Dream Theater

Distance Over Time

Prog-metal chieftains remark their territory The first stirrings of the band that was to become Dream Theater occurred 33 years ago, when Messrs Petrucci, Portnoy and Myung put together a prototype outfit named Majesty. After changing their name to Dream Theater, they released their first album, When Dream And Day Unite in 1989. Since then, they have championed the genre that came to be known as ‘progressive metal’ with a dedicated hardcore fanbase established worldwide.

It’s been almost three years since we’ve heard any new studio material from the band, 2016’s The Astonishing having split the DT faithful with its Marmite-like appeal. So, in some ways, Distance Over

Time could be seen as an album to set the record straight and put the band’s legion of followers back on side.

The band locked themselves away in the mountains to write and record Distance

Over Time and the result is a more cohesive effort than The Astonishing. The album begins with the first single, Untethered

Angel, which lays out the band’s 2019 manifesto right from the outset: acoustic arpeggios segue into the offset throb of a typical DT riff, heavy as heck with a don’ttry-dancing-to-this time signature.

Forums are already awash with speculation as to whether Petrucci is using an eight-string Music Man and we wouldn’t be surprised as a lot of the riff work is decidedly semi-subterranean. Taken as a whole, Distance Over Time is a return to form with all the classic hallmarks of the band’s golden era and should set any disenfranchised fan’s mind to rest. [DM] Standout track: Barstool Warrior For fans of: Queensrÿche, Opeth