Formation (1985–1987) In 1985, guitarist
John Petrucci, bassist
John Myung, and drummer
Mike Portnoy decided to form a band while attending
Berklee College of Music in
Boston. Petrucci and Myung were childhood friends from
Kings Park, New York, and met Portnoy of
Long Beach, New York while at Berklee. The trio started by covering
Rush and
Iron Maiden songs in the rehearsal rooms at Berklee. Myung, Petrucci, and Portnoy agreed on the name Majesty for their newly formed group. According to
The Score So Far... documentary, they were waiting in line for tickets to a Rush concert at the
Berklee Performance Center while listening to the band on a boom box. Portnoy commented that the ending of the song "
Bastille Day" sounded "majestic". Petrucci asked his high school bandmate
Kevin Moore to play the keyboard, and another friend from home, Chris Collins, was recruited as lead vocalist after band members heard him sing a cover of "
Queen of the Reich" by
Queensrÿche. During this time, Portnoy, Petrucci, and Myung's hectic schedules forced them to abandon their studies to concentrate on their music, as they did not feel they could learn more in college. Moore also left his college,
SUNY Fredonia, to concentrate on the band. The beginning months of 1986 were filled with various concert dates in and around the New York City area. During this time, the band recorded a collection of demos, titled
The Majesty Demos. The initial run of 1,000 sold out within six months, and dubbed copies of the cassette became popular within the progressive metal scene. The
Majesty Demos were later released officially on CD, through Portnoy's YtseJam Records (and on InsideOut in 2022, after YtseJam Records was shut down). Chris Collins left the band in November 1986. After a year of trying to find a replacement,
Charlie Dominici, who was far older and more experienced than anyone else in the band, successfully auditioned for the group. With the stability that Dominici's appointment brought to Majesty, they began to increase the number of shows played in the New York City area, gaining a considerable amount of exposure. Shortly after hiring Dominici, a Las Vegas group also named Majesty threatened legal action for
intellectual property infringement related to the use of their name. Various alternatives were proposed and tested, among them Glasser, Magus, and M1, which were all rejected, though the band did go as Glasser for about a week, with poor reactions from fans. Eventually, Portnoy's father suggested the name Dream Theater, the name of a small theater in
Monterey, California, and the name stuck.
When Dream and Day Unite (1988–1990) With their new name and band stability, Dream Theater concentrated on writing more material while playing more concerts in New York and in neighboring states. This eventually attracted the attention of Mechanic Records, a division of
MCA. Dream Theater signed their first record contract with Mechanic on June 23, 1988, and recorded their debut album at Kajem Victory Studios in
Gladwyne, Pennsylvania. Recording the basic tracks took about ten days, and the entire album was completed in about three weeks.
When Dream and Day Unite was released in March 1989 to far less fanfare than the band had anticipated. Mechanic ended up breaking the majority of the financial promises they had made to Dream Theater before signing their contract, so the band was restricted to playing around New York City. The promotional tour for the album consisted of just five concerts, all of which were relatively local, with the first being at Sundance in
Bay Shore, New York opening for
Zebra. After the fourth show,
Charlie Dominici was let go. The band wanted a singer like
Bruce Dickinson or
Geoff Tate, and they felt that Dominici's singing and stage presence was not what they wanted for a frontman. Shortly after, however,
Marillion asked Dream Theater to open for them at a gig at
the Ritz in New York, so Dominici was allowed to perform one last time. On June 9, 1990, at a gig at Sundance in Bay Shore, New York, Dream Theater introduced Steve Stone as their new singer after playing half the set as an instrumental band. Stone had successfully recorded demos with Dream Theater, but he was fired following a single, ill-fated live performance. According to Mike Portnoy, Stone moved around the stage in a rather odd manner, seemingly doing a bad impression of
Bruce Dickinson. Additionally, he shouted "Scream for me Long Beach!" several times throughout the show (Dickinson can be heard saying this on Iron Maiden's live album
Live After Death), although they were performing in Bay Shore. The audience was immediately turned off by the new singer. It was five months before Dream Theater played another show, this time all-instrumental under the name YtseJam. Until 1991, the band remained focused in an attempt to hire another singer and writing additional music. just before committing to another singer. They were so impressed by his demo that he was flown from Canada to New York for an audition. LaBrie jammed on three songs with the band and was immediately hired to fill the vocalist position. Once recruited, LaBrie decided to drop his first name to avoid confusion with the other Kevin in the band. For the next few months, the band returned to playing live shows (still mostly around New York City), while working on vocal parts for the music written before acquiring LaBrie.
