Mike Portnoy Completes Recording Drums For Next DREAM THEATER Album: “We Are All Blown Away”

The upcoming Dream Theater album is currently in progress.

Mike Portnoy, the band’s drummer, has finished recording his parts for the next album, and now it’s John Petrucci’s turn. Petrucci shared this update on his Facebook page, announcing the completion of the drumming sessions for the new record. He expressed excitement about moving forward with the project, mentioning that work will continue on guitars, bass, keys, vocals, percussion, lyric writing, mixing, mastering, and more in the coming months. While Petrucci couldn’t reveal much detail yet, he emphasized the band’s enthusiasm for the music they’ve created and assured fans that more information would be shared in due time.

“Today is my last day behind this kit for a while… Yes indeed, my drums for DT16 are done!! But that is just the beginning…work will now continue in the coming months ahead on guitars, bass, keys, vocals, percussion (not to mention writing lyrics, mixing, mastering etc etc). I really can’t divulge anything more as we are (purposefully) keeping a very tight lid on any & all info at this early stage…but I will say we are all blown away and so extremely excited about what we’ve created! We cannot wait for you all to hear this…but patience, all will be revealed in due time…”

Portnoy co-founded Dream Theater with Petrucci and bassist John Myung in 1985. He contributed to 10 albums over about two decades, from ‘When Dream And Day Unite’ in 1989 to ‘Black Clouds & Silver Linings’ in 2009, before departing in 2010. The upcoming album marks his return to the band since rejoining in October last year.

In a previous interview with GuitarWorld in January, Petrucci expressed the band’s excitement about creating new music, especially with Portnoy back in the fold:

“It’s really exciting to have [Portnoy] back in the band. We started the band together. I talked [earlier in the interview] about being 18 at Berklee [College Of Music]; that’s where we met. And we’ve been friends ever since. So, having him back in the band is really special to all of us. I know he’s really excited as well.”