Dream Theater Latest News

The World Premiere Of Dream Theater's Wither...

Watch the world premiere of Dream Theater's new video for "Wither," from the Wither EP, GO HERE to get it now:

Dream Theater - Wither Debuts Tomorrow

Be here at 11 AM Eastern U.S. time to watch the "Wither" video immediately when it launches. Get some special insight into Dream Theater as they tour.

That's November 18th, 2009 at 11 AM Eastern U.S. time.

The Wither Digital EP is currently on sale at iTunes.

New Dream Theater Video Coming Next Week

The brand new Dream Theater video for "Wither" is coming next week. We'll be posting more details on Monday, but wanted to give you something to talk about over the weekend.

Dream Theater are currently taking a break from their busy touring schedule to be with family and friends, but will kick off their Australian tour starting December 1st. See all the Dream Theater tour dates here.

Hey, guess what? We're a music company, so we should probably let you know this, too: the Wither Digital EP is currently on sale at iTunes.

It's Official, Dream Theater Are The Kings Of Prog

Dream Theater was honored with the "Spirit Of Prog" achievement award at the 2009 Classic Rock Awards this evening in London.

The award was presented to Mike Portnoy by Prog legend Rick Wakeman who added that he couldn't have been happier for it to go to such a worthy recipient (and joked that he was jealous he wasn't getting it!).

The star studded event was attended by such legends as Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Pete Townshend of The Who, Ron Wood of The Rolling Stones, Brian May of Queen, Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Jeff Beck, Paul Rodgers of Bad Company, Iggy Pop, Slash of Guns N Roses, Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Ginger Baker of Cream, Chrissy Hynde of The Pretenders, Carl Palmer of ELP and members of Iron Maiden, Anthrax, Anvil, Marillion, ZZ Top, Uriah Heep and Mott The Hoople.

GO HERE for an initial report of the winners.

Flip through some paparazzi pix of the red carpet arrival by going HERE.

Dream Theater also was nominated in the "Album Of The Year" category for their latest release "Black Clouds & Silver Linings."

And the next Dream Theater video is...

While the band was in Europe touring overseas, they shot a brand new video from Black Clouds & Silver Linings for "Wither" with director Ramon Boutsevith. Stay tuned for a sneak peak in the coming weeks.

Since you're already here, enter to win a signed animation cell from the "Forsaken" video from the band's last Roadrunner release Systematic Chaos.

Mike Portnoy Named in Top 50 Drummers of All Time

Rhythm Magazine out of the UK took a poll of its readers for the 50 greatest drummers of all time. As Mike said here:

"When I saw the October 2009 issue of UK's Rhythm Magazine with the '50 Greatest Drummers of All Time' reader's poll on the cover, I must admit I was curious to open it up and see if I had made the Top 50...

Well, after quickly scanning through the 40's, 30's and 20's and not seeing my name, I was beginning to sadden that perhaps I didn't make the cut.... : (

But then I read on and was surprised to eventually find myself all the way at the top of the list at #5!

Thank you to all the drummers that voted me into such a prestigious poll....

I am truly flattered and honored to be held in such high regard with some of my greatest drumming heroes!

Thanks for all the love, : )

Mike Portnoy"

The Top 5 were:

1. John Bonham

2. Buddy Rich

3. Keith Moon

4. Neil Peart

5. Mike Portnoy

Dream Theater recently released a digital-only EP for Wither.

Two Slipknot Contests, Trivium Updates, Free Shit

All this week on RoadrunnerRecords.com.

Slipknot play the Cypress Hill Smoke Out and you could win. OR win a trip to see Slipknot play Trinity of Terror in Las Vegas on Halloween.

Be a part of Tommy Lee's new Methods of Mayhem album.

If you're in London, a special offer on Trivium shows.

More signmeto.roadrunnerrecords.com updates are in the works.

Win signed Megadeth posters and more in Free Shit and see some winners of our Dream Theater and Opeth poster design contest.

Brand new Black Stone Cherry music posted. Listen to "Soulcreek" now.

Mutiny Within are giving you updates every day on their goings on.

Dream Theater/Opeth Poster Design Winners

For the last couple of months TunelabMusic.com and Roadrunner Records ran a contest to design the ultimate Progressive Masters tour poster featuring Opeth and Dream Theater. We received numerous amazing entries, but have chosen the following 15 as winners in the order I saw them.

