DREAM THEATER RETURN WITH 'A VIEW FROM THE TOP OF THE WORLD' , THEIR 15th STUDIO ALBUM SCHEDULED FOR WORLDWIDE RELEASE ON OCTOBER 22nd 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.” The track listing for A View From The Top Of The World is: 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) 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 at www.dreamtheater.net.
I can only hope we get a Hi Res dynamic mastering rather than the bungle that happened with "Distance Over Time" (providing a brick walled master to the Hi Res Providers and including a hi res master on their Super Deluxe Blu-ray forcing us to fork out $80). I will hold off on purchasing until that mess is sorted, but looking forward to what the band brings to the table.
Last album and tour exceeded my expectations. Down for the album and if things are looking solid in December I’ll hit that Austin show.
Agreed. I mean, it sounded just like every other DT record but for some reason it just felt infinitely more listenable and engaging than anything prior from the Mangini era. Hope this new one is good, this morning I dropped $120 on a ticket to see them in November. 2019 was the first time they'd played in my city of residence since 2003, so I feel kinda obligated to see them to make up for all the tours I wasn't able to see. But hopefully Distance Over Time is the beginning of an upward trend after a half-dozen or so meh albums.
Six Degrees...? Wow, that feels like a lifetime ago. I liked quite a lot of the one with The Count Of Tuscany on it.
Used to be my favorite band, saw them about 50 times with Portnoy….but just can’t do Mangini live…..Albums have been solid though and really enjoyed the last one and loved ADTOE My brother got an advance copy to review for someone so I’ll get to check it out soon.
Excellent news! DT haven't released an all epic song album since BC&SL. I can't wait! Regarding the 1st NA leg of the tour: even they though haven't played here since 2014 (and haven't hit the PNW since 2016), because of the complexity of the border issues, I'll more than likely wait until the 2nd NA leg (which will probably be in the spring of 2022) to see them live. And hopefully by then, as long as they finally play here again, I won't have to travel too far...
Dream Theater is one of my all-time favorites, and even their least best albums always have a lot to offer, so I am sure I will eat this album up as well. Got 6th row center for one of the shows as well.
I'm glad they've got new music coming. I'll save my complaints about what MIGHT be until after I hear it.
I agree with the robot drummer and over processed vocals comment. But have you listened to any of the Hi Res releases the band have done in the Mangini Era? With exception to The Astonishing and the whole Hi Res/Blu Ray mastering mess on Distance Over Time, all of those albums ended up receiving pretty dynamic masterings for their genre of music. I am hoping the new album will be released properly to HDTracks, but I'm not willing to automatically purchase it until someone confirms that they didn't receive a brickwalled release.
I thought the HD versions of both the self-titled album and Distance over Time were major upgrades over the originally released studio albums (still not perfect, but definite upgrades), but A Dramatic Turn of Events was still a bit too muddy for me. I am still a fan of Dramatic..., but it can be a frustrating listen, especially when it rocks (the quieter parts sound really good; it's when it rocks that it sounds a bit muddy). I can't remember if there was an HD of The Astonishing, but I was mostly happy with the original sound of that and didn't feel the need to seek out another version. The good news on this new album is they used the same engineer and/or mixer that Petrucci did on his newest solo album, which sounded fantastic, so if the DT album sounds like that, I will have zero quibbles.
DOT's sound ruined it for me. Mastering is horror. But I have higher hopes for this new album. Andy Sneap did farily ok mix+master for Petrucci's solo album.
Yeah, A Dramatic Turn Of Events sounds like an entirely different record and I get that you find it a bit murky because they laid off the treble knob for that one. The Astonishing was released in Hi Res but it had the same mastering as the cd release and I believe they did not do a Blu Ray/DVD Audio release of that album. Dream Theater are not afraid to mess around with effects in the studio so I expect the same style of mix they always provide (overly processed vocals to mask LaBrie's limitations, overly processed, compressed and quantized drum sounds, and a practically non-existent John Myung laying some decent but inaudible bass tracks). The less said of Rudess the better, the only thing I can hope for is that he plays as tastefully as he did on Distance Over Time to fit the overall song rather than wanking along with one of his many horrible sounding keyboard presets.
ADTOE was mixed by the great Andy Wallace. Andy usually does amazing job. I always felt like the guitars were a bit too loud and in your face. But I think it's more about Petrucci's who produced the album taste of sound rather than Wallace's.
If the price is not through the roof and you actually enjoy the songs on DOT, search out the Super Deluxe Edition with the BluRay/DVD Audio editions of the album. A huge improvement in mastering, every instrument has room to breathe and be heard and none of that distortion present from the excessive compression and limiting used in the other releases.
Not too sure about the vinyl but if they cut it using the same master they used for the Blu Ray release then it would be fine. I am happy with the BluRay, it could be used as a reference for how modern day produced rock/metal albums can sound great if they took a gentler approach in the mastering chain.