first off, that McTavarium post is great.
Second, I thought I'd sum up all the PLAUSIBLE and SIGNIFICANT nuggets (tell me if I've missed some). This post was actually first made on the ProgArchives forums by me with all original ideas, before being a member of this forum (except where I say otherwise).
We'll start with the cover. As you all probably noticed, when folded out it makes one complete picture includiung front and back. This forms a Newton's Cradle with 8 balls. There are five birds, strategically located. If you imagine the first balls as F on a keyboard, the first bird is F#. This pattern continues with the balls representing white keys and the birds representing the black keys. I'm still unsure as to the significance of the person in the wierd position on the back. Any suggestions would be welcome. All I can come up with is that the theme of circles is present in the way that she is waving her body/hair in circles. It's a stretch, I know.
Then comes the first page. We see a young boy hold one of those can and twine telephones held up to his ear. The line trails off of the left side of the page.
Second page we get credits. Nothing special.
Page 3: there is a treble clef and staff in the top left corner with the key of F minor and time signature 1/8 preciding the text "the root of all evil." The one represents the number of the track. Below this header are the lyrics.
Next page we are presented with the same header except the key og G minor and time signature 2/8 is shown before "the answer lies within." It is all set against a picture of a hillside reminiscent of the cover with two monstrous dominoes in the foreground and middleground. The first dominoe has 3 and 2 on the face (5) and the second has a 5 and 3 (8). This reflects the number of black and white keys in one octave of a keyboard, and also represents the five band members. There are some birds flying around (3), but I see no real significance in this.
The next page has the key of A minor and time siganture 3/8. The next page shows an 8-sided maze with a spider (8 legs) in the center. There are five layers to the maze, again depicting the common 5 vs. 8 theme. There is no way to get out of the maze unless the spider breaks down the walls on the last layer ("Break down these walls for me")
Next page has the familiar header with the key of B minor and time signature 4/8 shown.
Page 8 has the header for panic attack (C minor and 5/8).
The next page has two headers, one in D minor and 6/8 for never enough and one in E minor and 7/8 for sacrificed sons. Never Enough is the first song NOT in the time signature denoted by its track number. (Saying TROAE is in 1/8 and TALW is in 2/8 is scraping by on a technicallity, but still)
The opposite page shows an OCTOpus with FIVE fish and an OCTAgonal sign with the Dream Theater Logo inscribed.
The following page has F minor and 8/8 for Octavarium parts I and II.
Opposite this page is a sheet of grid paper with a very complex structure mapped out (The builing that IS an Octavarium?). At first glance it is obviously the same as the symbol on the CD itself, an OCTOgon with a FIVE-pointed star inscribed. Dimensions are given on a 5:8 scale. The dimensions are a 29 foot and 6 and 3/4 inch square, with right triangles with legs of
8 feet
8 inches cut off. (The 8'8" is actually not explicitly given. Instead they chose to give a hypotenuse of 12'3" which yields, using basic trig, sides of 8'8"). There are spaces in each wall of dimensions 5'8" (again, five vs. eight. these dimensions are also not explicitly stated, but if you take the measure of each square and multiply by 3 you get 5'8"). The rest of the structure's drawing's significance escapes me. Any help here would be appreciated.
Of course, there is one more aspect not specefically related to the structure itself. Around the edge (starting at the left most side and going clockwise) the F Lydian scale is spelled out. Inside the walls are the accidentals that would be present should it be a chromatic scale, one for each point of the star.
On the following page the remainder of 8vm's lyrics are written out (parts III through V).
The final page shows the same boy as the first page, holding the other side of the can and twine telephone, this time talking into it instead of listening. To his right is the list of the five members of DT and what they perform on the CD. The "telephone line" leads off of the right side of the page, symbolizing that it leads back to the first page. Note also that the boy at the beginning is passive (listening) while the boy at the end is active (talking). This follows the album's theme of waking up from a "catatonic sleep."
The inside of the jewel case under the CD slot has an 8 ball with the Majesty logo where the 8 should be.
The back side of the jewel case has a keyboard with the 8 track names on their respective white keys, and the members on their 5 black keys.
a few more things (the following, sadly, were not my own thoughts. Citations to the peeps on MP.com board)
the heartbeat from "These Walls" to "I Walk Beside You" is going at 58 bpm.
the ending to "Panic Attack" is repeated 8 times.
Bell at beginning of "The Answer" tolls 8 times
The 3 birds in the dominoe scene could represent Charles Dominici, Kevin Moore, and Derek Sherinian. Also note that 8-5 is 3.