Dream Theater’s Dreamiest Tracks

Dream Theater is nuts. How the hell does someone even write that stuff? It sounds like someone’s pen broke during songwriting and splashed ink all over the sheet music. The band’s four core members are immensely talented and shred out to notably long songs, averaging ten minutes in length. Dream Theater somehow manages to be spontaneous and all-over-the-place, yet still organized and well thought out. The following songs are certified face-melters (and also my favorites):

Scene Two: I. Overture 1928

Ah, my favorite Dream Theater song off of their best album! This song is short, sweet, and to the point; there’s no room for error. It’s a triumphant and fast-paced introduction of all of the musical themes to follow on the album, as it tells one complete story from start to finish. This album is a continuation of their song “Metropolis Pt. 1,” which shares numerous themes in common with “Overture 1928.”

Octavarium

This album title track is a wild ride full of plot twists around every corner. “Octavarium” clocks in at just shy of 24 minutes long and is split into five distinct movements, each long and substantial enough to be stand-alone songs. A very “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” reminiscent opening instrumental moves into a slow, eventually building flute and acoustic guitar piece, which abruptly transitions into a whole new plotline involving a hospital. What happens for the remaining 13 minutes? Tune in to find out!

Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper

1992’s “Images and Words” was Dream Theater’s first successful album, and Metropolis Pt. 1 was (arguably) the best piece of the album. Just shy of ten minutes, this song begins with a slow yet powerful buildup that leads into versus which are belted out operatically, not unlike Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson. After that is a four-minute instrumental break that I can only describe as “incredible,” in which bass guitar, keyboard, and drums take turns solo’ing out. Masterful instrumentation aside, there is a captivating story of love and murder introduced in this song which is expanded upon on their concept album “Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory.”

Odyssey

It’s likely that Homer’s Odyssey was titular to this track, but I guess we’ll never know considering that this song is an instrumental, therefore lacking any Odyssey references. Odyssey features the electric violin, an uncommon instrument for Dream Theater, with a raging solo nonetheless. The violin solo turns into something that’s slightly reminiscent of a gameshow theme song for a bit, and then leads into second or third or seventeenth guitar solo of the song (I lost count). All things considered, this is a fun track to get hype to. Listen to it while biking down a rocky mountain or wrestling a grizzly bear!