THE INTRO
Dream Theater reveal all about their upcoming new album, plus there’s the latest news from Caravan, Vangelis, Mostly Autumn, Robert Reed, Adam Wakeman, Damian Wilson, Lee Abraham, Earthside, Mariana Semkina and loads more…
Dream Theater will release their 15th studio album, A View From The Top Of The World, on October 22 via InsideOut. Keyboard player Jordan Rudess has described the album as being “filled with intense energy, good hooks and a lot of adventurous playing”, amid high praise for its lead single The Alien, which was released in August.
The seven-song album is their second with InsideOut, following on from 2019’s Distance Over Time, and is the first Dream Theater album to be recorded in their new Dream Theater Headquarters in New York. The space, which includes a live room, control room, gear storage and living quarters, was completed last year just as the global pandemic pulled the plug on their touring. Being able to write together in their own dedicated space, Rudess reveals, was a huge plus point.
“It was fun to have our own headquarters,” he says.“It gave us this really comfortable feeling, like we could do whatever we want[ed]. There were no deadlines, we could really breathe in there and allow the music to take shape. It was a really conducive way of working in a way that I had never experienced before with the group. So it really allowed us all to stretch out, focus and deliver an album we’re all very, very excited about.
“There’s an aggression to this album,” the 64-year-old adds, “it’s intense. We were all hungry to make music and come out of lockdown with a positive spirit and just be our most powerful selves.”
A View From The Top Of The World is actually the second album to be recorded in their new base, after Liquid Tension Experiment’s third LP, LTE3, and those sessions had a positive influence on this record.
“I’m really happy that we could take a little bit of that energy into the Dream Theater sessions, where we weren’t afraid of just playing and jamming,” Rudess enthuses. “It was a very reactive way of songwriting. One of the things that people love about Dream Theater is that there’s a commonality between all of us, when we bring our own, or all our individual musical energies into the into a space, and that’s very true with this album. John Petrucci would play his Metallica card, so I’d throw down my Gentle
“We take what we do so seriously.”
Giant card and so on. Our style has always come from a combination of everybody’s interests. Luckily we have a great producer in John Petrucci who is able to balance it all out and really look after the Dream Theater brand in that respect.”
The album will also feature the use of an eight-string guitar for the first time in the band’s history on the track Awaken The Master. The instrument, Rudess says, “can really growl”. However, it is the 20-minute long title track that has the keyboardist most excited.
“I really enjoy writing long-form songs because as a composer it allows us to develop motifs and really expand ideas and have lots of classical compositional techniques.” he says. “We got to push ourselves and create these really kind of big majestic orchestral sounds with returning rhythmic motifs.
“We take what we do so seriously,” he continues. “We don’t ever just stop and say, ‘Okay, it’s good enough’. We take our music as far as we can take it and make sure that every detail has been addressed. So when we put something out, we’re incredibly proud of it.
“It’s crazy, but we’re not slowing down at all. Everything feels really vibrant right now and we’re all still really driven. The response to The Alien has been overwhelming, now we can’t wait for our fans to hear the album.”
See www.dreamtheater.net for more. POW