Derek Shulman and
ATCO Records (now
East West), a division of
Elektra Records, signed Dream Theater to a seven-album contract based on a three-song demo (later made available as "The Atco Demos" through the Dream Theater
fan club). The first album to be recorded under their new record contract was
Images and Words (1992). For promotion, the label released a CD single and
video clip for the song "
Another Day", but neither made significant commercial impact. The song "
Pull Me Under", however, managed to garner a high level of radio airplay without any organized promotion from the band or their label. In response, ATCO produced a video clip for "Pull Me Under", which saw heavy rotation on
MTV. A third video clip was produced for "
Take the Time", but it was not nearly as successful as "Pull Me Under". The success of "Pull Me Under", combined with relentless touring throughout the U.S. and
Japan, caused
Images and Words to achieve gold record certification in the States and platinum status in Japan. A tour of
Europe followed in 1993, which included a show at
London's famed
Marquee Club. This show was recorded and released as
Live at the Marquee, Dream Theater's first official live album. Additionally, a video compilation of their Japanese concerts (mixed in with documentary-style footage of the off-stage portion of the tour) was released as
Images and Words: Live in Tokyo.
Awake and Kevin Moore's departure (1994–1995) Eager to work on fresh material, Dream Theater retreated to the studio in May 1994.
Awake, Dream Theater's third studio album, was released on October 4, 1994. Shortly before the album was mixed, Moore had announced to the rest of the band that he would be quitting Dream Theater to concentrate on his musical interests, since he was no longer interested in touring or the style of music which Dream Theater performed. As a result, the band had to scramble to find a replacement keyboardist before a tour could be considered.
Jens Johansson was among the biggest names to audition, but the band members were eager to fill the position with keyboardist
Jordan Rudess. Portnoy and Petrucci had come across Rudess in Keyboard Magazine, where he was recognized as "best new talent" in the readers' poll. The two invited him to play a trial gig with the band at the
Concrete Foundations Forum in
Burbank, California. Meanwhile, there were several changes at East West, and Dream Theater's main contact within the label was fired. As a result, the new team at the company were unaccustomed to the relationship Dream Theater had with former East West personnel, and they pressured them to write an album that was more accessible. In mid-1997, they entered the studio to write their next album. In addition to pressuring the band to adopt a more mainstream sound, East West recruited writer/producer
Desmond Child to work with Petrucci on polishing the lyrics to his song "You or Me". The whole band substantially reworked the song, and it appeared on the album as "You Not Me" with a chorus that bore little resemblance to the original. Child also had a noticeable impact on the album, with a shift towards less complex and more radio-friendly compositions. The band wrote almost two
CDs worth of material, including a 20-minute-long follow-up to the
Images and Words song "Metropolis–Part I: The Miracle and the Sleeper". The label, however, did not allow the release of a double album because it felt that a 140-minute record would not be well received by the general public. James LaBrie also felt that the CD should be a single disc. The unused songs were later released in the YtseJam Records release
The Falling into Infinity Demos. The material that made it onto the album proper was released as
Falling into Infinity, which received a mixed reception from fans who were more familiar with the band's earlier sound. While the album was moderately progressive-sounding, tracks such as "
Hollow Years" and "You Not Me" prompted some to believe it was the dawn of a new, mainstream-sounding Dream Theater. Overall, the album was both a critical and commercial disappointment. Although Portnoy did not speak out publicly at the time, he later revealed in the 2004 DVD commentary for
5 Years in a Livetime that he had been so discouraged during this period that he had considered disbanding Dream Theater altogether. During the European leg of the Touring Into Infinity world tour, two shows were recorded for a live album titled
Once in a LIVEtime, in France and the Netherlands. The album was released at around the same time as the video
5 Years in a Livetime, which covered the years from Kevin Moore's departure to the
Falling into Infinity promotional tour.
