DREAM THEATER

Over the years, musicologists have done their best to describe Dream Theater's heady style of play, but the band's ability to stretch rock to its outer limits remains uncategorizable. Some have even called it sci-fi rock, which is interesting when you consider that it's been well over a decade since Dream Theater's arrival, yet they're still light years ahead of the pack. With their epic songs and dazzling virtuosity, Long Island's Dream Theater are the premiere purveyors of complex, progressive art-metal. Combining thrash and theatricality with their amazing technical proficiency, guitarist John Petrucci and company have earned legions of devoted fans worldwide.

They're surging forward with Train of Thought, an electrifying thrill ride across a dense, dark and gloriously decadent musical landscape. What sets this disc apart from Dream Theater past isn't the band's flair for bending metal, but the force with which they do it. Clocking in at just over an hour, Train of Thought is relentless in its speaker-shredding intensity, offering a mere two-minute breather (a haunting piano, bass and cello piece entitled "Vacant') before resuming full-throttle. Train of Thought is the third Dream Theater album co-produced by Portnoy and Petrucci and mixed by Kevin Shirley (Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin). Massive in sound and black in mood and melodywith lyrics and album art to matchTrain of Thought hurtles through sonic twists and turns at a crushing pace, obliterating all stylistic borders in its path. Train of Thought follows 2002's incendiary double-disc set Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, which Rolling Stone praised as "a gorgeous conceptual masterpiece."

Dream Theater has maintained a rare combination of stellar musicianship and unwavering passion for over a decade, selling millions of albums and filling concert venues worldwide. The band once again confirms its status as progressive hard rock's standard-bearers on their latest studio epic. Train Of Thought is enhanced with CD key technology that unlocks bonus material that isn't available anywhere else.

Estimated despatch 5-10 days after ordering.