Progressive metal masters DREAM THEATER have released a music video for the song "Awaken The Master". The track is taken from the band's 15th studio album, "A View From The Top Of The World", which came out on October 22 via InsideOut Music/Sony Music. The artwork was created by longtime cover collaborator Hugh Syme (RUSH, IRON MAIDEN, STONE SOUR).
The "Awaken The Master" clip is a frenetic, high-definition CGI marvel from long-time collaborator Wayne Joyner. It also marks the first recorded use of an eight-string guitar by DREAM THEATER's John Petrucci. The track was the last one recorded for the album and clocks in at an impressive nine minutes and 47 seconds — making it the third longest song on "A View From The Top Of The World".
Petrucci said: "It's the last song we wrote. It's also the first time I've used my eight-string guitar, which was fun for me. Back in the day when we were writing 'Awake', I'd always wanted to play a seven-string. So, I ordered myself one. I wanted to be inspired again by the instrument without any pre-conception. I used it, and I wrote in my style on the eight-string. It was actually a prototype! 'Awaken The Master' purposefully starts with guitar only. [Bassist] John Myung wrote the lyrics. Recently, I heard him say, 'The master was your heart.' He was referring to awakening your heart. It's one of the heavier songs on the record due to the range of the instrument."
DREAM THEATER — comprised of James LaBrie, John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess, John Myung and Mike Mangini — was in the middle of a sold-out world tour in support of their last release "Distance Over Time" and the 20th anniversary of "Scenes From A Memory" when a global pandemic brought the world to a stop. The musicians found themselves at home, with LaBrie in Canada and the rest of the group in the States. As fate would have it, they'd just finished construction on DTHQ (Dream Theater Headquarters) — a combination live recording studio, rehearsal space, control room, equipment storage, and creative hive. With LaBrie in Canada, he initially wrote with the band via Zoom on a monitor in DTHQ. In March 2021, he flew down to New York, quarantined, and recorded his vocals face to face with Petrucci.
Last month, DREAM THEATER announced that they were postponing their previously announced North American tour to early 2022 due to COVID-19 concerns. The trek was scheduled to kick off on October 28 in Mesa, Arizona and conclude on December 14 in St. Petersburg, Florida.
In a new interview with Robert Cavuoto of Sonic Perspectives, DREAM THEATER guitarist John Petrucci spoke about the band's decision to push back the tour, saying: "Well, it's an unfortunate decision. John [Myung, bass] and I really wanted to tour, and are dying to tour — dying to get out there and support the [new DREAM THEATER] record. And unfortunately, we couldn't convince the other guys that it was safe. So, it wasn't a unanimous decision, unfortunately.
"It's frustrating for me, because everything has opened up and concerts are going on, and theaters and arenas and clubs and everything is open," he continued. "Bands are out there, and a lot of my friends are touring successfully. And there are ways to do it safely, which we were very prepared to do. But, like I said, we couldn't convince the other guys it'd be safe, and so we had to push it off.
"I'm the type of person where I hate disappointing people, I hate disappointing our fans. So, it was definitely an unfortunate decision."
(Source: www.blabbermouth.net)