Top 10 Dream Theater Tracks For Metalheads

Let me start by acknowledging that this article was born in my mind after reading an Invisible Oranges article that was reflecting on Dream Theater's sophomore album, Images and Words, turning 25 years old. Anyone who knows me personally or has read this blog more than a few times probably knows by now that Dream Theater was a seminal gateway band for me after my initial days of listening to hard rock and mainstream metal on the local radio station. Because of that history, despite how my metal tastes have and will continue to change, I will always consider myself a Dream Theater fan (I can hear your collective sighs.....they fuel me).

So, after reading the aforementioned article, I put my thinking cap on and asked myself, "What Dream Theater tracks could potentially sway metal fans who wouldn't normally consider themselves Dream Theater fans (or even better, actually HATE Dream Theater)?"

We'll Do It Live Fridays: Dream Theater - Stream of Consciousness

To anyone who's either read our blog or known me personally for any extended period of time, you would know that Dream Theater will always have a soft spot in my heart for being one of my key gateway bands into metal. They're one of those bands that I'll always go to bat for; even if their latest output is less than astonishing (see what I did there?).

But for this edition of "We'll Do It Live Fridays", I proudly present a clip from their 2004 live concert at the legendary Budokan. It's a song that not only is my favorite Dream Theater song, but also supports the notion that they could easily be an instrumental band if they wanted to.

Enjoy "Stream of Consciousness" after the break!

Brutally Short #4: Dream Theater, Obscura, Lycus, Steven Wilson, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Brutality

Dream Theater - The Astonishing

Obscura - Akróasis

Lycus - Chasms

Steven Wilson - 4 1/2

Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Arc

Brutality - Sea of Ignorance

Exclusive Interview - Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater) #2

It was with great pleasure that Durf and myself were able to sit down and chat this past Saturday with Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess. In what was certainly the fanciest place we've ever conducted an interview, we ended up talking about the intricacies of what has gone into Dream Theater's current tour, thoughts on their latest album, and Jordan's best interpretation of the term "progressive music."

Check out the full interview after the break!

Why Can't the Grammys Get Metal Right?

I’ll start this post by saying that I know the Grammys are worthless, that they’re not so much a celebration of artistic integrity and merit as they are a way for the music industry to pat itself on the back for another year where CD sales haven’t stopped completely. There’s absolutely no reason to get worked up over such an occasion, no reason to care who or what gets nominated, much less who or what wins. But because this is the internet, I have an issue with the Grammys, and because this is a metal blog, you’ve probably surmised that my issue has to do with the nominees for best Metal Performance.

Exclusive Interview: Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater)

When it was announced that Trivium and Dream Theater would be touring together, I immediately knew that was an experience that I couldn't pass up. Walking backstage running into members of both Trivium and Dream Theater was probably the most surreal experience I've ever had. It also only seemed appropriate that the first time I saw John Petrucci was when he was getting ready for a photo-shoot and was assuming the ever famous Petrucci power stance. Needless to say, an in-person interview with Dream Theater's keyboardist, Jordan Rudess, only made the experience that much more epic. Jordan was a fantastic guy to chat with and gave us plenty of insight into what's been going on with Dream Theater as of late.

Also, after the interview, Jordan showed us his apps that he uses on his ipad during shows and gave us a rather thorough demonstration of their capabilities. I'll be sure to throw up a post soon going into more details about them. But for now, enjoy the interview.



- Mick

New Music Videos From Dream Theater and Textures

Being that September is prog overload month, it seems only fitting that both Dream Theater and Textures would release new music videos.  Dream Theater released a video for the track "On The Backs Of Angels" from their brand new record, A Dramatic Turn Of Events.  Textures released a video for the track "Reaching Home" from their upcoming record, Dualism.  Dualism will be released on September 27.  There's not much I have to say here because it should go without saying that both these videos are awesome.




-Mick

Review: Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn Of Events

There is no doubt that Mike Portnoy is one of the greatest drummers in the world. His style and overall bad-assery helped turn Dream Theater into one of the most popular progressive metal bands ever.  However over the past few years, while he explored other projects with success (the stellar prog supergroups Transatlantic and OSI, as well as a stint with Avenged Sevenfold), Dream Theater began to turn out average albums (for their standards, at least). This isn’t to say that they weren’t making good material, it just appeared that a band of musical geniuses was beginning to plateau. Needless to say, after Black Clouds and Silver Linings, something had to happen. Portnoy wanted a break, but the others wanted to press on. Either way, the band would have to come back stronger than ever in order to protect their legacy. Parting ways with Portnoy, the remaining members found themselves amidst A Dramatic Turn of Events.

