“We Are All Blown Away”

Drum legend Mike Portnoy has officially finished his part for Dream Theater‘s much-anticipated sixteenth studio album. This marks a monumental occasion, being their first record together since Portnoy‘s return last year, and their first with Portnoy since 2009’s Black Clouds & Silver Linings.

Taking to social media, Portnoy announced the completion of his drumming duties for “#DT16,” leaving everyone and their mamas eager for more details. While he remains tight-lipped about specifics, his message hints at something truly special brewing.

“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, and 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…”

Color us excited.

When asked during the recent Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy Camp’s Metalmania III if there’s any chance Dream Theater would do a sequel to their 1999 progressive metal masterpiece Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory, Portnoy said the band doesn’t have any specific plans for new material at the moment.

“We haven’t talked about it yet, but that would be the obvious thing. But maybe because it’s the obvious thing, we wouldn’t do it. But you never know… It definitely would be fun to do, but I think, uh… I don’t know. We’re gonna start from scratch and reconnect and just go into the studio and live together.

“We’re in a different phase of our lives. When I left the band 13 years ago, we were all in our 40s; now we’re all in our 50s and 60s. It’s gonna be interesting to see how we kind of exist now in this new world. So, yeah, I’m just looking forward to being with the guys and making music together again.”

So who knows – maybe Metropolis, Pt. 3 is on the way? I suppose we’ll find out soon enough.