As have been pointed out already, there's too much feelings about Dream
Theater. They are so big that there are a huge bunch of diehard fans
following them, and that's all right, but when people tell me that I
can't deny something or that I have to admit something else, I get kind
of bugged. As you may have noticed in some other posts, I'm a rabid
LaBrie hater, and I'd like to say you can't deny that he's an awful
singer, but what the heck, I guess I am quite unfair.
I voted for overrated, anyway. Besides LaBrie, I don't think
Portnoy is technical enough to compete with monsters like Virgil Donati
(which Portnoy himself has admitted, btw) but he's perfectly suited for
bands like LTE and Transatlantic, where he can leave those metal
cliches behind and let his imagination flow. I never liked Myung,
despite being a bass player myself. Technique without feeling. Petrucci
is a blast from hell, though! Great tone, very diverse playing - when
he's NOT in DT. Same goes for Rudess, a fantastic player, but what does
he do in a pure metal band? He proves his skills on his solo records
and with LTE.
Then again, Dream Theater ARE a good band. Especially Octavarium.
But, they lock themselves up in their genre. The 70's flirting on
Octavarium is cool, though - but wasn't that Transatlantic's thing??