Dream Theater

Dream Theater is the twelfth studio album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater, released worldwide in September 2013, through Roadrunner Records. The album was written, recorded, mixed, and mastered between January and May 2013 at Cove City Sound Studios in Long Island, New York, the same studio as the band's previous album, A Dramatic Turn of Events (2011). It is the first Dream Theater album to include drummer Mike Mangini in the songwriting process. The band made Dream Theater a self-titled album to emphasize that they were moving forward in their career and to make it a reference point for fans. The album's songs are shorter on average than most Dream Theater songs, with the exception of the 22-minute closer, "Illumination Theory". Some songs utilize organic strings, which were arranged by Eren Başbuğ, a Berklee College of Music student. The album features two instrumentals, "False Awakening Suite" and "Enigma Machine", which were the first instrumentals that the band had written for a studio album since Train of Thought (2003). Many of the album's lyrics were motivated by real-life events, such as the Boston Marathon bombings. Dream Theater moved 34,000 units in the United States during its debut week, charting at number seven and becoming the band's second highest charting album behind 2009's Black Clouds & Silver Linings. For its lead single, "The Enemy Inside", the band received their second consecutive Grammy nomination in the Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance category. In early 2014, Dream Theater toured Europe and America in support of the album, and recorded their performance at the Boston Opera House for a live release. Background Preliminary writing for Dream Theater's twelfth album commenced on the A Dramatic Turn of Events Tour in April 2012. During soundchecks, the band would jam and record their ideas, and guitarist John Petrucci would try out independently composed material. They did not enter the recording studio until January 2013, returning to Cove City Sound Studios in Glen Cove, New York, where they recorded their previous album, A Dramatic Turn of Events (2011). The first song that the band wrote was "Surrender to Reason", which bassist John Myung credited with setting the pace for the remainder of writing.