Falling Into Infinity Appreciation Thread

Everybody seems to consider it the worst of the band's albums, and it was my favorite for a while. I would like to hope some other people rank it as one of the best too.


Proceed, my little lab mice

Personally I love FII. Not just because of Trial of Tears.
I think all of the songs are great. Brings back memories of JP's solo in the beinning of Hollow Years during the ToT tour. Amazing.

Second favourite DT album. I think that says everything!

I don't know why, but I really feel this album has a set "timbre" throughout the entire 78 minutes. Even though it is third for me behind Awake and Images and Words respectively, I probably enjoy listening to it the most front to back.

Yeah, aside from one or two songs on this CD, most people's absolute fav DT songs are not on this album, whearas i could consider them all my top 11 songs. Oh and DerSher is grossly underrated as well.


By the way, what about JP's solo in the middle of Hollow Years?!

By the way, what about JP's solo in the middle of Hollow Years?!

That too.

I just pulled it out this past weekend and earlier this week at work for a couple of spins.

Lines in the Sand is one of my favorite songs, period. I like the extended treatment it got on the first leg of World Tourbulence and seeing Doug Pinnick sing on it during the second leg.

I could never consider an album that has a song like You Not Me as a favorite.
FII has a few really good songs then a bunch of average songs with a couple of real stinkers.


Trial of Tears
Lines In The Sand
Peruvian Skies

Are the only saving grace IMO.

The rest of it is blah to yuck for me.

ORIGINAL: Speeding Wheels

I could never consider an album that has a song like You Not Me as a favorite.
FII has a few really good songs then a bunch of average songs with a couple of real stinkers.


Trial of Tears
Lines In The Sand
Peruvian Skies

Are the only saving grace IMO.

The rest of it is blah to yuck for me.

I was going to post my favorites off of this album, but then they all seemed to work..... yeah, except You Not Me. Unlike everything else DT has written (or in this case "co-written," which is most likely the reason for my thesis), it doesn't grow on me. It suffers from terrible shrinkage. But as Mike said, those were the years of the band being screwed with the management, and to pull an album like this off at a time like that is pretty amazing to me.

The album is good but it could have been much better, I dont think it reached its full possible potential.

It's a great album but only their worst by default...although personally I'm not all that fond of SDOIT.

It took me a really long time to fully embrace this album. I used to think it was Derek Sherinian. Then I thought it might be the production values. In retrospect I think it was just all of the well-documented compromises the band had to make to the record label. FII could have been a fantastic album, but to me it had too many missed opportunities.

Omit JLMB and YNM and replace with RTK and I think it would have been a lot more enjoyable to me.

I do like Anna Lee immensely, even though a lot of people don't like it.

At first I didn't really like it, but after watching a few of the tracks that Mike performs on the 'Liquid Tension' DVD - I think [now] that it is very good! I like to listen to it late at night with my headphones, as it's an album that is very relaxing and dosen't require a lot of attention.

I just don't like Falling Into Infinity.

New Millenium has some cool parts but doesn't go together well.
You Not Me is ok.
Peruvian Skies is acctually a cool track
Hollow Years sucks unless its being played at Budokan.
I just don't like Burning My Soul
Hells Kitchen is ok
Lines in the Sand is too long
The Live Version of Take Away my Pain is good
Just Let Me Breathe goes no where
Never Listened to Anna Lee
Trial of Tears is good

This album has a shitload of potential but sadly it usually goes nowhere or is beaten to death.

Damn shame.

And every note Derek Sherinian plays on this album kicks ass. It's not his goddamn fault the album wasn't good.

To be fair to this album, the live versions of Take Away my Pain and Hollow Years (assuming they always play it like at Budokan) are very good and I really like Peruvian Skies and Trial of Tears.

Again though, it just doesn't live up.

New Millenium - Cool riff, but too long. 10x better at Budokan.
You not Me - Probably their worst song, but again, by default. It's decent.
Peruvian Skies - DT has never done a song like this one before or since. Damn, why not?
Hollow Years - Meh. Budokan version kicked ass though.
Burning My Soul - Actually a pretty cool song.
Hell's Kitchen - Quite possibly their best instrumental.
Lines in the Sand - IMO the centerpiece of the album. Best one on there.
Take Away My Pain - I cry every time I listen to that song. This one's not about the music, folks. Best message of any DT song.
Just Let Me Breathe - Cool groove, but the vocals just don't do it for me here.
Anna Lee - Probably their most underrated ballad. I really like it though.
Trial of Tears - JP's 2nd best solo (UAGM)...very well constructed, and it's not just mindless wanking (TDS outro)...I love this song.

Some of those songs could have been better, but the majority of the album is fine how it is. It is so different from their other albums. When I just feel like rockin' out, I spin this one. That being said, I hope Octavarium isn't like FII, because DT already went there once and I hope OV is a new direction for them.

FII was the last DT album I bought due to the harsh reviews it got off of DT's messageboards. That was a huge mistake. I think FII was DT's last great album. It might not be as consistent as Awake or I&W, but it has some of best JP's best guitar work. The solo to Petrucci Skies, LitS and (his best) Trial of Tears are outstanding. Best of all, there was some restraint too. It might have been a bit forced at times on FII, but I've felt that the pendulum was swung too far from it since FII. I love 13+ minute songs as well as 4-6 minute songs.

No matter how times I've listened to Trial of Tears--at least 50--it still gives me goosebumps. The build up, the groove (especially Myung's tone), the lyrics and "The Wasteland" make it DTs best epic. I'm eagerly awaiting the FII demos.

Lines in the Sand!!!!