MP's Decade's End Album Poll

Dream Theater Octavarium
Of all the albums, it comes closest to capturing the entire Dream Theater sound.  And the songs are just particularly good.

Neal Morse ?
It's his most concise and totally rad from beginning to end.

Not that hard for me...

DT - 6DOIT
Neal Morse - Sola Scriptura
Opeth - Ghost Reveries
Porcupine Tree - Fear of A Blank Planet
Pain of Salvation - Be

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Sola Scriptura
Watershed
In Absentia
Scarsick

DREAM THEATER:  Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (2002)
NEAL MORSE: -- ? (2005)
OPETH: -- Ghost Reveries (2005)
PORCUPINE TREE: -- Deadwing (2005)
PAIN OF SALVATION: -- Scarsick (2007)
Bonus: TRANSATLANTIC -- Bridge Across Forever (2001)

kErrY
www.myspace.com/marshollow

Dream Theater - Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence

Neal Morse - Testimony

Opeth - Watershed

Porcupine Tree - Fear Of A Blank Planet

Pain Of Salvation - The Perfect Element pt. 1

You're welcome! ;)

Dream Theater: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Opeth: Blackwater Park
Porcupine Tree: Lightbulb Sun
Pain of Salvation: Remedy Lane

DT: 6doit
NM: ?
PT: deadwing

:)

DT: Black Clouds & Silver Linings

NM: Lifeline

O: Watershed

PT: The Incident

Haven't heard any PoS.

DT
BC&SL just because it's so fresh and crisp sounding.... SDOIT was a very close second (and don't get me wrong, I do enjoy them all, I just voted based on percentage of favorite tracks per album)

Morse:
?

Opeth:
WATERSHED! This album is probably the most solid front to back album ever (imo) and it's meaty, yet progressive...how perfect!

PT:
In Absentia

POS:
The Perfect Element

Some of the albums I don't know as well as the others, but those are what I'm going with!

DT- SDOIT
NM- Sola Scriptura
Opeth- Blackwater Park
PT- In Absentia
POS- Remedy Lane

I DONT HAVE ALL OF THOSE ALBUMS> IM SO ANGRY that I cant fullt participate.

Im missing POS and Opeth albums.   And I dont listen to PT (yet).


FUDGE!



Dream Theater's best of the decade is 6 Degrees of Inner Turbulence 
---by a narrow margin over Black Clouds & Silver Linings



of course I have all of Neal Morse's as well... this is actually a harder decision to make.

But I'll settle on his best being One.      all the others are so very close to it except Lifeline (the one that just doesn't do it for me as much).


This being said...     6 Degrees, Black Clouds, Testimony, and One are all in my top 7 albums of ALLL TIIMME

WOW! This is absolutely tough:
 
For DT I have to go with 6DOIT... as a total package it is an absolute monster... BC&SL is as listenable for me as Images and Words [which I thought would never be equalled] but still not overall up to the standard set by 6DOIT... that Overture is killer and hopefully Mike and the boys come up with a sweet, killer overture for the 12 steps suite when MP puts that together.
 
NM... all Neal's stuff is huge but the masterpiece for me has to be Sola Scriptura; Mike kicks ass on all Neal's stuff [what else is new!] but turns in a total "tour de force" on Sola Scriptura.
 
P.O.S.  Have to go with the remarkable concept record BE... all these are dynamite however.
 
Opeth... Black Water Park... simply like this one the best and they are all damn good.
 
Porcupine Tree ... boy this is tough but I have to lean towards In Absentia from 2002.
 
This was too tough... why did I knuckle under and do this anyway...

This is rather difficult for some, but others were a no brainer for me personally.

Dream Theater: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence.
Neal Morse: ?
Opeth: Blackwater Park
Porcupine Tree: In Absentia
Pain of Salvation: Remedy Lane


Tough calls: Black Clouds follows very closely behind Six Degrees for me, but hasn't quite stood the test of time yet. (Though I believe it will.) NM could have gone either way. Testimony is also solid as hell. Likewise, In Absentia could have been Deadwing.

Blackwater Park and Remedy Lane were no brainers, though they stand amongst a catalogue of 5-star albums.

not hard chioce for me

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

NEAL MORSE:
-- Testimony (2003)

OPETH:
-- Blackwater Park (2001)

PORCUPINE TREE:
-- In Absentia (2002)

PAIN OF SALVATION:
-- Be (2004)

DT - Octavarium

    I narrowed it down to 6Doit and 8V. Glass prison and blind faith almost made me pick 6Doit, but Octavarium's revolving theme was incredibly inspiring to me.

Opeth - Blackwater Park

    Surprisingly, this was the hardest to choose. Blackwater Park and Ghost Reveries are two of my favorite albums, but in the end, I believe BwP was the album that set the bar for the future Opeth releases.

Black Clouds
One
Ghost Reveries
In Absentia
Remedy Lane

Dream Theater: 6 Degrees

Neal Morse: One

Opeth: Blackwater Park

Porcupine Tree: Fear Of A Blank Planet

Pain Of Salvation: Remedy Lane


fairly easy

DT = TOT

Neal - Testimony

PT - Fear of a Blank Planet

Opeth - Ghost Reveries 

POS - "Fingerprint Or Stay the F*CK Home !"

