Dream Theater - "Parasomnia"
Beware the shadow men in the dark
They’re back — Dream Theater’s sixteenth studio album has finally arrived. I say “finally” when it’s only been four years since A View From the Top of the World. But if you aren’t familiar with this band, you’ve gotta understand: this is the longest they’ve ever gone between releases.
Not only is Dream Theater one of the biggest Metal bands in the world (and very likely THE biggest Progressive Metal band),1 they’re also stupidly prolific. Their debut album released in 1989, and they’ve been on a reliable 2-3 year cycle ever since.2
So why did this cycle take a little longer?
Because Portnoy is back, baby!
Mike Portnoy is the band’s founding drummer. The other two founding members of the band, guitarist John Petrucci and bassist John Myung, have been with the band for the entirety of its existence. But Portnoy left in 2010, stating (on Facebook) that he needed a break:
“[ . . . ] I've come to the conclusion that the DT machine was starting to burn me out...and I really needed a break from the band in order to save my relationship with the other members and keep my DT spirit hungry and inspired.
[ . . . ]
Sadly, in discussing this with the guys, they determined they do not share my feelings and have decided to continue without me rather than take a breather...I even offered to do some occasional work throughout 2011 against my initial wishes, but it was not to be...
While it truly hurts for me to even think of a Dream Theater without Mike Portnoy (hell, my father named the band!!), I do not want to stand in their way...so I have decided to sacrifice myself and simply leave the band so as to not hold them back against their wishes....
Portnoy’s departure from the band was significant for several reasons. First and foremost, he was always an active and influential participant in the band’s songwriting. So as the band moved further away from Portnoy’s departure and replaced him with fellow Mike, Mike Mangini, the band’s music changed a bit.
Secondly, Portnoy was not only a fan-favorite, but has long been hailed as one of the best drummers in the world. Seriously. I’m not exaggerating even slightly. His prowess is a huge factor in why he was a fan-favorite. And his loss was felt.
But the rest of the band had decided they didn’t want to take a break and pressed on, and then denied Portnoy’s return when he asked to come back; they had, after all, just hired Mangini.3
So things were heated; there was some bitterness for a while. Portnoy joined a few other projects, including Avenged Sevenfold for their Nightmare album (which contains one of my all-time favorite A7x songs, “Buried Alive”), Adrenaline Mob, and The Winery Dogs.
But then Portnoy played on Petrucci’s 2020 solo album, Terminal Velocity,4 which led to the group finally coming together to make Liquid Tension Experiment 3.5 And now, he’s come home. Portnoy, in an hour-long interview with Drumeo, recounted the process of gradually getting back into these friendships:
“So, John [Petrucci] and I inevitably reconnected on a personal level. And I guess it really started to gain some traction during the COVID lockdown because I couldn't tour and Dream Theater couldn't tour, so John decided he wanted to do a solo album and he asked me to play on it. So that was the first step, I guess, in this direction. So I played on John's solo album. And then a few months later, we did a Liquid Tension Experiment album with John and Jordan [Rudess]. So that brought the three of us back together.
"[. . .] And then I think the final piece was me reconnecting with James LaBrie 'cause James and I hadn't spoken for over a decade.
"[. . .] I went to see Dream Theater play in New York, I guess around 2022, and that was my first time seeing James in over a decade. And literally, I'm not exaggerating, within five seconds of seeing each other, it was hugs, kisses and it was like any of the drama and bullshit that happened during all of those years of the split, it just melted away immediately.”
With all of this happening behind the scenes, Parasomnia became a sort of redefining effort. The big story of “Portnoy is back!” immediately built hype for the band’s next effort which, frankly, would not have existed, otherwise, and it’s clear that the band wanted to issue this album as a fresh statement of purpose.
The Dream Theater formula still applies; there’s nothing fresh in the songwriting here. However, there is a rejuvenated vigor in the band which comes through loud and clear. There is a ton of energy on this album, especially in the instrumentation. I am strongly reminded of Systematic Chaos from start to finish, especially with the conceptualization.
In the link above, to Metal Injection’s recap of Portnoy’s Drumeo interview, MI writer Joel Barrios uses the phrase “new old” — and that’s exactly what this album sounds like. The band has backtracked a bit. Their recent efforts were still very clearly Dream Theater albums, but there had been some evolution. The band is now evolving backwards, to where they were before Portnoy left, and trying to create a new path.
The results, in my opinion, are mixed. There is the aforementioned fresh enthusiasm and energy, but the songwriting does not yet sound wholly cohesive. It echoes of Systematic Chaos and the “In The Presence of Enemies” suite which bookends the album, but there’s something that doesn’t quite work. Maybe it’s that Portnoy’s creative contributions are limited, thus far; maybe it’s just that the band is older, that they’ve changed. Maybe it’s that James LaBrie’s vocals are clearly not where they used to be.
Maybe it’s my own nostalgia bias.
Whatever it is, let’s not let it distract from the fact that Parasomnia is very, very good. It scratches a particular itch. It’s technical, melodic, cinematic, and conceptually sound.
The concept here, by the way, sees the band taking their name fairly literally. The album focuses on sleep and sleep disorders. Night terrors are the most common subject, and the second track is even titled “Night Terror”. The album goes on to invoke the Hat Man and incubi, references Lovecraft, discusses PTSD nightmares, and even tells a story inspired by that of Randy Herman, Jr., who murdered his roommate in his sleep.
It’s a solid Prog Metal offering. I want to sit with this one a little longer.
Rating: Teal
Okay, they are currently listed as 50th by most monthly listeners for Metal artists on Spotify, but that doesn’t reflect the band’s historic dominance through the late 90s and the entirety of the 00s. The acts ahead of them are almost all either super-classic acts like Metallica or Judas Priest; or popular contemporary acts like Ghost, Bad Omens, or Spiritbox. Even so, none of those 49 acts are really flagship Prog Metal. A few have Prog in their genric blend, like Spiritbox and Gojira, but they’re also other things — in these cases, Metalcore and Death, respectively.
Compared to artists from the 50s and 60s, of course, this is nothing. The Beatles’ entire run of 13 albums was contained in just seven years; Elvis’ 21-year career saw 24 LPs, 38 EPs, and 17 Soundtrack albums. Hell, just last year, Willie Nelson released his 76th LP. But the industry has long since changed, and very few artists can generate annual releases, much less multiple albums each year, and especially not at any decent level of quality. Many artists in recent decades hit periods where they can maintain 2-year cycles for 3-5 albums, but they frequently fall off to 4-5 years afterwards. DT maintaining 2-3 year cycles for 30+ years is mind-blowing.
AND, it has to be noted, Mangini left a tenured position at Berklee to join the band.
EXCELLENT guitar album, btw
Liquid Tension Experiment is a Dream Theater side project — all instrumental — with Petrucci, Portnoy, Rudess, and bassist Tony Levin of King Crimson. They released two albums in the late 90s, and fans clamored for a third for twenty years.