Images And Words
by Dream Theater
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Dream Theater bestography
Images And Words is ranked 2nd best out of 42 albums by Dream Theater on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Dream Theater is Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory which is ranked number 802 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 2,156.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to Images And Words on YouTube
Images And Words track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 85 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Images And Words rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 7 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | MasterOfPuppets | Top 100 Music Albums of the 1990s | 55/100 | 9 |
| 2026 | Rivera | Best of Rest 2 | 56/100 | - |
| 2026 | Museman | Top 59 Music Albums of the 1990s | 33/59 | 9 |
| 2026 |  Repo | Micro-Genres: Prog Metal | 6/6 | - |
| 2026 |  zags7000 | Overall 301-400 | 81/100 | - |
| 2026 | fabm0 | Top 18 Music Albums of 1992 | 3/18 | 4 |
| 2026 | svk4ever | Top 49 Music Albums of 1992 | 1/49 | 5 |
| 2026 |  AAL2014 | Top 62 Music Albums of 1992 | 1/62 | 5 |
| 2026 | xhitmanx | Top 40 Music Albums of 1992 | 37/40 | 1 |
| 2026 |  BozoTyrannus | Top 99 Music Albums of the 1990s | 70/99 | 6 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 327 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 1,907 | |||
Images And Words collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 179 members
Images And Words ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 482 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 10/04/2026 07:50 | Siromynian | 1,773 | 74/100 |
| ! | 07/31/2026 02:09 | xhitmanx | 1,604 | 75/100 |
| ! | 07/03/2026 05:28 | stangetzaway | 2,326 | 83/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 78.0/100, a mean average of 76.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.1/100. The standard deviation for this album is 18.9.
Images And Words favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 80 members
Images And Words forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 09/03/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5424): By fabm0 Repo 08/23/2026 03:32 in What album are you listening to? (cont.) BestEverAlbums 08/20/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5410): By DeckillerImages And Words comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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Fischman TOP 100 COMMENTER 02/15/2017 15:55 | #185625 | TOP COMMENT
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Until 1992, I thought there would never be another rock album that would blow me away like Moving Pictures did in 1981. DT came out and absolutely rocked my world. This album was an absolute musical revelation, with complex composition, incredible musicianship, refreshing songwriting, and outstanding personnel at every position who all somehow still come out better than the sum of their parts. Every last song is not just a keeper, but of the very highest order. No matter how many times I listen to this album, it seems fresh and is always welcome.
Pegasus 03/07/2015 03:14 | #136293 | TOP COMMENT
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How is Under A Glass Moon weak? I don't understand, it's one of the greatest on the album. The solo is next to impossible to play.
I gave this an honest to God shot but it just didn't take, I'm sorry. I know it's supposed to be prog-metal but it was a bit too proggy for me, this album could've used a lot more straightforward metal. Portnoy is an amazing drummer and there's a lot of good guitar-work too but the singer sounds like he tries to sound like Geddy Lee at times. I think of Dream Theater as a metal Rush anyway... It's just a bit slow and dramatic for me. Production is too clean, if it wasn't for the distorted guitars this could've easily been a poprock album.
I'm sorry to fans of this album, I honestly didn't hate this album. At all. But I definitely don't appreciate it like most of you. I'll probably give this another chance soon but for now: 7,5/10. I'd rather listen to prog-metal like Tool. (Edited)
Much as I like Dream Theater, I feel that with a lot of their work, they are trying to cram every idea possible into an album and sometimes even into one track. I personally like the slower more melodic affairs like 'Another Day' and 'Wait For Sleep', the latter with its moving piano and subtle strings is far too short. I get a sense with the heavier tracks, that Mike Portnoy wants to bash the absolute shit out of his kit and prove something with the speed of his double kick drum pedal. It is without doubt, a complex album which needs a few listens to truly appreciate the musicianship because in a lot of parts it sounds too cluttered. I think that if they had stripped the sound back a bit it would have been awesome.
The best album Dream Theater ever made. Images and Words is any without doubt the reference of Progressive Metal. Pull Me Under and Take the Time are incredible. I never thought I could hear such wonderful songs someday.
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