DISTANCE OVER TIME

For long-time Dream Theater fans, the 2010's have been a frustrating decade. In the years following the departure of legendary drummer and founding member Mike Portnoy, the band released several albums to, shall we say, "mixed" reactions by fans and critics alike. While the albums 'A Dramatic Turn of Events' and 'Dream Theater' arguably had their moments of brilliance, 2016's two-hour rock opera 'The Astonishing' was a hard swallow, even for the most dedicated of fans. With this year's 'Distance Over Time,' the band seems to finally feel comfortable again in their own skin. The riffs are some of the band's heaviest in over a decade. The choruses are colorful and harmonically interesting. Gone are the long robotically constructed prog epics. Tight and balanced songs have taken their place.