DT: Train of Thought...my first love and still my fav.

Opeth: Blackwater Park...their definitive work.

POS: The Perfect Element Pt 1...the most solid beginning to end.

PT:  Deadwing...close with FOABP.

DT: Black Clouds & Silver Linings
OP: Ghost Reveries
PT: Deadwing

DREAM THEATER:
-- Train Of Thought (2003)

NEAL MORSE:
Never heard any Neal Morse

OPETH:
-- Blackwater Park (2001)

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

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

DT - Six Degrees
Neal Morse - ?
Opeth - Ghost Reveries
Porcupine Tree - In Absentia
PoS - Perfect Element

Dream Theater: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Porcupine Tree: In Absentia
Neal Morse: I haven't listened to his solo work
Opeth: Blackwater Park
Pain of Salvation: Remedy Lane

With Neal, I think the two best albums he has appeared upon (from this decade) are Snow by Spock's Beard and The Whirlwind this year (I think it is even better than Bridge Across Forever).

Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos (2007)
Neal Morse - ? (2005)
Opeth - Ghost Reveries (2005)
Porcupine Tree - Deadwing (2005)

It seemed like 2005 was a good year for these bands! Now somebody will come along and change Systematic Chaos to Octavarium...

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

OPETH: 
-- Blackwater Park (2001) 

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

PAIN OF SALVATION: 
-- Be (2004) 
 

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

A fantastic album! Masterpiece.

Opeth - Deliverance
DT - Octavarium
Pain of Salvation - TPE
PT - Inabsentia

that 1-album per-band rule should be open-to some exceptions in my mind.

Dream Theater - Sixe Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Opeth - Ghost Reveries
Porcupine Tree - Lightbulb Sun
Pain of Salvation - The Perfect Element Part 1
 

DREAM THEATER
 
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
 
This was the most difficult for me among these bands.  I went with Six Degrees because I think it is the most consistent offering from begining to end.  I would like to mention that I really enjoy all of these releases however, particularly Octavarium and Black Clouds (I think The Count of Tuscany, by itself, is the finest piece of music DT has written since Images, and The Shattered Fortress was an absolutely perfect conclusion to the AA Saga).
 
 
NEAL MORSE
 
Testimony
 
 
OPETH
 
Damnation
 
 
PORCUPINE TREE
 
Deadwing
 
 
PAIN OF SALVATION
 
The Perfect Element Pt. 1
 

6 Degrees, Ghost Reveries, The Perfect Element and Deadwing. Quite easy choices, really :D

Opeth- Blackwater Park
Porcupine Tree- In Absentia
Pain of Salvation- Remedy Lane
Dream Theater- Train of Thought
Neal Morse- One

I have no opinion regarding Neal Morse or Porcupine Tree, but of the remaining 3, that's easy:
 
Dream Theater - Octavarium
Opeth - Ghost Reveries
Pain Of Salvation - The Perfect Element

DT- 6DoIT (ToT was a close second)
PT- Deadwing (easy choice for me)
Neal Morse - One (personally I think this album is stellar but unfortunately I don't think his other albums are even in the same ballpark as this one. I played the hell out of his One album).

As the other two bands (Opeth, PoS), I don't care for them so I can not answer that question for those two bands.

So.....
What would be your picks from the below bands/artists?
ONLY ONE CHOICE allowed!!!
(And no live releases...just full-length studio albums)
 
 
I know...its very hard!!! 

MP

DREAM THEATER:
-- Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence (2002)
-- Octavarium (2005)

NEAL MORSE:
-- Testimony (2003)
-- ? (2005)
-- Sola Scriptura (2007)

OPETH:
Not qualified, Have none.

PORCUPINE TREE:
Not qualified, Only have Fear Of A Blank Planet

PAIN OF SALVATION:
-- Be (2004)
 

Best I can do on short notice.

-- Train Of Thought (2003)


-- ? (2005) 


-- Damnation (2003) 


-- In Absentia (2002) 


-- Remedy Lane (2002) 

Dream Theater: Train of Thought
Neal Morse: ?
Opeth: Ghost Reveries
Porcupine Tree: Deadwing
Pain of Salvation: Be

Mikey, Mikey... not to bust your balls too much, but you've fallen victim to the old "Not knowing what year the decade ends" trick... this is a common mistake that people make though- assuming that the decade runs from 0-9, when it's actually 1-10. Although by its very definition, a decade is any period of 10 years- the current decade for your purposes actually runs from 2001-2010, not 2000-2009. So, shall we reconvene this time next year to make this list? :)

Quite easy for me too !

DT : SDOIT
Opeth : Ghost Reveries
PoS : Be
PT : Deadwing
Neal Morse : One

As far as I'm concerned...
 
DREAM THEATER:
-- Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009)

NEAL MORSE:
-- ? (2005)

OPETH:
-- Watershed (2008)

PORCUPINE TREE:
-- Deadwing (2005)

PAIN OF SALVATION:
-- The Perfect Element Pt 1 (2000)
 
But yeah, tough choice indeed!