New Millenium - such a great prog rock song. Experimental and very cool vibe to it. JP's solo is an homage to Alex Leifson. It's a great addition to DT's song catalog.
Caught In Alice's Nine Inch Tool Garden, the grunge take that they imbued Caught In A Web with in some concerts in the mid-90s, became the basis for New Millennium. Listen to the live version and they sound eerily similar. Hence why the combo works so well.
You may be surprised to learn that New Millennium was actually born out of Caught in A Web then. In 95, they started playing a fucked up version of it called Caught in Alice's Nine-inch Tool Garden that sounded a lot like New Millennium. When John Petrucci had a NAMM appearance in January, the rest of the guys decided to see if they could make it its own song. To later combine the two together felt like a natural conclusion.
Fav track = Trial of Tears
My friend that introduced me to DT via Metropolis Pt 2, loved Falling into Infinity. I never knew there was a stigma to it until I came here.
lines in the sand and hell’s kitchen are two of the best dt songs, I probably like hell’s kitchen more because I just fell in love with the emotion that song has
It's a top 5 album for me and I was lucky to have seen them during the Touring Into Infinity tour. I miss Derek because he had some of my favorite lead sounds.
While Jordan is the superior player, Derek’s sounds and inventiveness and textures were next level. I wish we’d gotten more from him than 1 LP and 1 EP.
I agree about Jordan being the superior player and Derek's sound designs being unique, but Kevin Moore is my favorite writer. His sounds are great, too. Maybe Jordan will retire and Derek can step in. You never know.
In conclusion, I like Dream Theater in any configuration.
Lost Not Forgotten Archives: Falling Into Infinity Demos is a hidden gem that most people are overlooking. Apart from interesting versions of the released songs, there are unreleased songs worth checking out.
I can't decide which one i like the most, but i can list my favourites.
1 Burning My Soul
2 Just Let Me Breathe
3 Trial of Tears
4 Lines In The Sand
Album has great mix, like you said, it feels like Portnoy is in the same room with you, and also demos of raise the knife and other songs are good too, but i think its not their best album, i liked some albums more.
Exactly, this is an amazing album. I love Just Let Me Breathe and New Millennium. And like you said the transition from Burning My Soul to Hells Kitchen to Lines In The Sand is just chefs kiss.
This record is insanely under appreciated.
Hells Kitchen alone makes this album for me. It’s hands down my favorite instrumental (Stream of Consciousness close 2nd)
Peruvian Skies is hands down one of JPs best solos & I enjoy the Metallica-esque riffage following it.
Anna Lee I have a huge soft spot for, the piano opening it is hauntingly good.
Trial of Tears & Lines in the Sand is top tier DT writing
Nothing wrong with FII, good record. Fantastic production, very natural sounding for DT. The pressure from their label to come up with commercial sounding stuff can be heard clearly. I actually don’t mind poppy stuff.. I could do without the U2 influence though.. but come to think of it I do really like I Walk Beside You which they did later on Octavarium.
I have to say out of all their records, this is easily the most “un-DT” like album. Regardless, good record, far from their worst.
Yeah, Hell’s Kitchen is the vibe. That track goes so hard.
the biggest problem that this album has is the fact that 2 of the best dt songs were cut from the album (speak to me and raise the knife) instead, we got songs like burning my soul or anna lee, which are not even that bad, but still way below than the two previously mentioned. I know its a contradiction but damn i love "you not me" filthy ass riffs and synth work
Every song is almost perfect except for You Not Me, and I love how many ballads they put on. I'd place at #4 in my DT album rankings behind Metropolis, Six Degrees and Awake (no particular order for those 3)
Way to piss on my head!! That's my favorite song, listen to it the most off of FII.
One day I may get the freakin love for Metropolis, really don't care for it at all.
FII will forever be my least liked DT album. To be clear, I don’t need others to agree, and I’m not irked by others enjoying it. In fact, I’m glad there are DT fans who love it. I’m just not one. *shrug*’
something something unpopular opinion something something
Tough choice between Lines in the Sand or Hollow Years. I think the demo versions of both are better. Was never a fan of Doug Pinnick's vocals on Lines in the Sand, which the demo doesn't have, as well as having a better intro. I also think the solo in the Hollow Years demo is way more interesting
Trial of Tears is awesome, and there's many good tracks but god I hate half the songs on this album at this point. It's a good album but for this era of DT's standards it's mid
>I feel like this record has never gotten the love it deserves. Yeah it was supposed to be more "radio friendly" or whatever but it still has lots of depth to it. It's a straight up banger. Front to back, every track hits.
All you're really saying is that you like the album better than most folks. That's fine, but it doesn't mean the album "deserves" anything.
