Learning Rock Star Posts: 7.676
Joined: 14-June 08
From: Odense, Denmark
As you know I'm quite a fan of this band. I look forward to this album, and look! It's another 20 minute epic I have generally not been too impressed with their releases in the last 10-15 years, but their last album "Distance over Time" was better than most of the other recent ones, so it'll be interesting to hear once they start releasing some material from this
A VIEW FROM THE TOP OF THE WORLD - 10/22/21 1. The Alien (9:32) 2. Answering The Call (7:35) 3. Invisible Monster (6:31) 4. Sleeping Giant (10:05) 5. Transcending Time (6:25) 6. Awaken The Master (9:47) 7. A View From The Top Of The World (20:24)
"To stretch beyond our limits To blaze a brand new trail Bold enough to conquer Brave enough to fail..."
"Two-time GRAMMY-nominated and millions-selling progressive music titans Dream Theater announce the forthcoming worldwide release of their 15th studio album, A View From The Top Of The World on October 22nd. A View From The Top OF The World is Dream Theater at its musical finest expanding on the sound they helped create while maintaining the elements that have garnered them devoted fans around the globe. The 7-song album also marks the second studio album with InsideOutMusic / Sony Music.
The artwork was created by long-time cover collaborator Hugh Syme (Rush, Iron Maiden, Stone Sour). A View From The Top Of The World was produced by John Petrucci, engineered and additional production by James “Jimmy T” Meslin and mixed/mastered by Andy Sneap.
Dream Theater – comprised of James LaBrie, John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess, John Myung and Mike Mangini – was in the middle of a sold-out world tour in support of their last release Distance Over Time and the 20th anniversary of Scenes From A Memory when a Global Pandemic brought the world to a stop. The musicians found themselves at home with LaBrie in Canada and the rest of the group in the States. As fate would have it, they’d just finished construction on DTHQ (Dream Theater Headquarters) —a combination live recording studio, rehearsal space, control room, equipment storage, and creative hive. With LaBrie in Canada, he initially wrote with the band via ZOOM on a monitor in DTHQ. In March 2021, he flew down to New York, quarantined, and recorded his vocals face-to-face with Petrucci. The album ultimately threaded together lean and uncompromising hooks with tried-and-true technical proficiency.
“We just love to play our instruments,” observes Petrucci. “That never goes away. I love to be creative, write, and exercise that part of my mind. We’ve been able to do this for a long time, and we don’t take it for granted. Whenever we get together, we know we can’t disappoint ourselves or our fans, so we manage to try even harder.” “We approach every album like it’s our first,” adds LaBrie. “It’s been such a great ride, but we’re not going to stop.”
"Dream Theater is also planning to hit the road in support of the new album. The Top Of The World Tour of North America kicks off on October 28th in Mesa, AZ and runs through December 14th where it concludes in St. Petersburg, FL. The tour will make stops in Seattle, WA; Chicago, IL; Washington, DC; New York, NY and Orlando, FL among others. Information on tickets for all upcoming shows as well as VIP packages can be found here."
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For anyone new to the band, here's one of their relative newer song:
Whereas my favorite album is Images & Words that probably has a slightly different sound to it:
GMC:er Posts: 25.297
Joined: 23-December 09
From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
It's tough when a great band has a bit of a lull in creative terms. They are still a great band of course. I have high hopes for this new one as the guys have had some time to work on it without rushing due to the album/tour cycle. It could be their best work in well over a decade. Looking forward to it!
QUOTE (Caelumamittendum @ Jul 28 2021, 12:46 PM)
I agree It sounded more "fresh" in my ears, both compositionally and tone wise. I don't know another better word for it. More "alive"? I'm not sure!
Learning Rock Star Posts: 7.676
Joined: 14-June 08
From: Odense, Denmark
I do like the fact that they now have a creative hive called Dream Theater Headquarters. A practice space, storage, meeting place and all these things. I've always been of the opinion that sometimes music and ideas need to sit a bit, such as DT did in the past. A Change of Seasons was around from about 1989 in one form, but not released till 1995. Scenes from a Memory from about 1996 in one form, but not released till a few years. And song from Images and Words and other songs were written over time, whereas Train of Thought was written and recorded in 3 weeks. And there's merit to that too, but sometimes ideas are like good wine and need to mature a bit. As far as I know they haven't really had a dedicated space like this for a long time. They rented a space when writing Distance over Time and they stayed there for a while, but having something dedicated will be good, I think
I have generally not been too impressed with their releases in the last 10-15 years, but their last album "Distance over Time" was better than most of the other recent ones, so it'll be interesting to hear once they start releasing some material from this 
) but I miss this DT and this Petrucci's sound so much. 
