Dream Theater

I think it WAS underrated... maybe not so much anymore. I didn't care for it when it first came out and only gave it a few spins. I don't know what brought me back to it, but when I really listened to it - I loved it. A New Millennium, Lines in the Sand and Trial of Tears are some of my favorite songs now.

It's easily better than any album from 00s. Raise the Knife would've made it epic! :)

Also, Hollow Years album version... a lot better compared to what they've been recently playing live.

I like Falling Into Infinity really its not as bad as people say. Burning my soul is a great song Lines in the sand and trial of tears are the best on the album for me and also peruvian skies is awesome. Hells kitchen is also pretty good! Its more comercial than A Change of Seasons or Awake but that doesnt mean its THAT bad!

Definitely an underrated album, it's more on the mainstream side but I really liked New Millenium, Peruvian Skies, Hell's Kitchen, Lines In The Sand, Just Let Me Breathe and Trial Of Tears. I'm also relatively partial to You Not Me and Anna Lee, that's over half the album!

FII is severely over-rated by the people who think's it under-rated. It has about 4 songs worthy of the DT name, and the rest is generic stuff that any XYZ band could have written.

I remember when FII came out I was really into it and never understood why it got such a bad rap. I can understand those who really like the longer, proggier side of DT being miffed but I always thought it made sense as the next album in line when you looked at the way I&W and Awake were put together. I&W was a mix of shorter (relatively speaking) and longer songs. Awake didn't have a long epic and was dark and moddy, so it made sense that FII would be more palatable and upbeat. Yes, a few songs were meh but a lot of the album really showed off a song craft side to DT, like Anna Lee, Trial of Tears, and New Millennium. Plus Hell's kitchen is great.

I think FII is on par with I&W just behind Awake for me.

It definitely is a gorgeous album. There are some true gems in it: Hell's Kitchen, Peruvian Skies, Take Away My Pain (yes, I mean it!), and ... Trial Of Tears. Apart from these, everything is melodically driven and hard as it should, as DT is.
It's just something different from what was to come, Scenes From a Memory, which was, to put it simply, mind-blowing.

@lak89: You're right.

So people... if you think it's underrated: stop underrating it.

Great album. Never really got why people hate You Not Me so much, sounds like a great song to me. Once got in an argument with this guy, because i said i really like the album. Anyway, i always have periods after a new DT album has settled in that i like another album and FII has been one of those (example: after Octavarium and the tour, i listened a lot to TOT and after SC io listened a lot to SDOIT). Back to topic, i rarely listen to the ballads on the album, but the true (prog) rock songs are gems in my eyes. Peruvian Skies has been a favorite of mine ever since (the OIALT version rocks so hard!) and New Millennium has killer grooves. And i agree: Hell's Kitchen is the best instrumental rock song ever.

If Octavarium (the song) wasn't in Octavarium (the album), it would be a Top 5 DT album for me. Nevertheless, it's incredible. Peruvian Skies is amazing, Trial of Tears is a Top 5 DT song for me, Lines in the Sand is amazing, Hell's Kitchen is amazing, Take Away My Pain is amazing, Hollow Years, Anna Lee and New Millenium are great (New Millenium's intro is out of this world) and well, You not Me, Burning My Soul and Just Let Me Breathe are the ones that just don't click... Probably if those were better it would be a Top 5 for me, maybe ranked 4th, but well, things are the way they are...