Dream Theater Touring With Trivium?! Sign Me Up, Please.

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Dream Theater has officially announced some initial dates of their fall tour in support of their upcoming September 13 release of A Dramatic Turn Of Events.  They're also bringing along this band named Trivium.  Who's ever heard of that band, right? 

Here's some of the official statement from Roadrunner. 

Dream Theater are also planning to embark on a massive world tour, where they will play selections from A Dramatic Turn of Events, as well as classic staples and fan favorites. Labelmates Trivium will appear on many dates, supporting their new album In Waves.

"We are all very pumped about the release of A Dramatic Turn of Events this September, as well as the world tour we'll embark upon in support of the album," said Petrucci. "Our first leg will bring us throughout North America where we'll showcase songs from the new album along with tons of fan favorites and a brand new tour production unlike any other that we've done before. We're equally excited to have our friends in Trivium join us. It's sure to be an incredible tour. We're looking forward to seeing all of our friends on the road this fall!"
Check out some of the initial tour dates after the break

New Trivium and New Dream Theater - Dear God

Link To Dream Theater Track (why Roadrunner doesn't allow embedding on some of their youtube videos is beyond me):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oasnbzEMV08&feature=channel_video_title

We've been lucky enough to get some more new material from Trivium and finally some new material from Dream Theater since Mike Mangini has joined their ranks as Mike Portnoy's replacement.  Let us know what you think of them in the comments section!  I'm going to hold my opinions for the time being.  Trivium's new record, In Waves, is set to be released on August 9th via Roadrunner.  Dream Theater's new record, A Dramatic Turn Of Events, is set to be released on September 13th also via Roadrunner. 

-Mick

Dream Theater Announces New Album Details

Step aside Opeth, Dream Theater is now ready to take the "announcing of new album details spotlight."  The new album has been named A Dramatic Turn Of Events.  While an official release date is not set, we can expect the album to drop in early September.

Here's the official tracklisting as well.

01. On The Backs Of Angels
02. Build Me Up, Break Me Down
03. Lost Not Forgotten
04. This Is The Life
05. The Shaman's Trance
06. Outcry
07. Far From Heaven
08. Breaking All Illusions
09. Beneath The Surface

-Mick

Finding That Dream Drummer

My vote's for this guy.

So in case you didn't hear, Dream Theater is in search of a new drummer.  I'm very interested in finding out who they end up picking but at the same time, I don't know how to feel about what they've done to promote this whole decision making process.  Dream Theater has recently released two web episode type videos on youtube that are more like documentaries than anything else.  It is interesting to see different drummers try out for the band by jamming with them but these feel like weird reality shows.  I can't say I'm a huge fan, but hey at least we know who the contenders are for the job. 

Check out the videos after the break.

Dream Theater: OCD

For those who are unfamiliar for what progressive metal stands for.  Look no further than to one of the biggest definers of the genre, Dream Theater.  What follows should be equally as enlightening for those of you who are familiar with prog metal and those of you who aren't.  The thing that people need to realize about prog metal, and especially with the likes of Dream Theater, is that while the music may seem random and at some points chaotic, every single note and beat is consciously put there and may mean something more within the bigger picture of a particular album.  One of my good friends sent me an article (link can be seen below) a while back about the complexities you may not have realized was part of Dream Theater's eigth studio release, Octavarium.  It's one of those things that you don't realize until you actually read it in print, even if you're a fairly active/attentive listener of the music.  This article certainly brought some things to light that I never knew about the album, so hopefully you guys will discover something new as well.

Octavarium's OCD Issues

-Mick  

We'll Do It Live Fridays...1st Entry!

I'm proud to be the first to be able to introduce you all to the first in what will be an ongoing series of posts which will be thrown up here every Friday.  If you're not convinced of this, Bill O'Reilly is here to yell at you about it, thus the name of this series.  If you don't understand the reference or just simply want to laugh at it again, you can click on the logo above to view the clip on youtube. 

But onto what this post is all about.  The theory with this series, as Jack and I have agreed on, is to deliver our favorite live performance clips from various bands to you every Friday.  Plus, that way we have an excuse to be lazy and not look up much else.

Read more and see my clip after the break.