Derek Sherinian's termination, addition of Jordan Rudess, and Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999–2000) In 1997,
Magna Carta Records' Mike Varney invited Portnoy to assemble a progressive "
supergroup" to work on an album, which would become the first in a long string of side-projects for the members of Dream Theater. The lineup consisted of Portnoy on drums, Petrucci on guitar,
Tony Levin on bass, and keyboardist Jordan Rudess, who had finished with the Dixie Dregs. The band assumed the name
Liquid Tension Experiment, and would act as a medium through which Portnoy and Petrucci could once again court Rudess to join Dream Theater. In 1999, he accepted an offer to become the third full-time Dream Theater keyboardist, replacing Sherinian. Since several songs from the second half of the four-hour show had to be cut from the DVD to save space, the band also released the full show on the live CD
Live Scenes from New York. The original cover depicted one of Dream Theater's early logos (the
Images and Words-era burning heart, modeled on the
Sacred Heart of Christ) modified to show an apple (as in "
Big Apple") instead of the heart, and the New York skyline, including the twin towers of the
World Trade Center, in the flame above it. Coincidentally, the album was released on the same date as the
September 11 attacks, leading to it being recalled and re-released with revised artwork later, although the few copies which were sold with the original artwork have become rare collector's items.
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2001–2002) Dream Theater once again entered BearTracks Studios to record their sixth studio album. Four years after they first petitioned East West to allow them to release a double album, they finally got their chance with
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. The first disc consisted of five tracks of 7–13 minutes in length, and the second disc was devoted entirely to the 42-minute title track, which remains to date the longest song Dream Theater has written. Many of the song's melodies and musical themes originated in an instrumental piece written by Rudess, which would eventually become the song's "Overture". Those themes were then expanded by the rest of the band to form individual chapters in a complete story. and the Billboard Internet charts at No. 1. The subsequent world tour included a select few special "album cover" gigs (see
Cover songs section, below), in which they played Metallica's
Master of Puppets and Iron Maiden's
The Number of the Beast in their entirety.
Train of Thought (2003–2004) In 2003, Dream Theater entered the studio to write and record another album. Unlike
Scenes from a Memory, which had been written and recorded simultaneously in the studio, the band took a different approach by setting aside three weeks for writing prior to recording. In the middle of the recording sessions for the album, the band went on the "Escape from the Studio American tour", with Queensrÿche and Dream Theater as co-headlining acts and Fates Warning performing supporting act duties. As a finale for each concert, there was an extended encore in which both Dream Theater and Queensrÿche performed together on stage simultaneously, often playing cover songs. After the tour, Dream Theater returned to the studio to finish the recording of their seventh album,
Train of Thought. In contrast to the extended songs of their previous album, the band aimed to write a more song-oriented album, inspired in part by covering the
Master of Puppets and
Number of the Beast albums on their previous concert tour. Although the album was a critical success, its more straightforward metal sound alienated many of the band's existing fans, who had been attracted by the band's roots in
progressive rock.
Octavarium was released on June 7, 2005, and took the band's sound in yet another new direction. Its eight songs included a continuation of Portnoy's "
Twelve-step" saga ("The Root of All Evil", steps 6–7 in the 12-step plan), as well as the
title track, a musically versatile 24-minute epic rivaling "A Change of Seasons".
Octavarium received mixed reviews from fans and has been the subject of spirited debate.