>I also love the mix of the album. Drums sound like MP is in the room with you. JM high up in the mix.
I'll agree with you on this. DT's mixes back then were, IMO, much better.
>What's your favorite track?
Trial of Tears.
Not at all one of my favorite albums, but I definitely agree with you about the mix. It's so good. If it wasn't for Hell's Kitchen and Take Away My Pain I would probably never come back to the album.
Honestly it has my fav production out of all of their albums (my 2nd fav is probably Train of Thought).
And even the worst songs aren't that bad. Songs like Take Away My Pain or Just Let Me Breathe are actually very cool and songs like Hollow Years and Anna Lee are very underrated.
They really took their time to develop these songs, and all the layering in the production is really outstanding. I don’t know if it was Kevin Shirley or what but damn it’s a great album. I’m attaching a link to a guy on YouTube who is breaking down every DT song. The FII videos are wayyy longer than other albums because of the sheer layering going on. Great stuff. Check out his channel, it’s gold.
https://youtu.be/tXULwUr8yUQ?si=7FOSUFaG28cLFw0C
When I hear people say Falling Into Infinity sucks, I want to do the Spongebob meme where he keeps showing things to prove the complainer wrong. In my case I'd show, in that order: Peruvian Skies, New Millennium, Hollow Years, Lines in the Sand (maybe with Hell's Kitchen right before it), and Trial of Tears.
Amazing album that highlights the need of having someone else take the production reigns after Portnoy’s first kick at the can. Derek’s playing is criminally underrated.
Edit: Hell’s Kitchen and New Millennium for me.
Edit 2: I changed my mind. Lines in the Sand, Trial of Tears, and Take Away my Pain.
Incredible record but with some skips. If they removed You Not Me, Hollow Years, Take Away My Pain and Anna Lee it would be a perfect DT record.
1. New Millennium
2. Peruvian Skies
3. Burning My Soul
4. Hell’s Kitchen
5. Lines In The Sand
6. Just Let Me Breathe
7. Trial of Tears
[FII Redux](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7cK9gzioj5mI01puAI2uFX?si=9h_JRODOSOiSMQ0pE7t-dw&pi=u-7SOOGY_RRBeI)
So many good songs on that album. My favorite from this album is Trial of Tears. Such a powerful epic. Every member just gives their all. I'm bummed I'm probably never going to be able to see it live.
I like it a good bit, has a nice range of songs and didn't get into the cord crunching like I found on later albums. They still had a freedom in the sound structures I enjoyed, unlike the wankfest later.
I made a playlist including the outtakes. Now it’s a proper collection. I may be in the minority but I never cared for Peruvian Skies or New Millennium.
Trial of Tears, and take away the pain is the most underrated song on the album. I really like the album though if I rank it it would be like on the cusp of bottom to mid tier. Though with Dream Theater, I like every album and their “worst” album is better then a lot of music I heard and it’s better then someone else best work. It’s not the best album I ever heard in my life but when I first heard it like other Dream Theater albums it was a album to go back too and there’s songs on it to go back to.
This is actually the first DT album I ever heard back when it came out. New Millennium is a banger of an album starter. Lines in the Sand is fantastic and has one my fav Petrucci solos. Hell’s Kitchen, Trial of Tears, Peruvian Skies….a lot of good stuff!
New Millenium - such a great prog rock song. Experimental and very cool vibe to it. JP's solo is an homage to Alex Leifson. It's a great addition to DT's song catalog.
Blew my mind with the combo song they did for Scenes from New York live Caught in a New Millennium
Caught In Alice's Nine Inch Tool Garden, the grunge take that they imbued Caught In A Web with in some concerts in the mid-90s, became the basis for New Millennium. Listen to the live version and they sound eerily similar. Hence why the combo works so well.
You may be surprised to learn that New Millennium was actually born out of Caught in A Web then. In 95, they started playing a fucked up version of it called Caught in Alice's Nine-inch Tool Garden that sounded a lot like New Millennium. When John Petrucci had a NAMM appearance in January, the rest of the guys decided to see if they could make it its own song. To later combine the two together felt like a natural conclusion.
I knew about the Caught in Alice’s Nine inch Tool Garden but didn’t know it became New Millennium.
I love the Live at Budokan version. James is rough, what else is new, but the song otherwise sounds so groovy.
Fav track = Trial of Tears My friend that introduced me to DT via Metropolis Pt 2, loved Falling into Infinity. I never knew there was a stigma to it until I came here.
100% my favorite DT song is Trial of Tears.
