Dream Theater

A View From The Top Of The World (InsideOut Music)

The kings of progressive metal keep it (relatively) simple

It’s faintly ridiculous to recall that when Mike Portnoy quit Dream Theater in 2010, some predicted evaporating fortunes for the drummer, writer and producer and the band he had co-founded a quarter century earlier. However, both sides have prospered, Portnoy playing with a wide variety of groups and Dream Theater further enhancing their reputation as the most important progressive metal band on the planet – even picking up a couple of Grammys.

This, the fifth album to feature Mike Mangini, is probably the best record Dream Theater have made since the changing of the guard. Mangini is one of a mere handful of percussionists equipped for the job. The former Extreme man rattles teeth and assaults eardrums from the jarring opening bars of track one, ‘The Alien’, performing with laser-guided intensity and a boundless sense of rhythm. His contribution to the album is a rhythmic masterclass.

The most priceless attribute of Dream Theater is that, for all the complexity of their compositions, they make everything sound so goddamned easy. John Petrucci’s guitar work is lavish and colourful and, for the most part, easy on the ear, while despite the Marmite status among certain fans, James LaBrie injects melody and passion to the likes of ‘Transcending Time’. Meanwhile, keyboard maestro Jordan Rudess envelops the entire package within swathes of intoxicating texture.

While Dream Theater have previously tested the limits of their fans’ patience (see 2016’s über-challenging conceptual double-set, The Astonishing, relating the unlikely tale of “a retro-futurist post-apocalyptic dystopia ruled by medieval style feudalism”), just like 2019’s Distance Over Time, A View From The Top Of The World is simply the sound of the band reclaiming what it does best, Petrucci’s warm and fulsome production sharpened by a gleeful mix from Andy Sneap. The album’s title could have not been more appropriate.

Rating: 9 out of 10

For fans of: Fates Warning, Rush, Symphony X

—Dave Ling