Alan Francis
Veselina Simeonova
Ellison Fernandes
Rob McCarthy
Alexander Cortés
Maria Suciu (my personal favourite)
Ioan Dragan
Tiia Ruotsalainen
Bill Riggio
Alann Sapone
Daniel Peters
Rolf Haug Færøy
Aubtin Heydrie
Lewis Allan
Ryan Beasley

You can see their entries and everyone else's entries in the comments on the contest page. Each winner receives a signed booklet from each bands' latest release.

WHAT'S THE FREE SHIT TODAY?

We're giving away DevilDriver, Dream Theater, and Killswitch Engage music.

There are also some great new contests for visitors to RR.com: win Call of Duty: World at War, an autographed Stone Sour photo, signed CD booklets from Dream Theater and Opeth, or a DragonForce patch.

In tickets we've got two biggies: a flyaway to party with Nickelback in Vegas (sponsored by AOL Radio) and a chance to win tickets to a Collective Soul show in your hood.

Finally, from our partners: the Killswitch Engage fan club is offering a backstage tour with the band, Madina Lake are giving away a signed guitar, win a copy of Guitar Hero: Smash Hits featuring DragonForce from AltSounds.com, and enter Megadeth's Endgame lyrics contest.

UNEARTH HOST HEADBANGERS BALL

When you come home drunk on Saturday night, instead of eating the leftover cold fries and spilling the 2 liter of Coke all over yourself, why not have some self-respect and watch Headbangers Ball?

http://headbangersblog.com

2AM-3AM ON MTV2

SATURDAY'S VIDEOS - HOSTED BY UNEARTH

CHIMAIRA - DESTROY AND DOMINATE/HBB PREMIERE

UNEARTH - MY WILL BE DONE

SKINLAB - IN FOR THE KILL

SLIPKNOT - SULFUR

DREAM THEATER - A RITE OF PASSAGE

HATEBREED - GHOSTS OF WAR

CLUTCH - 50000 UNSTOPPABLE WATTS/HBB PREMIERE

WARBRINGER - SEVERED REALITY

JOB FOR A COWBOY - UNFURLING A DARKENED GOSPEL

DREAM THEATER DEBUTS @ #6, HIGHEST CHART EVER!

Legendary progressive metal masters Dream Theater’s latest album, Black Clouds & Silver Linings has taken the band to new heights. The album debuted at #6 on Billboard’s Top 200 album chart, with first week sales totaling 40,285. Both numbers mark the highest ever first week figures for the band, who are enjoying the greatest success of their 25 year career. 12% of the week’s sales were digital, ranking Black Clouds & Silver Linings at #21 on the Digital Albums chart.

Drummer Mike Portnoy had this to say, “This is truly amazing. After almost 25 years together, Dream Theater is still growing and progressing and doing bigger and better than ever. I can't think of many bands that can claim that. We are truly thankful to have this incredible support from fans who believe in the band as a musical force.”

Such a monumental debut places Dream Theater, a band known for lengthy epics and the true “album” format, in the cozy Top 10 company of Jonas Brothers, Black Eyed Peas and Regina Spektor, a truly remarkable feat. Portnoy continues, “An album with four songs over 12 minutes in the US Top 10? Hell must've frozen over! This is one small step for Dream Theater, and one giant leap for music in general.”

Black Clouds & Silver Linings is the band’s tenth studio album and follow up to the band’s 2007 Roadrunner Records debut, Systematic Chaos. In addition to the standard version CD, the album is also available on vinyl LP, as well as a three-disc Special Edition CD that includes the full album, a CD of instrumental mixes of the album and a CD of six cover songs. A limited deluxe collector’s edition boxed set is also available. “This is as smart and well played as metal and hard rock gets, an album just humming with live possibilities and headphone trips waiting to happen,” wrote Dennis Cook in is 6/23/2009 review at Jambase.com, while Shawn S. Lealos said in his 6/16/09 review at 411Mania.com: “Dream Theater has created their masterpiece.”

Dream Theater is currently breaking records in Europe, playing to festival crowds of over 80,000 adoring fans. The band made their debut appearance in Israel last month, rocking a crowd 10,000 strong to their knees. The band’s own Progressive Nation tour returns stateside on July 24 in Miami, and will feature Dream Theater as headliner, Zappa Plays Zappa, Bigelf and Scale The Summit. The tour—which marks the second incarnation of Progressive Nation--wraps on August 29^th in Los Angeles.

As only the 10^th Top 10 debut in Roadrunner’s 30 year history, Black Clouds & Silver Linings is landmark album for the label as well.

