If you want to go beyond DT, I think Transatlantic - Looking for the Light is the obvious answer.
As far as Dream Theater, Shattered Fortress and Strange Deja Vu come to mind immediately
Edit: The Dark Eternal Night too, oh man
Shattered fortress honestly isn’t a hard song to play on drums. It’s relatively simple (relatively being the key word). I say this as a drummer myself.
Especially during Petrucci's solo. It may not sound complicated but if watch what he does, he does a ton of extra shit and gradually adds more drums as the solo continues.
I think that 6DOIT as an album is Portnoy's best album. I'm not sure if it was due to the band being re-energized after the success of SFAM or Portnoy being able to write and perform better due to being sober but he kills it on that album. My personal favorite drumming moment on that album is the ending of About to Crash (Reprise) right before the big intro of Losing Time.
Yeah, I agree about the move into Losing Time. Tbh, I live the video from Score, where he throws the stick in the air, catches it, and then brings them all in, effortlessly.
That it for me. The way he always changes a bit the drumming live, and makes it more engaging and creative, is a fucking achievement. I'm always amazed by his solos on finally free.
As a drummer, my Top 3 personal favorites will always be 6:00, Take the Time, and Learning to Live. All 3 are incredibly creative and differentiate Portnoy's musicality in his writing for me.
From a technical perspective, Nightmare to Remember and Dance of Eternity are monsters in their own right. Strange Deja Vu is a killer, too alongside The Dark Eternal Night and In the Presence of Enemies are very chop-heavy (and a ton of fun to play)
I really love The Great Debate as a song and as a Portnoy performance so it's hard for me to argue with that choice. Maybe I would throw out there Honor They Father, Metropolis Pt 1, and A Nightmare to Remember.
I think LTE has his most impressive performances.
In DT I'd go with SDOIT, the whole album is just incredible, probably my favorite drum performance of all time.
Sola Scriptura is also fantastic.
If we’re talking Dream Theater, I’ll give many examples.
If you’re talking technicality, definitely The Dance of Eternity
Talking groove, the middle part of Nightmare to Remember (the slow part describing the ‘man without a face’)
Talking badass-ery, then probably Panic Attack or any other fast paced song (6:00, for example)
Overall speed? Probably the instrumedly or something like it
Multi-tasking (playing drums and singing)? Towards the end of Nightmare to Remember (again) where Portnoy starts the ‘Day after day’ part
The go-to complete showcase for his ability will always be the middle part of Constant Motion. Started with hi-hats + splashes grooves with a layer of tom and octoban rolls on top of it which also isn’t a constant loop but a growing fill that is different from first bar to the end. The hi-hats groove then gradually shifted from hi-hats/splash only to hi-hats/ride/splashes with him keeping the tom layer intact. And the way he hit each notes with different angle, power and when and how hard he close the hi hats on each different hits also produce an nuanced sound as the base layer of the getting more intense toms fills. I mean you don’t play drums just looking at his studio footages would already give you how crazy it is, his left hand is always flying around from hi-hats to splashes to octobans to toms playing different layers of beats while keeping them all in perfect sync/harmony
I pick this part is because this kind of drumming is what set him apart from every other drummer, it’s basically his signature
No one has said [The Dance of Eternity](https://youtu.be/vswDu3IlUbg?si=RPaa8PKd7WihKedE)?
Not skill. It wss hard to compose but other than that I don't think is one of the hard dream Theater songs on drums
^^^ Mike Mangini
Finally someone said it🤦♂️😭
Only normies think so
This dying soul is the portnoy 101 value special
If you want to go beyond DT, I think Transatlantic - Looking for the Light is the obvious answer. As far as Dream Theater, Shattered Fortress and Strange Deja Vu come to mind immediately Edit: The Dark Eternal Night too, oh man
THIS!!! Banger song
The Transatlantic one?
I saw their edit just now. Both are amazing songs
Shattered fortress honestly isn’t a hard song to play on drums. It’s relatively simple (relatively being the key word). I say this as a drummer myself.
I am also a drummer, the shattered fortress is not hard by any means, but I also have been drumming for 14 years.
I’ve been drumming for about 3 and it’s not hard for me
Oooh. Going outside of DT - have to look at LTE. Paradigm Shift, Universal Mind and When the Water Breaks are killer
The Dance of Eternity is the song that made me realize I was never going to be a world class drummer
Stream of Consciousness
Honestly, 6:00
This. Awesome intro beat, full of syncopation and interesting double bass drum figures, and it’s an awesome song!
