I've been a Dream Theater fan for a while; they were one of the primary bands that first got me interested in prog rock. There is a good portion of their music that I rather like, and though some of it I also feel is rather mediocre, there's no reason to scoff at the band.
Prog rock is a very broad genre, and it contains many, many different facets, so it's no wonder that people take to some bands and not others. The thing that has always made me suspicious about the Dream Theater problem that I've noticed on Aural Moon is that they are disliked simply because of the fact that they are Dream Theater. I often hear bands being played on Aural Moon that have a very similar style, but nobody complains about them despite their being Dream Theateresque (they probably do not notice). If people dislike them purely on the basis of their music's merit, then that's fine with me, but I feel that some people are merely socialized not to like them, and that I do not approve of.
Also, I wouldn't describe their music as "soulless." Many traditional Dream Theater fans hated this album, but I recommend 6 Degrees of Inner Turbulance...I've listened to almost all of their albums, and this one always seems to stand out in my mind. It's not by any means one of their famous ones, so I wager that few people here have listened to it. Well, that's my recommendation...take it for what it is.
