Dream Theater is set to release their first new album with Mike Portnoy since 2009’s ‘Black Clouds & Silver Linings’ in February 2025. The lead single, ‘Night Terror,’ was released last month. Portnoy recently spoke with Eddie Trunk about whether the song is representative of the album’s overall sound.
“It’s actually the first song we wrote together once we started the sessions,” the drummer shared. “So, you know, not only did we feel it would be a good first thing for people to hear, it made sense because it was the first thing we wrote. So, after 13 years of not writing anything together, this was it. This was the first thing that came out of us.”
“And it is indicative of, I think, the whole album. I think the whole album’s got a lot of stuff that Dream Theater fans are just gonna love. You know, it’s got a little bit of everything in it. The songs are epic. We also have a 20-minute epic on the album, and ‘Night Terror’ is about 10 minutes, and there’s another one that’s about 11 minutes.”
He added, “It’s what you would expect from us. It’s kind of just picking up from where we left off as if no time has passed.”
Dream Theater announced the new album, ‘Parasomnia,’ just before kicking off their 40th-anniversary tour in October. Produced by John Petrucci, the album includes tracks inspired by sleep-related themes like sleepwalking and night terrors.
James ‘Jimmy T’ Meslin served as engineer on the 71-minute album, with Andy Sneap handling the mixing. The cover art was created by Hugh Syme.