Octavarium was the last album under their seven-album deal with
Elektra Records, which had inherited the contract upon its absorption of
EastWest Records. Dream Theater started the
Octavarium Tour, playing extensively throughout 2005 and 2006 to celebrate their 20th Anniversary as a band, including a headlining spot on
Gigantour alongside
Megadeth, also featuring
Fear Factory,
Nevermore and
Symphony X. During a show on August 2, 2005, in Dallas, the band paid tribute to
Pantera's late guitarist
Dimebag Darrell by performing "
Cemetery Gates" as an encore, joined in parts by
Russell Allen (Symphony X vocalist),
Burton C. Bell (Fear Factory vocalist) and
Dave Mustaine (Megadeth vocalist/guitarist). Dream Theater later departed from Gigantour 2005 a few dates before it ended and continued on with their own series of concerts, several of which were recorded and released for the band's fanclubs. The 20th anniversary tour concluded with a show at
Radio City Music Hall in New York City on April 1, 2006. Though the show had minimal promotion, it was sold out days after tickets were made available. This show, which was recorded for a CD/DVD called
Score released on August 29, 2006, through
Rhino Records, featured songs from the band's entire history, as well a second half accompanied by a full symphony orchestra (the "Octavarium Orchestra"). This release was the band's third Live DVD release to be certified Platinum in the US on October 11, 2006. The 2007–08
Chaos in Motion Tour started off in Italy. Dream Theater played in the
Gods of Metal concert on June 3, 2007, as well as various other European festivals including the Netherlands' Fields of Rock Festival, UK's
Download Festival, the French festival
Hellfest Summer Open Air alongside
Megadeth,
Korn,
Mastodon and
Slayer. The North American leg of the tour began on July 24 in
San Diego,
California and wrapped up on August 26 in
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. They played with opening acts
Redemption and
Into Eternity. The Chaos In Motion Tour continued for the rest of the year and into 2008, playing shows in Asia,
South America and, for the first time,
Australia. On April 1, 2008, a two-disc
compilation album titled
Greatest Hit (...and 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs) was released by the band. The title jokingly references the song "
Pull Me Under", the band's only significant
radio hit. It also includes three remixes from
Images and Words, five edited versions of previously released songs, and a track from a single
B-side. Unlike most
greatest hits compilations, Dream Theater was actively involved with the album, coming up with the track listing that they felt best represented their musical careers. After the release of
Greatest Hit, drummer Mike Portnoy organized a new tour called
Progressive Nation 2008. Unlike previous Dream Theater tours, performances were held in cities that they had not visited before (such as
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) or cities they had not played in for several years. This tour also marked the first time since the release of
Images and Words where the group performed in small venues and performance halls. In September 2008, the band released a DVD set called
Chaos in Motion 2007–2008, featuring songs recorded at several shows during the
Chaos in Motion tour.
Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2008–2010) On October 7, 2008, Dream Theater returned to Avatar Studios to begin work on their tenth album, resuming their relationship with
Paul Northfield to engineer and mix the record. The album, titled
Black Clouds & Silver Linings, was released on June 23, 2009. In addition to the standard CD, the album was made available on vinyl LP, as well as a 3-disc Special Edition CD that includes the full album, a CD of instrumental mixes of the album and a CD of six cover songs from artists such as
Queen and
Rainbow. On July 1, 2009, the album debuted at No. 6 on Billboard's Top 200 album chart, with first week sales totalling 40,285, making their highest entry on the chart. The album featured "The Shattered Fortress", the last in Mike Portnoy's
series of songs about his 12-step recovery from alcoholism, as well as the song "The Best of Times", described by Portnoy as "a real heavy personal subject about my dad who passed away during the making of the album ... He was battling cancer throughout its making." The band also embarked on a second Progressive Nation tour, including the tour's first performances in Europe.
Opeth,
Unexpect and
Bigelf supported Dream Theater in Europe, while
Zappa Plays Zappa,
Pain of Salvation, and
Beardfish were slated to perform on the North American leg. However, Pain of Salvation and Beardfish were unable to tour with Dream Theater and Zappa Plays Zappa because of financial troubles within their respective record labels. The two new bands that filled the vacated slots for the
Progressive Nation 2009 tour in North America were
Bigelf and
Scale the Summit, with Bigelf performing on both European and North American legs. After the Progressive Nation Tour, Dream Theater re-entered the studio to write and record a brand new instrumental track for inclusion on the
God of War III soundtrack EP
God of War: Blood & Metal. The track, titled "Raw Dog" (
God (of) War reversed), marked the first time that the band has written and recorded an exclusive track for an outside project. "Raw Dog" includes the first ever commercially recorded
harpejji track, performed by
Jordan Rudess, as well as Dream Theater's final recorded performance with
Mike Portnoy on drums prior to his departure from the band in 2010. In December 2009, during their
Black Clouds & Silver Linings tour whilst visiting Australia, Dream Theater appeared with Pain of Salvation. In March 2010, they toured South America with Bigelf. Afterwards, during the summer of 2010, Dream Theater supported
Iron Maiden on the US and Canadian legs of their
summer tour, which were the last shows DT played during 2010.
