Dream Theater
JOHN MYUNG Balancing Act By Freddy Villano
“W
ith all of these songs, there’s definitely balance, in terms of concise ideas, without going off on tangents too much,” explains Dream Theater’s John Myung. “I think it’s a new balance that we’ve found, in terms of creating a record that’s commercially viable, but doesn’t sacrifice anything creatively. Everything is more concise and to the point, which is cool, because it allows us to get to different types of ideas on our record. The result is a really diverse album that breathes. It’s cool that we were able to go in that direction.” Myung is referencing the material on Dream Theater’s latest opus, Distance Over Time, released earlier this year and once again produced by DT guitarist John Petrucci. Recorded at Yonderbarn Studio in Monticello, New York, it’s the band’s 14th studio album — and it’s one of their most fine-tuned to date, featuring a more “back-to-basics” approach than their previous efforts, particularly the 34-song, hour-and-a-half concept
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BASS MAGAZINE ; ISSUE 4 ; bassmagazine.com
album The Astonishing [2016, Roadrunner]. Distance Over Time finds DT challenging the notion of what it means to be, perhaps, the preeminent progressive-metal band on the planet. New tunes like “Untethered Angel,” “Barstool Warrior,” and “S2N” are a testament to songcraft, with their more condensed and “concise” formulas. These otherworldly prog-metal tunes still feature signature musical virtuosity on the parts of Myung, Petrucci, and their cohorts, drummer Mike Mangini and keyboardist Jordan Rudess, but the vocal melodies are intoxicatingly catchy, even commercial. James LaBrie’s vocal hooks are easily memorable, and the songs themselves are surprisingly short. Clocking in at just under an hour, Distance Over Time is only DT’s third album not to feature any song longer than ten minutes. Myung has been with DT since its 1985 inception, when he, Petrucci, and original drummer Mike Portnoy were students at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. Originally called Majesty, they would cycle through
