5 Things We Love About Dream Theater’s New Album, ‘Parasomnia’

Here are five things we really love about Dream Theater‘s new album, Parasomnia!

On February 7th, 2025, iconic progressive metal quintet Dream Theater will release their 16th studio LP, Parasomnia.

The follow-up to 2021’s A View From the Top of the World, it’ll arrive with higher than usual expectations because it represents the official studio return of founding drummer Mike Portnoy (who left after 2009’s Black Clouds & Silver Linings and was replaced by Mike Mangini).

READ MORE: Mike Portnoy Covers Taylor Swift on Drums, Swears He’s Never Heard It Before

Obviously, that leads just about every fan to ask any and all questions about what the long-awaited return of Portnoy would mean for the group’s collective chemistry.

Luckily, we’re here to answer those questions by breaking down the five things we adore most about the classic lineup’s triumphant return.

While some may expect the band to dial it right back to the late 2000s as if Portnoy never left, Parasomnia feels very much like a successor to their Mangini-era material and a natural continuation of the band as a whole.

Join us as we celebrate the things we love most about Parasomnia!

5 Things We Love About Dream Theater’s New Album, Parasomnia

1. Lots of Connective Thematic Tissue

As guitarist John Petrucci explained: “‘Parasomnia’ is a term for disruptive, sleep-related disturbances including sleepwalking, sleep paralysis, and night terrors. Since our band name is literally a theater that plays while you’re dreaming, it’s crazy we didn’t think of this sooner.”

To the quintet’s credit, the unsettling nature of parasomnia permeates the entire sequence. Aside from the title and/or lyrics of every track relating to sleep, nightmares and the like in one way or another, there are a few auditory tactics that make Parasomnia unfold like a connected vision.

Specifically, opening instrumental overture “In the Arms of Morpheus” begins with eerie guitar lines, a ticking clock and the sound of someone going to bed. Correspondingly, epic closer “The Shadow Man Incident” ends by reprising some of those sounds as ominous voices whispers, “Wake up,” and “Dead Asleep” starts similarly to “In the Arms of Morpheus.”

Oh, and true to its name, wordless segue “Are We Dreaming?” is a dreamy transition comprised of comforting voices and keyboard chords.

2. The Artwork Evokes The Cover of Images and Words

Designed by legendary artist Hugh Syme (who previously did the artwork for almost every Dream Theater album since 2005’s Octavarium), Parasomnia’s main image embodies the LP’s overarching theme of, well, parasomnia. Syme once noted that the music is “a perfect fit for this art director who enjoys living in the ‘improbable reality and dream state’ realms!”

What’s equally intriguing is that Syme’s approach could also be viewed as a nod to the band’s breakthrough sophomore record (and first with frontman James LaBrie), 1992’s Images and Words. After all, both pictures feature a girl standing in a nightgown (in the foreground and a mere few feet away from her bed.

Of course, Dream Theater’s emblem is visible in both cases, too, and the connections can either be viewed as an ingenious throwback to that monumental release or a very cool coincidence.

3. Multiple Callbacks to Prior LPs

This is easily the most spoiler-heavy item on the list, but it’s also one of the coolest aspects of Parasomnia.

You see, there are multiple references to Dream Theater’s conceptual magnum opus, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory. For instance, Parasomnia’s third single – “Midnight Messiah” – finds LaBrie singing, “In my dreams, there’s a song I oncе knew / Like an uncanny strange déjà vu” and “For all eternity / It’s calling me back to my home.” In doing so, he recalls both “Strange Déjà Vu” and “Home.”

Likewise, and this could be a stretch, but there’s an instrumental break around eight minutes into “Dead Asleep” that’s reminiscent of this section from “Beyond This Life.” Going back to “Midnight Messiah,” LaBrie also belts out: “In my life / I’ve lost all self-control / Like a sword piercing this dying soul.”

So, you know, that’s cool, too.

4. Signature Chemistry Between Portnoy and Other Members

With his individual trademarks, the chemistry Portnoy had (and still has) with his bandmates is abundantly apparent throughout the 71-minute sequence.

Right away (via “In the Arms of Morpheus”), the synchronized riffs and rhythms feel nostalgic. Plus, songs such as “Night Terror,” “A Broken Man” and “The Shadow Man Incident” integrate complex jams whose textures and structures conjure the absorbing trade-offs and winding puzzles with which Portnoy, Petrucci, keyboardist Jordan Rudess and bassist John Myung used to play around.

Beyond that, a few tunes incorporate instantly recognizable vocal harmonies and call-and-response techniques (thereby evoking earlier pieces such as “War Inside My Head” and “Constant Motion”).

5. “Bend the Clock” Is Extremely Engrossing

As usual, there are several standout bits of songwriting scattered throughout Parasomnia, but none resonate as much as the penultimate “Bend the Clock.”

It automatically gets points for transitioning seamlessly out of “Are We Dreaming?” with somber guitar lines and what’s likely Petrucci’s most captivating riffs of the whole record.

Correspondingly, poignant harmonies decorate LaBrie’s dejected verses and impassioned chorus (“If I could bend the clock / The passageway of time / Leave it all behind / No more paralyzing dreams / The midnight screams / Always haunting me”), with Petrucci’s piercing solo closing things out with pained exuberance.

Like the best Dream Theater ballads, “Bend the Clock” is simultaneously triumphant and tragic and it’d work perfectly as their next radio-friendly single (and as a convincing case for radio to entertain songs over seven minutes long… or the old-fashioned radio edit if we must).