{"product_id":"dream_theater","title":"Dream Theater","description":"\u003cp\u003eDream Theater is the band’s twelfth studio album, released in September 2013 on Roadrunner Records and conceived as a kind of new baseline for the group’s identity in the post–Mike Portnoy era. Written and recorded at Cove City Sound Studios in New York with guitarist John Petrucci producing and mixer Rich Chycki on board, it was the first time new drummer Mike Mangini was fully involved in the songwriting, something the band emphasized by giving the album their own name and presenting it as a reference point for fans. The record runs just over an hour and balances the band’s trademark technical, progressive metal with a slightly more concise approach: most tracks are relatively tight by their standards, with the main exception of the 22‑minute closing epic “Illumination Theory.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMusically, the album opens with the orchestral instrumental “False Awakening Suite,” written as a show‑opening overture, before moving into the aggressive lead single “The Enemy Inside,” the melodic, Rush‑nod “The Looking Glass,” the heavier “Enigma Machine” instrumental, and songs like “The Bigger Picture,” “Behind the Veil,” and “Surrender to Reason,” which mix big choruses with intricate instrumental sections. Several tracks use real string arrangements by Eren Başbuğ, giving parts of the record a more cinematic sheen, while the lyrics draw on real‑world events—“The Enemy Inside” tackles PTSD in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, and “Behind the Veil” references the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping. Commercially, Dream Theater debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200, becoming one of their highest‑charting releases, and “The Enemy Inside” earned the band a second consecutive Grammy nomination, underlining the album’s role as a confident, self‑defining statement rather than a radical reinvention.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Record Store","offers":[{"title":"Vinyl \/ 2LP","offer_id":53324060623162,"sku":"37727","price":58.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/2041\/0682\/files\/Screenshot_2026-04-15_at_4.42.14_PM.jpeg?v=1779955226","url":"https:\/\/recordstore.ca\/products\/dream_theater","provider":"Record Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}