DREAM THEATER Announces 'Vol. II' Eight-LP Box Set
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Grammy Award-winning progressive metal trailblazers DREAM THEATER released their massively successful "Vol. I" box set in 2024, covering the band's 1992-1999 studio albums. Today, they are set to unveil the next installment with "Vol. II". "Vol. II" notably includes the next four acclaimed studio albums: "Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence" (2002),"Train Of Thought" (2003),"Octavarium" (2005) and "Systematic Chaos" (2007).
This eight-LP box set is exclusively available on Rhino.com in North America and via select Warner Music Group stores internationally. It is limited to only 2,500 copies worldwide.
"Vol. II" highlights DREAM THEATER's journey through the 2000s, reflecting not only their continuous sonic evolution but also their success in carving out space for progressive metal on international charts. This volume includes the group's iconic "Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence", which features the 42-minute title track that encapsulates their approach to redefining the boundaries of commercial music. This album also introduces drummer Mike Portnoy's twelve-step suite with "The Glass Prison" and continues throughout the next four albums in their discography. The last chord of "Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence" serves as the opening chord to the group's follow-up album, "Train Of Thought".
Expanding on the group's heavier live sound, "Train Of Thought" is the group's most traditional metal album, using thicker guitar tones, heavier drums, and intensely targeted lyricism. The album features suites four and five of Portnoy's twelve-step suite with "The Dying Soul", a lyrical and musical continuation of "The Glass Prison". Like its predecessor, "Train Of Thought"'s final note rings through the beginning of the following, and one of DREAM THEATER's most essential albums, "Octavarium".
"Octavarium" was a commercial success, bringing DREAM THEATER to the Top 5 in Sweden, Finland, and Italy, alongside the Top 10 in Germany, Japan, and Norway. The album opens with "The Root Of All Evil", parts six and seven of Portnoy's suite. The 24-minute title track features orchestral elements inspired by progressive rock leaders GENESIS and YES.
Peaking at No. 19 on the Billboard 200, "Systematic Chaos" is DREAM THEATER's highest-charting album in their career thus far and their first with the metal/hard rock label Roadrunner. Leaning into their roots of virtuosic seven-string thrash and metaphorical fiction, "Systematic Chaos" encompasses the band's consistent progression in the definitions of rock and metal.
DREAM THEATER kicked off the North American leg of its 40th-anniversary tour on February 7 at The Met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The trek was "An Evening With Dream Theater" and was the first tour of North America since Portnoy's return to the lineup, joining singer James LaBrie, bassist John Myung, guitarist John Petrucci and keyboardist Jordan Rudess. The tour concluded on March 22 in New York City.
DREAM THEATER's sixteenth studio album, "Parasomnia", came out on February 7, 2025 via InsideOut Music. The LP marks DREAM THEATER's first release with Portnoy since 2009's "Black Clouds & Silver Linings".
"Parasomnia" 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.
Portnoy co-founded DREAM THEATER in 1985 with Petrucci and 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".
(Source: www.blabbermouth.net)
