Dream Theater are giving fans a sneak preview of their upcoming album with the sci-fi inspired clip for nine and a half minute track, The Alien. It’s the opener from A View From The Top Of The World, which is out on October 22 via InsideOut.
“It’s the first one we wrote together. It gives people a window into what it was like when we initially met up after all of those months off. It has the adventure, the untraditional structure, the heaviness, and the hooks. It really set the tone for the album,” explains guitarist John Petrucci. “James [LaBrie, singer] wrote the lyrics about the idea of terraforming and looking beyond our Earth for alternative settlements. Since we’re going beyond our planet, The Alien turns out to be us. I thought it was a cool and creative lyric by James.”
A View From The Top Of The World is now available for pre-order in various configurations including a limited deluxe box including gatefold 2LP (180g bright gold vinyl) with exclusive alternate cover, limited deluxe 2CD+Blu-ray artbook with exclusive alternate cover, Zoetrope Slipmat, Beanie, Enamel Keychain, 8 x artcards, Poster, Hand-Numbered Certificate of Authenticity in a Lift-off Lid Box.
The album is also available in a limited Deluxe 2CD+Blu-ray Artbook, Special Edition CD Digipak, Gatefold 180g 2LP+CD+LP-booklet. The Blu-ray contains a 5.1 surround sound mix with full album animations, plus ‘Digging For A Spark - A View From Inside DTHQ’, a specially filmed documentary that gives a glimpse behind the scenes of the band’s new home-base and the making of the new album.
The album is also available for pre-order digitally and fans that pre-order the digital version will receive an instant download of The Alien. A View From The Top Of The World was produced by John Petrucci, engineered and additional production by James “Jimmy T” Meslin and mixed/mastered by Andy Sneap.
Dream Theater were in the middle of a sold-out world tour in support of their last release Distance Over Time and the 20th anniversary of Scenes From A Memory when a global pandemic brought the world to a stop. The musicians found themselves at home, with LaBrie in Canada and the rest of the group in the States. As fate would have it, they’d just finished construction on DTHQ (Dream Theater Headquarters) - a combination live recording studio, rehearsal space, control room, equipment storage, and creative hive.
With LaBrie in Canada, he initially wrote with the band via Zoom on a monitor in DTHQ. In March 2021, he flew down to New York, quarantined, and recorded his vocals face-to-face with Petrucci. The album ultimately threaded together lean and uncompromising hooks with tried-and-true technical proficiency.
Check out the video for The Alien below!