DREAM THEATER: New Audio Interview With MIKE PORTNOY Available

May 1, 2009

Italian journalist Paolo Bianco recently conducted an interview with Mike Portnoy, drummer of the American progressive metal band DREAM THEATER. During the chat, Portnoy shed some light on the upcoming DREAM THEATER album, "Black Clouds & Silver Linings", due out on June 23 via Roadrunner Records. Portnoy said that the inspiration for the song "The Count of Tuscany" came from an Italian trip by his guitarist John Petrucci; then explained some of the symbols drawn on the album cover, and talked in great detail about the new song "The Shattered Fortress", the last chapter in his personal "12-step saga", which started in 2002 on the album "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence", and ran through five albums and twelve chapters. Portnoy also talked about the status of the reactivated supergroup TRANSATLANTIC (where he shares duty with Neal Morse, Pete Trewavas and Roine Stolt),which is working on a new studio album for a late 2009 release.

The 15-minute interview can be streamed on Musica Metal (click the green play button to launch audio).

In addition to the standard-version CD, "Black Clouds & Silver Linings" will also be available on vinyl LP, as well as a three-disc, special-edition CD that will include the full album, a CD of instrumental mixes of the album and a CD of six cover songs, the titles of which will be revealed at a later date.

Six weeks prior to the June 23 street date, Roadrunner will release one cover song per week through digital retailers.

DREAM THEATER commenced work on "Black Clouds & Silver Linings" — the band's second for Roadrunner, following up 2007's "Systematic Chaos" — in October of last year.

Drummer Mike Portnoy and guitarist John Petrucci are once again at the helm as producers, while Paul Northfield mixed the record.

"Black Clouds & Silver Linings" track listing:

01. A Nightmare to Remember
02. A Rite of Passage
03. Wither
04. The Shattered Fortress
05. The Best of Times
06. The Count of Tuscany

A video for the first single, "A Rite of Passage", was shot in late March.

Portnoy previously stated about the upcoming CD, "Imagine a DREAM THEATER album with 'A Change Of Seasons', 'Octavarium', 'Learning To Live', 'Pull Me Under' and 'The Glass Prison'... all on one album... COULD YOU HANDLE IT?? Excited? I sure am!!!!"

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