Fan Poll: Top 5 DREAM THEATER Songs | Page 3 | Revolver

Fan Poll: Top 5 DREAM THEATER Songs

Try and count how many time signature changes are in this list
Dream Theater 1994  Niels van Iperen Getty Images, Niels van Iperen/Getty Images
Dream Theater, 1994
photograph by Niels van Iperen/Getty Images

There are few bands in the history of metal who have a denser catalog than Dream Theater. Since forming in the mid-Eighties, the prog-metal behemoths have unleashed 14 studio full-lengths, half as many live LPs and roughly two dozen "official" bootleg albums — never mind the gobs of "unofficial" material. On top of the sheer volume of fully-formed projects, most of their songs are mini-suites with multiple passages, making the average length upwards of 10 minutes.

In essence, there's a helluva lot to comb through in order to become a true Dream Theater fan, but in honor of their upcoming 15th studio album, A View From the Top of the World, we asked our readers to wade through their vast musical fields and pick the best crop they can find. Behold, the five best Dream Theater songs, ranked according to the most votes below.

5. "A Change of Seasons"

At nearly an hour long, Dream Theater's 1995 EP, A Change of Seasons, is longer than most band's full-lengths, and it's packed to the brim with twists and turns. Its title track is split up into seven distinct movements — "The Crimson Sunrise," "The Darkest of Winters," "The Inevitable Summer," etc. — that each represent a different season in the storyline of the song, and Dream Theater match the mood perfectly.

4. "Dance of Eternity"

Dream Theater approach songwriting the way Tony Hawk approached his infamous 900 trick — they want to make technical marvels. "Dance of Eternity," a song from the band's 1999 opus Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory, more than accomplishes that task by packing a whopping 108 time-signature changes into just six minutes of prog-metal mastery. For as nutty as it looks on paper, it also sounds fucking cool as hell.

3. "Metropolis - Part 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper"

"Metropolis - Part 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper" is a standout from the band's most commercially successful album, 1992's Images & Words, which was also their first with vocalist James LaBrie. The instant chemistry they had as a unit is on full display on this track, which weaves between prog-rock virtuosity and heavy-metal crunch at a deliriously badass pace.

2. "The Glass Prison"

"The Glass Prison" is a helluva way to start an album. The opener on 2002's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence is an Eighties-Metallica-influenced banger that features three sections that mimic the first few steps of the 12-step program for recovering alcoholics, a process that then-drummer Mike Portnoy had completed prior to the album's recording. It also includes some fucking insane guitar work and totally off-the-wall keyboard solos.

1. "Pull Me Under"

It's the one. Given that "Pull Me Under" is the band's most popular song, the Images & Words single is responsible for creating so many Dream Theater fans in the first place, so it's no wonder that people have a deep affection for it. Plus, it's hard to deny how utterly fun and kickass this MTV hit is to jam to — whether you've heard it a hundred times or if you're on your first spin of Images & Words.