

As for the others:
Neal Morse: A difficult choice between ? and Sola Scriptura... I'll go with the latter.

Opeth: A Very difficult choice between the last two albums...I'll go with Ghost Reveries.

Porcupine Tree: An easy one; Deadwing. First album I heard by them and it was on repeat on my playlist for a *long* time. (From its release date until Octavarium was released, to be exact. :P)

Pain of Salvation: Not that easy as I'm not that familiar with their stuff, I've listened to the albums and so far my favourite would be One Hour by the Concrete Lake, which isn't on the list as it was a 1999 album, so I guess that's no help. :P

Wow that is hard especially the DT ones so I just picked the albums I listen to the most
 
DREAM THEATER: Train Of Thought (2003)
NEAL MORSE: Sola Scriptura (2007)
OPETH: Blackwater Park (2001)
PORCUPINE TREE:  Fear Of A Blank Planet (2007)
PAIN OF SALVATION:  Remedy Lane (2002)

DREAM THEATER: 


-- Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009) 


NEAL MORSE: 

-- Sola Scriptura (2007) 



OPETH: 

-- Watershed (2008) 


PORCUPINE TREE: 

-- Deadwing (2005) 



PAIN OF SALVATION: 

-- Be (2004) 

Tough choices, I own and have spent countless hours listening to all albums mentioned...my picks:

DT - 6 Degrees
Neal - One  (toughest decision for me)
Opeth - Ghost Reveries
PT - Deadwing
POS - Be

For DT = 6DoIT
For PT = In Absentia

Not really into the other bands listed.

Train of Thought

Ghost Reveries

Fear of a Blank Planet

Dream Theater - Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (best of this decade and my personal favorite of dt)
 
Opeth - Blackwater Park (My introduction to Opeth, a close to perfect album)
 
Porcupine Tree - Deadwing (Really hard to choose here, but this one have something special)
 
Pain of Salvation - Be (Hard to get into, but clearly their greatest work imo)
 
 

DREAM THEATER:
-- Train Of Thought (2003)

OPETH:
-- Blackwater Park (2001)

DT: Six Degrees...

Neal Morse: Testimony 

Opeth: Blackwater Park

PT: In Absentia

PoS: Remedy Lane 

Dream Theater:  Octavarium
I had a hard time with this, mostly because JR was a slow grower on me.  I chose Octavarium because, to me, this is the album where I finally felt that Jordan's sound and DT's style finally meshed.  I stopped wishing for KevMo or even Derek and just sat back and enjoyed the ride.  Congrats on a good decade and have fun with the next.

Bowing out of Neal Morse, since I've only listened to Sola Scriptura, but I'll throw in that I loved Spock's Beard - V.

Opeth: Black Water Park
This is the hardest pick for me.  I can't think of a single album of thier's that I didn't instantly fall in love with.  So I went with my first exposure to the band.  Prior to this band I couldn't stand growling vocals, so it says something when I became so completely mesmerized by this album on a casual listen through FYE headphones. 

Porcupine Tree:  In Absentia
This album is the winner by virtue of Stupid Dream coming out at the end of the last decade instead of the beginning of this one.  In Absentia was a good transition from what was into what was to come.  Every song was a winner, and this album still frequents my playlist.  Solid gold.

Pain of Salvation:  The Perfect Element Pt I
This was an easy choice.  This is Pain of Salvation's Awake.  It's the album that will haunt the band for the rest of thier career, as the fans will never stop comparing each and every album the band releases to it.  I still use this band to introduce other people to the band.

DT - 6 Degrees
NM - Testimony
Opeth - Blackwater
PT - In Absentia
I don't like PoS.
Wow, I could've almost just quoted Devnoy above me.