Coming Soon: Dream Theater--Black Clouds and Silver Linings

The tenth Dream Theater CD, Black Clouds and Silver Linings is now available to pre-order. Arriving on June 23, this new disc features six new songs by the prog-metal meisters. Also available: a 3-disc special edition featuring the new record, an instrumental version of the new record, and six yet-to-be-announced cover tunes. Finally, for those metalheads not currently hit by the recesssion, a deluxe "Producer's Edition" includes a numbered, signed lithograph by cover artist Hugh Syme and a chance to win an all-access pass for when the boys go on tour this summer.

2007's Systematic Chaos was of a decidedly metallic bent. So it seems logical that the new record will be leaning towards DT's progressive side. With two songs over 15 minutes each, and two more over the 10-minute mark, this sure to be a disc of complex, demanding, intricate music. In other words, like the first nine albums, but only more so!

Metal Hammer has already posted an album preview by Lifting Shadows author Rich Wilson. Here's a boiled-down version:

• "The Shattered Fortress" is the climax of Mike Portnoys "Twelve Steps" suite.
  
• "A Rite of Passage" (a.k.a. "Stonecutter Blues") is about Freemasonry. This will be cut down to five minutes and released as the first single.
  
• "The Best of Times" (not a Styx cover) is about Mike Portnoy's father, who just died of cancer.
  
• The band will take a shot at radio with the five-minute ballad "Wither."

You can pre-order the album here. Also, Dream Theater will be doing a second "Progressive Nation" tour this summer, with Zappa Plays Zappa, Pain of Salvation, and Beardfish.