Departure of Mike Portnoy and arrival of Mike Mangini (2010–2011) 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,
John Petrucci revealed that originally, Portnoy did not want to leave the band; he only wanted to take a five-year break. He eventually dropped this number to around one year. Only after the rest of the band rejected his proposal did Portnoy decide to quit. After Portnoy left Dream Theater, relationships between him and his former bandmates became strained. In February 2011, Portnoy complained that no one from the band was returning his calls and e-mails. However, later Portnoy commented that both Petrucci and Rudess were the only members that stayed in touch with him. Tensions became especially high when Portnoy called James LaBrie "disrespectful" for comments LaBrie made during an interview, stating that Dream Theater were "not sad at all" that Portnoy was no longer a band member. By July 2011, LaBrie had not remained in touch with Portnoy. Portnoy later stated that he would rejoin the band in a heartbeat, stating: "They are the ones that have closed the door on it. I've only needed a break, and I've had that break. So I'm ready, willing and able. But I honestly don't think they ever will; they've closed their door on it and I think they're too headstrong in having to prove themselves without me. So I wouldn't count on it. But my door is always open." A little more than a month after Portnoy's departure, Dream Theater began auditioning for a new drummer in New York City. The drummers who auditioned were
Mike Mangini,
Derek Roddy,
Thomas Lang,
Virgil Donati,
Marco Minnemann,
Aquiles Priester, and
Peter Wildoer.
Fates Warning drummer
Bobby Jarzombek was also invited to audition, but had to turn down the offer due to scheduling conflicts. 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 Mangini was the drummer selected. Petrucci later explained that Portnoy approached them to rejoin, but by this time they had already hired Mangini, who left his job as a professor at Berklee and committed to Dream Theater full-time, so Portnoy's offer was rebuffed.
A Dramatic Turn of Events (2011–2012) Dream Theater entered Cove City Sound Studios to begin working on a new album on January 3, 2011. Writing was completed on March 2 and done without Mangini. On April 14, LaBrie began tracking vocals and by June 28, the album's mixing and mastering by
Andy Wallace were finished. Released worldwide on September 12 and in the United States on September 13,
A Dramatic Turn of Events debuted at number one in some countries and attained the eighth position on the
Billboard 200, the band's second ever top ten debut position on that chart after
Black Clouds & Silver Linings. Although the album received mixed reviews, it won numerous awards from music publications and its lead single, "
On the Backs of Angels", was nominated for
Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance at the
2012 Grammy Awards, The second leg of the tour took place in North America, where the band headlined with
Trivium. After a short break to conclude 2011, the band returned to Europe with
Periphery, to Asia with
Andy McKee, to North America with Crimson Projekct and then to South America for the final leg of the tour. On August 19 and 20, two shows were recorded at
Luna Park in
Buenos Aires,
Argentina for a live
Blu-ray release by Over the Edge Productions. After a six-month delay,
Live at Luna Park was released on November 5, 2013, by Eagle Rock Entertainment. The tour concluded on September 1, 2012, in
Brasília,
Brazil. On December 25, 2013, at 06:00:00 EST, as a holiday gift to the fans, Dream Theater released a free electronic 2-CD set of live tracks that were not recorded for
Live at Luna Park from their 2011–2012 tour in
FLAC format via
BitTorrent. The release date and time were an allusion to their 1994 song "6:00", the intro of which contains a repeated sample of the line "Six o'clock on a Christmas morning" as spoken by Helena Carroll in
The Dead.