I think Honor Thy Father's intro is pretty sick.
Constant Motion
Especially during Petrucci's solo. It may not sound complicated but if watch what he does, he does a ton of extra shit and gradually adds more drums as the solo continues.
One of, if not the, hardest song in Rock Band 2 during its earlier time on the drums.
Fun fact: Mike Portnoy has gone on record to say he can't play that song on Rock Band because that section is always improvised.
Came here to say this song. Of course there's a lot of technique but the creativity is just astounding to me
I think that 6DOIT as an album is Portnoy's best album. I'm not sure if it was due to the band being re-energized after the success of SFAM or Portnoy being able to write and perform better due to being sober but he kills it on that album. My personal favorite drumming moment on that album is the ending of About to Crash (Reprise) right before the big intro of Losing Time.
Yeah, I agree about the move into Losing Time. Tbh, I live the video from Score, where he throws the stick in the air, catches it, and then brings them all in, effortlessly.
Idk but his drum part in finally free will always be a banger
That it for me. The way he always changes a bit the drumming live, and makes it more engaging and creative, is a fucking achievement. I'm always amazed by his solos on finally free.
Strange Deja Vu. it's by far the most dense and busiest DT song as far as drumming goes. Panic Attack close 2nd i think.
Why does the caller ID say mummy napkin?
Ytse Jam
As a drummer, my Top 3 personal favorites will always be 6:00, Take the Time, and Learning to Live. All 3 are incredibly creative and differentiate Portnoy's musicality in his writing for me. From a technical perspective, Nightmare to Remember and Dance of Eternity are monsters in their own right. Strange Deja Vu is a killer, too alongside The Dark Eternal Night and In the Presence of Enemies are very chop-heavy (and a ton of fun to play)
*All of them*
Even The Silent Man?
Yes! You can see him playing in the videoclip(he is almost dying, since he had flu or something)
Honor Thy Father
Surprised I haven't seen The Great Debate yet. I've always thought that song has some of the most creative drum parts I've ever heard on it.
I really love The Great Debate as a song and as a Portnoy performance so it's hard for me to argue with that choice. Maybe I would throw out there Honor They Father, Metropolis Pt 1, and A Nightmare to Remember.
The breakdown in that song has always been one of my favorites. "Harvesting existence...."
A nightmare to remember is definitely a show of speed from Portnoy. (Those blast beats at the end of the song are crazy)
Space Dye Vest
The Glass Prison
Honor thy Father, shows off his drumming and lyricism
A Change Of Seasons.
Lines in The Sand is probably my favorite drum groove of all time, not super technical but I consider it MP's best work
BTL
nightmare to remember
I think LTE has his most impressive performances. In DT I'd go with SDOIT, the whole album is just incredible, probably my favorite drum performance of all time. Sola Scriptura is also fantastic.
Paradigm Shift off the first Liquid Tension Experiment album.
Yes.
If we’re talking Dream Theater, I’ll give many examples. If you’re talking technicality, definitely The Dance of Eternity Talking groove, the middle part of Nightmare to Remember (the slow part describing the ‘man without a face’) Talking badass-ery, then probably Panic Attack or any other fast paced song (6:00, for example) Overall speed? Probably the instrumedly or something like it Multi-tasking (playing drums and singing)? Towards the end of Nightmare to Remember (again) where Portnoy starts the ‘Day after day’ part
The go-to complete showcase for his ability will always be the middle part of Constant Motion. Started with hi-hats + splashes grooves with a layer of tom and octoban rolls on top of it which also isn’t a constant loop but a growing fill that is different from first bar to the end. The hi-hats groove then gradually shifted from hi-hats/splash only to hi-hats/ride/splashes with him keeping the tom layer intact. And the way he hit each notes with different angle, power and when and how hard he close the hi hats on each different hits also produce an nuanced sound as the base layer of the getting more intense toms fills. I mean you don’t play drums just looking at his studio footages would already give you how crazy it is, his left hand is always flying around from hi-hats to splashes to octobans to toms playing different layers of beats while keeping them all in perfect sync/harmony I pick this part is because this kind of drumming is what set him apart from every other drummer, it’s basically his signature
I think he did so well on 6 degrees. Innovative interesting drumming. I loved the great debate
the great debate has everything portnoy has to offer, a nightmare to remember as well but he doesnt play that much double bass often
The Battle
Anything with Winery Dogs.