Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn Of Events (2011)

×

Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn Of Events (2011)

Close

A Dramatic Turn of Events is an album born from transition, crafted with studied persistence and possessed by newfound freedom and free-flowing invigoration. The album strikes the perfect balance between Dream Theater's intimate history with all that is heavy, progressive and melodic with each element fully realized. Longtime fans of the band intrigued by the speediness of the notes on display from Dream Theater have much to study on the album, while fans of melodic hooks will find equal pleasure within the songs.

~ Amazon

×

Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn Of Events (2011)

Close

A Dramatic Turn of Events is an upcoming studio album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater, scheduled for a September 13, 2011 release on Roadrunner Records. It will be the band's 11th studio album and first to feature drummer Mike Mangini following the departure of founding member Mike Portnoy in September, 2010.

The album was written, recorded, mixed and mastered between January and June, 2011 at Cove City Sound Studios in Long Island, New York. It was produced by John Petrucci and mixed by Andy Wallace. Its first single, "On the Backs of Angels", was released via YouTube on June 28. Currently, the band have just finished touring Europe in support of the album.

Departure of Mike Portnoy
On September 8, 2010, Mike Portnoy announced that he would be leaving Dream Theater, citing better relationships in other projects, burnout, and his desire for a break as reasons. Elaborating on the situation for MusicRadar, John Petrucci revealed that originally, Portnoy did not want to leave the band; he only wanted to take a five-year break. Only after the rest of the band rejected his proposal did Portnoy decide to quit.

Petrucci has called Portnoy's departure one of the hardest things Dream Theater have had to face. Speaking of when he first heard the news, Jordan Rudess recounts, "You know, just to give you an idea of how deep this was to lose him, how difficult it was… after we got off the phone with him… I literally sat on the steps of my studio and cried. This is a guy who's a friend of mine, who we all love and admire. We didn't want to see it come crashing down."

Search for a new drummer
A little more than a month after Portnoy's departure, Dream Theater began auditioning for a new drummer in New York City. The drummers invited to audition were Mike Mangini, Derek Roddy, Thomas Lang, Virgil Donati, Marco Minnemann, Aquiles Priester and Peter Wildoer.[4] Each candidate was given three songs to learn for the audition - "A Nightmare to Remember," "The Dance of Eternity" and "The Spirit Carries On" - and was given only a few weeks to prepare.

Each audition lasted for around three hours and included a jam session, song test, and riff test where drummers were asked to play along with a selection of pre-written riffs, written specifically for the auditions. The candidates were notified whether they had been chosen on November 5; however, the results of the audition were not made public until April, 2011 via a three part YouTube documentary series called "The Spirit Carries On". In the last episode of the series, it was revealed that Mike Mangini was the drummer selected.

Shortly after Mangini joined the band, Portnoy sent an e-mail to them asking to rejoin, but his attempt was rebuffed.

Writing, recording and release
On January 3, 2011, Dream Theater entered Cove City Sound Studios to begin working on a new album. Writing was completed on March 2 and done without Mangini. The band made demos for all the songs with drums already programmed, then sent them to Mangini who learned the parts and "added his own stuff". Reflecting on the writing process for Rock Your Life, Rudess explained that the band's approach was more open to his keyboards than in the past, and that after Mike Portnoy's departure, he and John Petrucci "became, like, free". James LaBrie and John Myung each contributed more to the writing than they had in recent years.

On April 14, LaBrie began tracking vocals and by June 28, the album's mixing and mastering by Andy Wallace were finished. LaBrie recorded all the album's vocals in Canada with Richard Chycki. Originally, LaBrie planned to only record the album's first two songs away from New York City, but after flying there to finish the remainder of the vocals, decided to go back to Canada because "it just didn't feel right".

On June 8, 2011, the album's title - A Dramatic Turn of Events -, track listing and United States release date were revealed. Its cover art was shown several days later, done once again by longtime collaborator Hugh Syme. On June 29, "On the Backs of Angels" was released as the album's first single. Leading up to the release of the album, Dream Theater have been releasing one-minute long snippets of new songs, including "Bridges in the Sky", "Breaking All Illusions", "Beneath the Surface", "This Is the Life", "Lost Not Forgotten" and "Far from Heaven".

The album was leaked onto the internet on September 1, 2011.

Musical style
A Dramatic Turn of Events will be roughly 80 minutes long, filling the entire disc as many of Dream Theater's past albums have. Amidst speculation that the album's title was a vague reference to the departure of Mike Portnoy, Jordan Rudess stressed that it is in no way a reference to anyone; rather, the title references the album's recurring themes of dramatic changes such as mental, physical and religious/spiritual. Rudess has also gone on record as saying that for the album, the band underwent a musical change, re-evaluating and restructuring "who we are and what we do".

Rudess has described the album's music as "heavy, proggy and melodic" with a wide variety of sounds. He has also mentioned that it will have a fair amount of piano. Speaking in an interview for The Mirror and Roadrunner Germany, John Petrucci mentioned that the album "tells a story… not literally but emotionally" and likened the experience to a "roller coaster ride". In that same interview, James LaBrie emphasized that the album was melodically driven.

In his review of A Dramatic Turn of Events, Rich Wilson (author of the official Dream Theater biography Lifting Shadows) described the album's material as veering toward progressive rock and being "spiritually reminiscent" of past albums like Images and Words and Scenes from a Memory.

Release
In July 2011, A Dramatic Turn of Events was voted Roadrunner Records' most anticipated album of Q4 2011, receiving 67% of the vote and beating such artists as Megadeth, Trivium, Opeth and Machine Head.

Reception
Writing one of the first reviews for A Dramatic Turn of Events, Rich Wilson called the album "fresh and frankly stunning"; however, he warned that the album was not immediately gratifying and that it "requires several listens in order to fully grasp what the band have achieved here." In another early review, Dave Roberts of The AU Review awarded the album a perfect score and described it as a "masterpiece". Drumhead Magazine, commenting specifically on Mike Mangini's performance, said that "Mangini demonstrates the physical prowess and agility of a racehorse, stretching to play at the top of his talents and reining himself in to allow his bandmates to do the same".]

Supporting tour
Dream Theater have recently finished touring Europe in support of A Dramatic Turn of Events. Their first show of the leg took place in Rome, Italy on July 4, 2011 and their last show took place in Székesfehérvár, Hungary on August 4. In September, the band will embark on a United States headlining tour with Trivium. Exact cities and dates were announced on August 1.

~ Wiki

×

Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn Of Events (2011)

Close

×

Dream Theater - A Dramatic Turn Of Events (2011)

Close