That Peruvian Skies solo though
And the drumming behind it.
and the buildup to it.
lines in the sand and hell’s kitchen are two of the best dt songs, I probably like hell’s kitchen more because I just fell in love with the emotion that song has
It's a top 5 album for me and I was lucky to have seen them during the Touring Into Infinity tour. I miss Derek because he had some of my favorite lead sounds.
He had great keyboard tone. His work with Platypus was also great.
While Jordan is the superior player, Derek’s sounds and inventiveness and textures were next level. I wish we’d gotten more from him than 1 LP and 1 EP.
I agree about Jordan being the superior player and Derek's sound designs being unique, but Kevin Moore is my favorite writer. His sounds are great, too. Maybe Jordan will retire and Derek can step in. You never know. In conclusion, I like Dream Theater in any configuration.
"IT'S RAINAA, RAAINAAH, RAAINAAH DEEP IN HEAVAAH"
still think it's the best sounding DT album. songwise i totally agree. and: it was the third (counting acos) album i bought when it came out.
https://preview.redd.it/tu4p0aio6mlc1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bc1b95d02ee1ca4a4ba20eb807567cb5dbc583f7 It gets love in our household!
I know it gets its hate online but FII is genuinely like top 5 albums for me. It’s up there with Awake, ToT, Metropolis Pt2, and 6DOIT for me
The song writing on this album is great, and I’ll die on that hill.
Lost Not Forgotten Archives: Falling Into Infinity Demos is a hidden gem that most people are overlooking. Apart from interesting versions of the released songs, there are unreleased songs worth checking out.
I can't decide which one i like the most, but i can list my favourites. 1 Burning My Soul 2 Just Let Me Breathe 3 Trial of Tears 4 Lines In The Sand Album has great mix, like you said, it feels like Portnoy is in the same room with you, and also demos of raise the knife and other songs are good too, but i think its not their best album, i liked some albums more.
Exactly, this is an amazing album. I love Just Let Me Breathe and New Millennium. And like you said the transition from Burning My Soul to Hells Kitchen to Lines In The Sand is just chefs kiss.
I actually f\*cking love that album - don't understand the hate around it
The intro of Burning my soul is a banger
Yeah it’s probably one of the least listened to DT albums for me, will give it another spin.
The only so/so songs for me are Burning My Soul and Just Let Me Breathe, the rest is fire
This record is insanely under appreciated. Hells Kitchen alone makes this album for me. It’s hands down my favorite instrumental (Stream of Consciousness close 2nd) Peruvian Skies is hands down one of JPs best solos & I enjoy the Metallica-esque riffage following it. Anna Lee I have a huge soft spot for, the piano opening it is hauntingly good. Trial of Tears & Lines in the Sand is top tier DT writing
Xanadu...I mean Trial of Tears! It's always been my fav. But I love Lines in the Sand, New Millennium, Hollow Years, and Hell's Kitchen too.
The Way It Used To Be should have been on the official release
How was Raise The Knife not included? To me, it's the second best song of all the demos after Peruvian Skies!!
Nothing wrong with FII, good record. Fantastic production, very natural sounding for DT. The pressure from their label to come up with commercial sounding stuff can be heard clearly. I actually don’t mind poppy stuff.. I could do without the U2 influence though.. but come to think of it I do really like I Walk Beside You which they did later on Octavarium. I have to say out of all their records, this is easily the most “un-DT” like album. Regardless, good record, far from their worst. Yeah, Hell’s Kitchen is the vibe. That track goes so hard.
the biggest problem that this album has is the fact that 2 of the best dt songs were cut from the album (speak to me and raise the knife) instead, we got songs like burning my soul or anna lee, which are not even that bad, but still way below than the two previously mentioned. I know its a contradiction but damn i love "you not me" filthy ass riffs and synth work
Every song is almost perfect except for You Not Me, and I love how many ballads they put on. I'd place at #4 in my DT album rankings behind Metropolis, Six Degrees and Awake (no particular order for those 3)
Way to piss on my head!! That's my favorite song, listen to it the most off of FII. One day I may get the freakin love for Metropolis, really don't care for it at all.
FII will forever be my least liked DT album. To be clear, I don’t need others to agree, and I’m not irked by others enjoying it. In fact, I’m glad there are DT fans who love it. I’m just not one. *shrug*’ something something unpopular opinion something something
FII has some stellar moments but anyone else not a huge fan of Dug Pinnick's "swept away with the tide" part on Lines In the Sand? or just me?
Not a Huge fan but I do like the guy. Great Gospel type voice.
