A Dramatic Turn of Events

Search for a new drummer On September 8, 2010, drummer 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, guitarist John Petrucci revealed that, originally, Portnoy did not want to leave the band, and that he only wanted to take a five-year break. Only after the rest of the band rejected his proposal did Portnoy decide to officially quit. Petrucci has called Portnoy's departure one of the hardest things Dream Theater have had to face, and speaking of when he first heard the news, keyboardist Jordan Rudess recounted, "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." In April 2011, the band announced that Mangini was the drummer selected via a three-part YouTube documentary series called The Spirit Carries On. Shortly after Mangini joined Dream Theater, Portnoy e-mailed the band asking to rejoin, but his attempt was rebuffed. Reflecting on his arrival to the band, Mangini told Noisecreep, "As I see it, as I look back, I really think what happened was that this band kind of started over. They were in a new place as they looked for a drummer, and when I got the news, after the shock wore off, I knew what I wanted to do – which was just basically come in and try to support where they wanted to go. They had a vision, they had great ideas, and I just wanted to help them achieve those things." Writing and recording On January 3, 2011, Dream Theater entered Cove City Sound Studios to begin working on a new album. Although John Petrucci brought in demos, riffs, and songs from home, the album was mostly written in the studio. Writing was completed on March 2 and done without Mike 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, Jordan 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 Petrucci "became, like, free." Vocalist James LaBrie and bassist 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, which were handled by Andy Wallace, All of LaBrie's vocals were recorded in Canada with engineer 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." ==Composition==

. Jordan Rudess has said that for A Dramatic Turn of Events, Dream Theater underwent a musical change, re-evaluating and restructuring "who we are and what we do." Speaking in an interview for Der Spiegel 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 Wilsonauthor of the official Dream Theater biography Lifting Shadowsdescribed the album's material as veering toward progressive rock and being "spiritually reminiscent" of past albums such as Images and Words (1992) and Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999). In composing A Dramatic Turn of Events, Petrucci admitted to feeling a sense of responsibility to fans following Portnoy's departure. He also explained that the majority of the songs on the album were written in order to prove that everything was grounded and intact with the band. Opener "On the Backs of Angels" was designed to reflect Dream Theater's signature sound, the heavy "Build Me Up, Break Me Down" was written far into the making of the album to serve as a contrast to its progressive elements, "Outcry" was intended to be the anthem of the album, and "Breaking All Illusions" was used as an epic piece that would not bind the band to conventional songwriting arrangements. The final song written for the album was the ballad "Beneath the Surface", which is also its closing track. Amidst speculation that A Dramatic Turn of Events' title was a vague reference to Portnoy's departure, Petrucci stressed that it is in no way a reference to anyone; rather, the title references the album's recurring themes of dramatic changes in history that have affected peoples' lives. All of the album's lyrics were written by Petrucci except for "Far from Heaven", which were written by LaBrie, and "Breaking All Illusions", which were co-written with John Myung. ==Release==

A Dramatic Turn of Events' title, track listing, and United States release date were revealed on June 8, 2011. The album's cover art, which was designed by the band's longtime collaborator Hugh Syme, was revealed the following month. On June 29, "On the Backs of Angels" was released on YouTube as the album's first single. Leading up to the release of the album, Dream Theater teased various one-minute long snippets of new songs, including "Breaking All Illusions", "Beneath the Surface", and "This Is the Life". On September 14, a music video for "On the Backs of Angels" was released. On January 26, 2012, the band premiered a lyric video for their upcoming single, "Build Me Up, Break Me Down", on Loudwire. A Dramatic Turn of Events was released worldwide on September 12, 2011 and in the United States on September 13, debuting at number one in some countries and attaining the eighth position on the US Billboard 200, Dream Theater's second top ten debut position on that chart after their previous album, 2009's Black Clouds & Silver Linings, which debuted at number six. Alongside the standard edition of the album, a special edition and deluxe collector's edition were also made available for purchase. The special edition featured different packaging and a bonus DVD containing The Spirit Carries On documentary, while the deluxe collector's edition featured, among other bonus items, instrumental versions of all songs. ==Critical reception==

Upon release, A Dramatic Turn of Events received mixed reviews from music publications. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album holds an average score of 55, based on six reviews. Critics were generally complimentary of Mike Mangini's performance, with Drumhead elaborating, "[he] 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." In a negative review for PopMatters, Chris Conaton expressed disappointment in the album's predictability, noting, "At this point it’s pretty clear that the band is comfortably ensconced in their lifestyle and content to just keep doing things the way they have been for years." At the 2012 Grammy Awards, "On the Backs of Angels" was nominated for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance, representing Dream Theater's first-ever Grammy nomination. Supporting tour The A Dramatic Turn of Events Tour kicked off on July 4, 2011, in Rome, Italy. The second leg of the tour took place in North America, where Dream Theater headlined with Trivium. After a short break to conclude 2011, Dream Theater returned to Europe in 2012 with Periphery, then to North America with Crimson Projekct before heading to South America for the final leg of the tour. On August 19 and 20, Dream Theater filmed and recorded two shows at Luna Park in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The performances were released as part of a live album, entitled Live at Luna Park, on November 5, 2013. ==Artwork controversy==

Heavy metal music-themed news website MetalSucks called attention to the clip art Hugh Syme used for Dream Theater's A Dramatic Turn of Events cover art, as well as noted the same clip art image appears on Norwegian progressive metal band Circus Maximus's 2005 album The 1st Chapter. As written by MetalSucks: "Dream Theater might’ve gotten away with it if wasn’t for those pesky kids in Circus Maximus, whose 2005 album featured the very same $15.00 clip art image on the cover." ==Track listing==

All credits taken from the A Dramatic Turn of Events liner notes. Dream Theater • James LaBrie – lead vocals • John Petrucci – guitar, backing vocals • John Myung – bass, Moog Taurus pedals • Jordan Rudess – keyboard, continuum, Morphwiz iPad app • Mike Mangini – drums, percussion Production • John Petrucci – producer • Paul Northfield – engineering, spoken words in "Breaking All Illusions" • Joe Maniscalco – engineering assistance • Richard Chycki – vocal track engineering • Andy Wallace – mixing • Paul Suarez – Pro Tools technician • Hugh Syme – cover art • Ted Jensen – mastering ==Charts==