Dream Theater (2013–2014) Writing for Dream Theater's twelfth studio album commenced on A Dramatic Tour of Events. During soundchecks, the band would jam and record their ideas, and John Petrucci would bring in material he wrote independently. Following the conclusion of the tour, the band took a break but continued writing. They reconvened in early 2013 to enter the studio. In December 2012, Dream Theater re-signed with Roadrunner Records. The band's
self-titled twelfth album was released on September 23, 2013, as part of the new agreement with Roadrunner. The album sold more than 34,000 copies in its first week and landed on the
Billboard 200 chart at No. 7, the band's third consecutive top 10 album. In addition, the album cracked the top 10 in 24 countries including Japan, Germany, Argentina, The Netherlands, Finland, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Australia and United Kingdom. The single "
The Enemy Inside" was nominated for
Best Metal Performance at the
2014 Grammy Awards, marking the band's second Grammy nomination. Dream Theater's seventh live album,
Live at Luna Park, was released on November 5, 2013. On July 8, 2014, Dream Theater released
The Studio Albums 1992–2011, a box set spanning all albums from
Images and Words to
A Dramatic Turn of Events. On September 30, 2014, Dream Theater released their eighth live album and film,
Breaking the Fourth Wall, which was recorded live from
The Boston Opera House on March 25, 2014. During this concert, the band were joined by the Berklee World Strings and the Berklee Concert Choir, directed by Eren Başbuğ, for the second half of the set. The set list for the tour featured the entire second half of
Awake in celebration of the album's 20th anniversary, including the song "
Space-Dye Vest", which had never been performed live. The set list closed with a performance of four songs from
Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory in celebration of the album's 15th anniversary. The Along for the Ride Tour concluded on October 30, 2014.
The Astonishing and Images and Words anniversary tour (2015–2017) On January 6, 2014, John Petrucci said that Dream Theater were already "planting seeds for album No. 13". He commented: "There are some song ideas and little things like that -- nothing really official, but the seeds just start to get planted. One of the great things about this career is that you have the opportunity every time to go in and start again with a blank slate and think, 'What can we do differently? How can we make this better? Where can we go from here?' Every album has a story, and to constantly have a fresh opportunity to do it is really satisfying." The band headed into the studio in February 2015 to record its thirteenth album. The album, titled
The Astonishing was released on January 29, 2016. It is a concept album set in a
dystopian future society devoid of real music, centering on a conflict between a group of rebels and an oppressive empire. Two singles, "The Gift of Music" and "Moment of Betrayal" were released on December 3, 2015, and January 22, 2016, respectively. Throughout 2016, Dream Theater went on a tour titled The Astonishing Live to support the album. They played the album in its entirety, with an intermission between the two acts, only playing songs from earlier albums on occasions later in the tour. Their performance was accompanied by a visual representation of the story on background screens. The band also made it a point to play at indoor theater halls such as
Radio City Music Hall. In 2017, Dream Theater went on another tour, titled Images, Words & Beyond, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of
Images and Words. Each night they performed the album in its entirety, as well as "A Change of Seasons", which was originally written during the
Images and Words sessions, and other selections from their catalogue.
Distance Over Time and Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory anniversary tour (2017–2019) in 2019. In a May 2017 interview with
Rockbook, frontman
James LaBrie talked about the style of the band's fourteenth studio album: "It's really important for us that the new album will be our best effort. It should be who we are at that particular moment. [...] But if along the way we feel that there is another album we should recognize once again, then we'll do it." In December 2017, Dream Theater announced that they had signed a worldwide longterm deal with
Sony Music via Sony's progressive music label imprint
Inside Out, for the release of the album. The album was written in June and July 2018, and features pieces written collectively and lyrics written by Petrucci, LaBrie, Myung and, for the first time ever, Mangini. In anticipation of the album, the band launched a "treasure hunt" in the form of an
alternate reality game, where participants would search for various clues across the internet. The game ultimately led to a site revealing the title of the album to be
Distance Over Time. The site also revealed the cover art for the album, its scheduled release date in February 2019, as well as dates for a tour in North America celebrating the 20th anniversary of the band's fifth album
Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. On November 6, 2018, a press release from Inside Out officially announced
Distance Over Time, with a release date of February 22, 2019. Upon release, the album received widespread critical acclaim.
A View from the Top of the World and Lost Not Forgotten Archives (2020–2023) In April 2020, Metal Addicts reported that Dream Theater was expected to begin working on their fifteenth studio album in 2021. About the direction of the album, guitarist
John Petrucci stated in an August 2020 interview with
Ultimate Guitar: "The eight-string project with Ernie Ball Music Man is something we are working on and hoping to have developed as this year goes on. I'm hoping that on the next Dream Theater record I'll be able to explore that." This would later be confirmed in an interview with Ultimate Guitar in February 2021. Also in August 2020, Petrucci also told Spain's
Metal Hammer that the band would begin working on their new album in the fall. Recording sessions started at DTHQ (the band's own studio) in October 2020. The band was confirmed on November 27, 2020, to be writing the songs, while LaBrie was writing his parts back home in Canada. When asked in an interview, Petrucci said that the writing sessions were "off to a great start". Petrucci released his first solo album in fifteen years,
Terminal Velocity, on August 28, 2020. The album was recorded at DTHQ earlier the same year. Its recording sessions marked the first time in ten years that Petrucci worked with his former Dream Theater bandmate
Mike Portnoy, who played drums on all tracks from the album. This collaboration led to speculation of a Dream Theater reunion with Portnoy, which was denied by Petrucci, who told
Metal Hammer: "I understand where people are coming from with that. One of the concerns I had, a little bit – not musically at all – but about Mike, is I didn't want people to get the wrong idea." On November 27, 2020, Dream Theater released their ninth live album,
Distant Memories – Live in London, recorded at
Hammersmith Apollo prior to the
COVID-19 pandemic. On December 1, 2020, the band released the single "The Holiday Spirit Carries On", a medley of holiday songs played in a progressive metal style, exclusively through
Bandcamp. The title references the fan-favorite song "The Spirit Carries On" from
Scenes from a Memory. The proceeds from sales of the single benefited the band's road crew. On January 30, 2021, Dream Theater held a special streaming event titled
Images, Words & Beyond Live in Japan, an online broadcast of a concert from the band's 2017 tour, which was originally recorded for Japanese television. On May 5, 2021, Dream Theater announced a series of albums titled the
Lost Not Forgotten Archives, the first release of which is the second set of the
Images, Words & Beyond Live in Japan concert. The band said that the
Lost Not Forgotten Archives will eventually include every YtseJam Records release on CD, vinyl and digital formats, along with previously unreleased archival material. Dream Theater teased the new album on July 26, 2021, revealing that it would have seven songs, with more details to be released on July 28, 2021. On July 28, it was announced that the album was titled
A View from the Top of the World, and it was released on October 22, 2021. The album was supported by five singles, "The Alien", "Invisible Monster", "Awaken the Master", "Transcending Time" and "Answering the Call", and music videos were released for each of them. The band promoted the album with a concert tour of Europe from April 20 to June 1, 2022. but announced on September 27 that it had been rescheduled to early 2022, due to safety concerns related to the COVID pandemic. The rescheduled tour began on February 2, 2022, in
Mesa, Arizona, with
Arch Echo as a special guest. In February 2022, rumors emerged of James LaBrie
lip syncing during the North American leg of Dream Theater's Top of the World Tour as fan recordings from the tour were posted online. Specifically, fans pointed to the post-chorus section of the song "Bridges In The Sky" as evidence of LaBrie lip syncing to a pre-recorded vocal track. LaBrie addressed the controversy onstage during the band's performance in
Houston, Texas, on March 18, 2022, denying the allegations and claiming he has never lip synced.