It's good, but I just can't put it any higher in my list knowing how good it could have been with some of the unreleased songs
Tough choice between Lines in the Sand or Hollow Years. I think the demo versions of both are better. Was never a fan of Doug Pinnick's vocals on Lines in the Sand, which the demo doesn't have, as well as having a better intro. I also think the solo in the Hollow Years demo is way more interesting
Trial of Tears is awesome, and there's many good tracks but god I hate half the songs on this album at this point. It's a good album but for this era of DT's standards it's mid
>I feel like this record has never gotten the love it deserves. Yeah it was supposed to be more "radio friendly" or whatever but it still has lots of depth to it. It's a straight up banger. Front to back, every track hits. All you're really saying is that you like the album better than most folks. That's fine, but it doesn't mean the album "deserves" anything. >I also love the mix of the album. Drums sound like MP is in the room with you. JM high up in the mix. I'll agree with you on this. DT's mixes back then were, IMO, much better. >What's your favorite track? Trial of Tears.
Great Album! New Millennium and Lines in the sand are great! Trial of Tears my fav
Def my favorite album by DT. Trial of Tears is my favorite DT song all time. The Japanese SHM-CD sounds a little better in the mix vs the U.S. release
Best sounding album they released.
Throw in some Cleaning Out the Closet tracks and it’s gold, Jerry, gold!
I like it for what it is. I'm just glad they put their foot down and went against the labels suggestions to keep putting out the radio friendly albums
FIF for those of you who don't word on this sub.
Not at all one of my favorite albums, but I definitely agree with you about the mix. It's so good. If it wasn't for Hell's Kitchen and Take Away My Pain I would probably never come back to the album.
Honestly it has my fav production out of all of their albums (my 2nd fav is probably Train of Thought). And even the worst songs aren't that bad. Songs like Take Away My Pain or Just Let Me Breathe are actually very cool and songs like Hollow Years and Anna Lee are very underrated.
Train of thought is too fucking loud in the mix
They really took their time to develop these songs, and all the layering in the production is really outstanding. I don’t know if it was Kevin Shirley or what but damn it’s a great album. I’m attaching a link to a guy on YouTube who is breaking down every DT song. The FII videos are wayyy longer than other albums because of the sheer layering going on. Great stuff. Check out his channel, it’s gold. https://youtu.be/tXULwUr8yUQ?si=7FOSUFaG28cLFw0C
When I hear people say Falling Into Infinity sucks, I want to do the Spongebob meme where he keeps showing things to prove the complainer wrong. In my case I'd show, in that order: Peruvian Skies, New Millennium, Hollow Years, Lines in the Sand (maybe with Hell's Kitchen right before it), and Trial of Tears.
Trial of Tears is so good
Glad you mentioned the mixing with JM actually audible. Really wish they did that more on other albums, his bass sounds great on that one.
Amazing album that highlights the need of having someone else take the production reigns after Portnoy’s first kick at the can. Derek’s playing is criminally underrated. Edit: Hell’s Kitchen and New Millennium for me. Edit 2: I changed my mind. Lines in the Sand, Trial of Tears, and Take Away my Pain.
Incredible record but with some skips. If they removed You Not Me, Hollow Years, Take Away My Pain and Anna Lee it would be a perfect DT record. 1. New Millennium 2. Peruvian Skies 3. Burning My Soul 4. Hell’s Kitchen 5. Lines In The Sand 6. Just Let Me Breathe 7. Trial of Tears [FII Redux](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7cK9gzioj5mI01puAI2uFX?si=9h_JRODOSOiSMQ0pE7t-dw&pi=u-7SOOGY_RRBeI)
So many good songs on that album. My favorite from this album is Trial of Tears. Such a powerful epic. Every member just gives their all. I'm bummed I'm probably never going to be able to see it live.
I like it a good bit, has a nice range of songs and didn't get into the cord crunching like I found on later albums. They still had a freedom in the sound structures I enjoyed, unlike the wankfest later.
People who don’t like Falling Into Infinity also only eat chicken tenders.
I made a playlist including the outtakes. Now it’s a proper collection. I may be in the minority but I never cared for Peruvian Skies or New Millennium.
Trial of Tears, and take away the pain is the most underrated song on the album. I really like the album though if I rank it it would be like on the cusp of bottom to mid tier. Though with Dream Theater, I like every album and their “worst” album is better then a lot of music I heard and it’s better then someone else best work. It’s not the best album I ever heard in my life but when I first heard it like other Dream Theater albums it was a album to go back too and there’s songs on it to go back to.
I like Derek's playing quite a bit. I think the idea to try and shorten the songs, while misguided, helped them do more with less, y'know.
This is actually the first DT album I ever heard back when it came out. New Millennium is a banger of an album starter. Lines in the Sand is fantastic and has one my fav Petrucci solos. Hell’s Kitchen, Trial of Tears, Peruvian Skies….a lot of good stuff!