Dream Theater’s new album is a beast—sprawling, cinematic, and unapologetically ambitious. It’s their first with Mike Portnoy back behind the kit nearly two decades, and his return fuels every second of it. This isn’t a victory lap; it’s a gauntlet thrown down. A concept album framed as a suite of interconnected movements, it spirals into chaos, beauty, and darkness with barely a moment’s respite.
The opening sequence sets the tone with In the Arms of Morpheus. A man seeks solace in sleep, only to be dragged into a warped nightmare. A grindhouse organ riff mutates into a crushing groove, thick with dread. The pace is relentless—Pantera-level aggression one moment, delicate neoclassical melodies the next. It spills straight into Night Terror, where the odd-meter riffs twist like knives. When James LaBrie’s voice finally appears a third of the way in, it’s layered, haunting, and eerily reminiscent of Alice in Chains before exploding into a soaring power-metal chorus. John Petrucci’s guitar is a constant menace, alternating between calculated shredding and cold, melodic precision.
Mid-album, things turn claustrophobic. A Broken Man is venomous, built around a labyrinth of riffs and time changes. LaBrie sounds unhinged, spitting out lines with rare venom. Just when you think it can’t get more overwhelming, it starts swinging—yes, swinging—in a strange prog-metal-meets-jump-blues breakdown, only to return to its suffocating heaviness. Dead Asleep feels more familiar—a solid, if predictable, track that’ll please long-time fans but doesn’t break new ground.
The quieter moments offer no real comfort. Bend the Clock opens as a ballad, but its syrupy production and reverb-drenched vocals dull some of its edges. It saves itself when the tempo picks up, morphing into a mid-tempo hard-rock anthem that teeters on the edge of cheese but wins you over with its sheer craftsmanship. Meanwhile, Midnight Messiah is more menacing. Gregorian chants set the stage before it erupts into snarling thrash. LaBrie’s delivery is pure grit—occasionally channeling a more sinister Alice Cooper/Ozzy Osbourne vibe.
It all builds toward The Shadow Man Incident, the nearly 20-minute crown jewel of the album. Sabbathian (or is it Sabbathesque?) riffs give way to cascading piano, dizzying time changes, and moments of stark vulnerability. Unlike so many of their extended pieces, this one feels focused. The transitions aren’t stitched together like some Frankenstein’s monster; they unfold naturally, leading somewhere real. It’s everything Dream Theater does best—virtuosity, melody, darkness, and light—all condensed into a single mind-melting journey.
The production is clear and muscular. Effects subtly enhance LaBrie’s vocals without drowning them in studio trickery, but the real star here is Petrucci’s guitar—front and center, jagged and beautiful. Mangini might’ve been a human metronome, but Portnoy’s swing is back, bringing grit and unpredictability that was sorely missed.
Dream Theater is still Dream Theater. They haven’t softened, but they’ve evolved. Their thrash leaning are more present than ever, and the new blood of progressive metal—Opeth, Tool, Haken—has left its fingerprints all over this album. Despite their age, they sound hungrier, more aggressive, and yes—darker. Parasomnia is a maze of tension and release, but the tension dominates. There’s no easy way out, and that’s exactly the point.
Release date: February 5th, 2025
Produced by: John Petrucci
Label: Inside Out
Rating: 7/10
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