DREAM THEATER REVIEWED AT JAMBASE.COM

Dennis Cook writes a snappy review of Black Clouds & Silver Linings over at JamBase. Head on over and leave those folks some comments.

I'm sure you didn't, but don't forget that the album is in stores now!

WWW.PROGRESSIVENATION2009.COM IS LIVE

In more Dream Theater news today, www.progressivenation2009.com has launched. Visit early, visit often, and find out all the tour information you need. Dates, bands, locations, discussion and more!

I'd tell you that the tour kicks off July 24th here in the U.S., but you were going to find that out anyway when you visited the site, weren't you?

RR BANDS CLEAN UP WITH CLASSIC ROCK NOMINATIONS

Dream Theater, Black Stone Cherry, and The Parlor Mob have all been nominated for the 2009 Classic Rock Awards!

Your vote counts; click here to get started.

Best New Band: The Parlor Mob

Album of the Year: Dream Theater, Black Stone Cherry, The Parlor Mob

And hey, if you want to watch a poor-quality video of Spinal Tap announcing the nominees, check it out below:

MIKE PORTNOY INTERVIEWED PART 1

Roadrunner Records UK interviewed Dream Theater's Mike Portnoy on the eve of the release of their new studio album Black Clouds & Silver Linings. The nine minute interview is full of info!

THE FINAL PRE-RELEASE DREAM THEATER COVER SONG

Dream Theater brings you the final cover track being released to up to the coming of the new album Black Clouds & Silver Linings on 6.23.09, "Larks Tongues In Aspic, Pt. 2 " by King Crimson.

Click the one-of-a-kind track artwork to get it from iTunes now:

Once you get yourself the cover track, check out what Mike Portnoy had to say about covering "Larks Tongues In Aspic, Pt. 2" by King Crimson:

PLAY CALL OF DUTY WITH DREAM THEATER

Send your friend requests now for the session this Saturday June 20th at 8 AM Easter. Get up early (Dream Theater are touring in Europe right now) so you can play against Mike, John, John, Jordan, and James in Call of Duty: World at War. Get more info here.

DREAM THEATER RELEASES COVER SONG #4

Dream Theater brings you the fourth cover track being released to up to the coming of the new album Black Clouds & Silver Linings on 6.23.09, "Take Your Fingers From My Hair" by Zebra.

Click the one-of-a-kind track artwork to get it from iTunes now:

Once you get yourself the cover track, check out what Mike Portnoy had to say about covering "Take Your Fingers From My Hair" by Zebra:

DREAM THEATER'S THIRD COVER SONG OUT NOW

Dream Theater brings you the third cover track being released to preclude the coming of the new album Black Clouds & Silver Linings on 6.23.09, "Odyssey" by Dixie Dregs.

Click the one-of-a-kind track artwork to get it from iTunes now:

Once you get yourself the cover track, check out what Mike Portnoy had to say about covering "Odyssey" by Dixie Dregs:

SEE WHAT'S INSIDE THE DREAM THEATER BOX SET

Dream Theater and Roadrunner Records are proud to announce the Black Clouds & Silver Linings Deluxe Collector's Edition Box Set! This is an absolute must have for any Dream Theater fan, and is extremely limited pre-order it now! Here is a listing of what you see below, along with what you get for pre-ordering it:

Price INCLUDES shipping via Priority Mail for all domestic U.S. customers!

Pre-order this configuration and receive an exclusive code to download 5 of the newly recorded cover songs. 1 track per week will be released, beginning on 5/19, leading up to album release. You'll hear them first! (Download available to U.S. customers only.)

Find a SILVER TICKET and Win a MEET & GREET with the Band!
3-CD Special Edition Set Includes Album, Instrumental Mixes and 6 Newly Recorded Cover Songs
Limited Edition Audiophile 180-Gram Double LP Set with Exclusive Artwork from Hugh Syme
Black Clouds & Silver Linings "Producer's Edition" Disc Includes Isolated Audio Tracks of the Entire Album (This Bonus Disc Only Available in This Set)
Limited Edition, Numbered Lithograph by Legendary Artist Hugh Syme. 100 Lucky Winners will Find a Litho Personally Signed by the Artist!
Computer Mouse Pad, Exclusively Available with Box Set
Packaged in a Silver Foil Embossed Black Velvet Box.

Click on the photo of the contents of the Black Clouds & Silver Linings Deluxe Collector's Edition Box Set to pre-order it: