With their latest full-length record available worldwide in just 16 days, GRAMMY®-winning, Progressive Music titans Dream Theater are releasing the next piece of music from their sixteenth studio album, “Parasomnia.” The track “Midnight Messiah” – clocking in at 7:58 – is now available via all digital service providers and is the third musical composition available from the iconic reunited lineup of vocalist James LaBrie, guitarist John Petrucci, bassist John Myung, keyboardist Jordan Rudess and drummer Mike Portnoy. The song marks Portnoy’s first lyrical contribution since 2009. A tour diary music video featuring footage from multiple dates of their successful European leg of the 40th Anniversary Tour 2024 was directed and edited by longtime collaborator Mike Leonard from footage compiled by tour documentarian Wolfe Eliot and Paul Green Productions.
The music video for “Midnight Messiah” can be seen through thr YouTube player below:
“It was great writing lyrics again and contributing this chapter to the Parasomnia story. DT fans may get a kick out of discovering some of the hidden nuggets I planted in the song referencing many of my past DT lyrics…and the music video is a great representation of the excitement of the first two tour legs we recently completed throughout Europe and South America. Just in time to prepare for our next leg throughout North America which we are so excited to embark on,” explains Mike Portnoy.
From the opening track “In The Arms Of Morpheus” to the closer of “The Shadow Man Incident,” Dream Theater returns with a collection of songs that showcase what has earned the band a loyal following for four decades. Clocking in at 71 minutes, “Parasomnia” takes the listener on a musical journey that has become synonymous with the band since the beginning of their career. “Parasomnia” is a term for disruptive, sleep-related disturbances including sleepwalking, sleep paralysis, and night terrors. Songs like “A Broken Man,” “Dead Asleep,” “Midnight Messiah” and “Bend The Clock” all build upon the themes brought on by the album title.
Pre-Order here: https://dream-theater.lnk.to/ParasomniaAlbum
Tracklist:
01. In The Arms Of Morpheus (5:22)
02. Night Terror (9:55)
03. A Broken Man (8:30)
04. Dead Asleep (11:06)
05. Midnight Messiah (7:58)
06. Are We Dreaming? (1:28)
07. Bend The Clock (7:24)
08. The Shadow Man Incident (19:32)
The album was produced by Petrucci, engineered by James ‘Jimmy T’ Meslin and mixed by Andy Sneap. Hugh Syme returns once again to lend his creative vision to the cover art. More information can be found here: http://www.dreamtheater.net/
Tour Dates:
December 7 – Mexico City, Mexico – Explanada Estadio Azteca
December 10 – Belo Horizonte, Brazil – Befly Hall
December 13 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Vivo Rio
December 15 – Sao Paulo, Brazil – Vibra (Limited Tickets Remain)
December 16 – Curitiba, Brazil – Live Curitiba
December 17 – Porto Alegre, Brazil – Araújo Vianna
December 19 – Buenos Aires, Argentina – Movistar Arena
December 21 – Santiago, Chile – Movistar Arena (Sold Out)
December 22 – Santiago, Chile – Movistar Arena
February 7 – Philadelphia, PA – The Met
February 8 – Raleigh, NC – Martin Marietta Center
February 10 – Nashville, TN – Opry House
February 11 – Atlanta, GA – Coca-Cola Roxy
February 12 – Biloxi, MI – Hard Rock Café
February 14 – Houston, TX – 713 Music Hall
February 15 – Dallas, TX – Texas Trust CU
February 16 – San Antonio, TX – Majestic
February 18 – Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Financial Center
February 19 – Highland, CA – Yaamava Theater
February 21 – Las Vegas, NV – The Chelsea
February 22 – Los Angeles, CA – YouTube Theater
February 24 – San Jose, CA – San Jose Civic
February 25 – Sacramento, CA – Safe Credit Union Performing
February 27 – Seattle, WA – Moore Theater
February 28 – Portland, OR – Keller Auditorium
March 2 – Reno, NV – Grand Sierra
March 4 – Salt Lake City, UT – Maverik Center
March 6 – Denver, CO – Mission Ballroom
March 8 – Chicago, IL – Chicago Theatre
March 9 – Cleveland, OH – MGM Northfield Park
March 11 – Toronto, ON – Coca-Cola Coliseum
March 12 – Montreal, QC – Place des Arts
March 14 – Wallingford, CT – Oakdale Theater
March 15 – Boston. MA – Boch Center
March 17 – Rochester, NY – Kodak
March 18 – Wheeling, WV – Capitol Theater
March 19 – Cincinnati, OH – Brady Music Center
March 21 – Washington, DC – The Anthem
March 22 – New York, NY – Radio City Music Hall
Portnoy co-founded Dream Theater in 1985 with guitarist John Petrucci and bassist John Myung. Mike played on 10 Dream Theater albums over a 20-year period, from 1989’s “When Dream And Day Unite” through 2009’s “Black Clouds & Silver Linings,” before exiting the group in 2010.
Mike Mangini joined Dream Theater in late 2010 through a widely publicized audition following the departure of Portnoy. Mangini beat out six other of the world’s top drummers – Marco Minnemann, Virgil Donati, Aquiles Priester, Thomas Lang, Peter Wildoer and Derek Roddy – for the gig, a three-day process that was filmed for a documentary-style reality show called “The Spirit Carries On.”
Asked by Brazil’s Marcelo Vieira and Matheus Ribeiro if Dream Theater‘s upcoming LP picks up from where the last DT album he played on, 2009’s “Black Clouds & Silver Linings,” left off or if it’s a different thing entirely, Portnoy said: “If I’m being honest, I think it picks up right where ‘Black Clouds’ left off, to be honest. There’s a certain style that the five of us have when we write together. And if you listen to the album with this lineup from 1999, ‘[Metropolis Pt. 2:] Scenes From A Memory’, through 2009’s ‘Black Clouds & Silver Linings’, if you look at that string of five or six albums, that’s the sound and style of these five people. So I think that’s a good indication of what you can expect with the new DREAM THEATER album. It definitely sounds like classic DREAM THEATER.”
