Dream Theater – "Parasomnia"

Seriously, Nicholas, open your eyes already

Alright, so Portnoy's back in the fold. And yay for that. I mean, it's hard enough for me to follow any and every band that I've been digging on for years, but key band members leaving and getting replaced can make me leave otherwise good groups by the wayside. This happened in casu Dream Theater.

It wasn't only so much because of Portnoy's exit, though, but because their releases after their magnum opus, 1999's "Metropolis pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory" A) didn't surpass said opus, and B) started to become a bit too self-indulgent, even for a masterful prog ensemble. Sure, that +40 minute title track on "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" ('02) was a loveably bold move, but it followed five other songs with an average length of almost 11 minutes, and I couldn't recall a second from it without giving it a re-spin.

"Train of Thought" ('03) featured the band's arguably most metal moments ever and had some solid songwriting on it, but also its share of filler. I might have heard "Octavarium" ('05), but if that's the case, I can't remember anything from it. And "Systematic Chaos" ('07), while featuring a coupla stand-outs, was decent, but nothing extraordinary – within the band's capacities, that is.

Anyhow, "Parasomnia" is a concept album (no way; a prog band doing a concept album?!) about various facets of abnormal sleep patterns and sleep-related incidents. And as opposed to many another exorbitant concept output from some of DT's colleagues in the world of prog, their 16th studio effort actually manages to not only keep it focused, but make it both evident and consistent. This helps keep the record together.

Of course there's a cinematic intro, and of course it features an escalating ticking noise, exploding in heavy 7-string B-power chord chops accompanied by an alarm clock. Portnoy isn't late in announcing his return with some of his signature 500-tom semi-circle fills, sounding not only like the last 13 years since his departure haven't passed, but the last 30. Axe maestro Petrucci lays down one metal riff after the other, and a bouncy high-octane shuffle eventually leads us to a melody theme that you just know is gonna be repeated a coupla times with some variations throughout.

Since I haven't heard anything new outta the band in 18 years, then, it all kinda comes together as LaBrie enters in "Night Terror". The man is criminally underrated; his voice is instantly recognizable, and even though his – holy shit – 61 years on Earth have imposed their limitations on him, his pipes, too, sound exactly like aforementioned 30 years ago.

Portnoy is excited about being back; you can hear it in the way he's all over the place just that bit more than we're used to.

My 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-hand impression is that the whole thing isn't exactly very catchy or memorable. While the metal riffs are plenty, they aren't all that raw, but feel composed by a Berklee-educated composer in a big, bright duplex rather than jammed by a blue-collar misfit in a shoddy garage with empty beercans. Needless to say, the song structures are impressive, not rarely incorporating sick solos, odd time signatures, as well as multiple sections transcending that ABABCBB format multiple times per track. Portnoy is excited about being back; you can hear it in the way he's all over the place just that bit more than we're used to. Rudess does some wonderfully weird things with retro-spacy synth as well as even more retro Hammond touches. Petrucci shreds in 128ths. And… well, I suppose Myung does some sick shit as well.

Yes, this is all very musician-oriented. In spite of that wicked, mechanically heavy 6/4 time of "A Broken Man" and all its dramatic Minor-chord keyboards and stadium-rooftop toms, the track develops into variations and different sections more than anything else; my focus gets spread a bit too thin for the album's good here. Gotta give it up for that funky shuffle section with clean piano and Petrucci playing pure, dirty blues, though.

However, the album does evolve, the vulgar triplet-feel metal of "Dead Asleep" going from half-time to normal time, echoing one little DT classic, name of "The Mirror". And "Midnight Messiah" would have to be the most metal that the band has been since aforementioned "Train of Thought", its solid headbanger chops suddenly getting hijacked by pure Metallica style thrash. Also, I'd feel weird about not pointing out the lyrics here, Portnoy seemingly going for a sort of "Metropolis pt. 2" reference bingo with lines like "Just another pleasant nightmare", "Just an uncanny strange déjà-vu", and "It's calling me back to my home". Yeah, Mike, we do remember.

A bit weirdly, perhaps, the superior song this time around is "Bend the Clock", its arpeggiated pop/jazz chords immersed in a light overdrive and a vivid echo transitioning into one of the smoothest verses with one of the most perfect cadences DT have ever done. The chorus is one big arm-waver, straddling the line between a power ballad and simply a big, laid-back stadium banger. But devoid of all the extra cheese of, say, Bon Jovi or Aerosmith, this is vulnerable and relatable rather than tacky – not the least of all with Petrucci's concluding mountaintop solorama, echoing Pink Floyd anno "The Wall" and beyond more than anything else. And if you don't like that, you don't like music.

"Parasomnia", overall, holds up to the average standard of the band's post-"Metropolis pt. 2" releases.

And then, of course, there's the mandatory 20-minute closer. Not surprisingly, "The Shadow Man Incident" is one big wealth of meticulous build-up, stratospheric pathos, and sections and solos galore – some of which switch to others relatively rapidly, and others being patiently cultivated. I could try to outline it in writing, but I wouldn't see the point. Like the other two thirds of the album, it's impressively constructed and definitely has its moments and merit, but it largely lacks the memorability factor. – Which, with all the skills of the average prog band, seems to be their one biggest hang-up. Unless maybe they're Porcupine Tree.

That aside, apart from being prog, DT and PT do have one particular trait in common: They're so much more prog than they're metal, so when they get heavy, it tends to happen under somewhat reserved circumstances. As suggested earlier, the riffs on "Parasomnia" seem very written, and the intensity is rarely in the red zone – presumably because that would mean less energy to show off those wicked skills. So, in a nutshell, DT is a controlled venture rather than a savage one. It's always been like that, but I'm still missing some more ass-beating here. Perhaps because the memorable elements are relatively few.

Having spent some years of my life immersed in playing music and learning theory, I've always enjoyed the intricacies, the impressive displays of virtuosity, and the bold visions in progressive rock and metal (in practice, those seem to be the only music genres that have progressive subdivisions). And although DT lost me along the way, I did get into them more than a quarter of a century ago, for what that's worth. By these merits, then, I allege that their 16th LP does adhere to any and every pivotal, relevant yardstick for the genre; that it is much more focused and providentially devoid of any of the utter non-sequitur randomness that pervaded and sullied the latest Opeth record, and that it is a lovely reunion to witness, and a lovely revisit as an old listener.

Although I know that DT can do better than this, "Parasomnia", overall, still holds up to the average standard of their post-"Metropolis pt. 2" releases. As such, this is one for those fans that are fans enough to not have gotten lost by the wayside like yours truly. Any new listeners reading this, then, would do better in starting with "Awake" ('94), "Images and Words" ('92), and aforementioned "Metropolis pt. 2" ('99).

Rating: 4 out of 6

Genre: Progressive heavy metal
Release date: 7/2/2025
Label: InsideOut
Producer: John Petrucci