A View from the Top of the World's lead single "
The Alien" won a
Grammy Award for
Best Metal Performance at the
2022 Grammy Awards, marking Dream Theater's third nomination and first ever Grammy Award. The band started the inaugural run of Dreamsonic, Dream Theater's own traveling progressive metal festival which also featured
Devin Townsend and
Animals as Leaders, on June 16, 2023. The tour ended on July 26. On October 25, 2023, Dream Theater announced the departure of
Mike Mangini, being replaced by a returning
Mike Portnoy, with plans to record the first album with Portnoy in fifteen years. The reunion resulted from years of gradual reconciliation between Portnoy and individual members of the band, as he disclosed in an interview with
Drumeo: "Starting with John Petrucci maybe five, six, seven years ago or so, we just reconnected—John decided he wanted to do a solo album and he asked me to play on it—So I played on
John's solo album. And then a few months later, we did a
Liquid Tension Experiment album with John and Jordan. So that brought the three of us back together—And then I think the final piece was me reconnecting with James LaBrie, 'cause James and I hadn't spoken for over a decade. I went to see Dream Theater play [at the
Beacon Theatre] in New York, I guess around 2022, and that was my first time seeing James in over a decade. And literally, I'm not exaggerating, within five seconds of seeing each other, it was hugs, kisses and it was like any of the drama and bullshit that happened during all of those years of the split, it just melted away immediately." In a group interview with
Rolling Stone, James LaBrie addressed his and Portnoy's reconciliation: "Mike and I are both very emotional and passionate people. And I think that led to the reason for us not coming together until we did. But as soon as I saw him, like he said, I came out of my dressing room, I saw him, and I was like, 'Come here.' And I gave him a fucking hug. And that was it." Petrucci added: "When Mike left the band, it was traumatic for all of us. We had to figure out how we were going to move our career forward. And those years that went by, they were also healing years because you don’t just have something like that happen, and all of a sudden, you're all best buddies a week later. There's some trauma there that had to heal. Thirteen years was enough time for that to happen and be like, 'Hey, you know what, man? We love each other like we're brothers.'" Mangini spoke amicably about his departure: "[M]y place was not to fill all the roles that Mike held in the band. I was to play the drums in order to help the band carry on. My main role of keeping our live show working tightly on a nightly basis was an intense and rewarding experience. Thankfully, I got to experience playing music with these iconic musicians, as well as some fun times laced with humor." On November 17, 2023, the band announced former lead vocalist
Charlie Dominici died at the age of 72. In February 2024, Mike Portnoy posted pictures from DTHQ on his Instagram account, confirming that the new Dream Theater album was "officially underway". On April 2, John Petrucci and Portnoy announced that all of the writing and the drum tracks were completed. Petrucci later posted a video on YouTube on May 1, confirming that the guitar tracks were completed. On June 26, Jordan Rudess announced on his Instagram that all the keyboard parts had been recorded. On July 30, James LaBrie posted on his Instagram a photo of himself in the studio with the caption "Vocals" and a green check mark, with the hashtag "DT16", signifying the vocals had been completed for the new album. On October 10, 2024, Dream Theater released "Night Terror" as the first single for their sixteenth studio album
Parasomnia, which was released on February 7, 2025. The album was highly anticipated, with several publications, including
Loudwire,
Stereogum and
Ultimate Guitar, naming it in their lists of the most anticipated albums of 2025. Dream Theater announced they would embark on a tour supporting the album on May 20, 2025. In addition to performing the
Parasomnia album in its entirety, the band confirmed they would also perform their composition "
A Change of Seasons" on the tour; in an Instagram post, Portnoy speculated the tour would likely be the last time the band would ever perform "A Change of Seasons" live. On November 7, 2025,
Parasomnias lead single "Night Terror" received a Grammy nomination for
Best Metal Performance at the
2026 Grammy Awards, marking the band's fourth Grammy nomination and first ever nomination for Portnoy. A new Dream Theater live album and Blu-ray, titled
Quarantième: Live à Paris, was released on November 28, 2025. It was recorded live at the
Adidas Arena in
Paris, France on November 23, 2024 during the band's 40th anniversary tour of Europe. To mark the release, a special one-night showing of
Quarantième: Live à Paris ran at
AMC Theatres in select cities on November 17, 2025. A week prior to
Quarantième: Live à Paris, the band released two box sets:
The Studio Albums 1992–2016, a collection of CD reissues for their studio albums from
Images and Words to
The Astonishing, and
Dream Theater Vol. 3, the final installment in the band's vinyl reissues series, containing pressings of all their studio albums from
Black Clouds & Silver Linings to
The Astonishing.
Upcoming seventeenth studio album (2026–present) In May 2026, James LaBrie announced that Dream Theater will likely begin writing new material for a sixteenth studio album later in the year or in early 2027: "Right now the focus is we're on this world tour. We're gonna be on the world tour until — what? — mid-May. And that's the focus. Then we're gonna take a break for a little bit. And then probably late '26 or early '27 we'll get in to start writing and recording a new album. And then hopefully late '27 or early '28 we'll go back out with a new tour. And this is just — this is all not concrete. But this seems to be the idea at this point." ==Live performances==