A VIEW FROM THE TOP OF THE WORLD

US progressive metal legends Dream Theater's fifteenth studio album is a rampant collection of seven new songs spanning across an hour and a half of playtime. 'A View from the Top of the World' is the last studio album with drummer Mike Mangini, who has now spent more than a decade with the band upon his departure. This record has been entirely recorded at the band's HQ in Long Island, and features lyrical compositions from LaBrie and Myung, apart from the usual predominant lyricist over the last couple of albums, John Petrucci. This time the band decide to go full power into the classic prog metal sound that they are more traditionally associated with.

Now, as is the case with most of the more recent releases by the band, where we could include the self-titled 2013 album, or the 2019 release titled 'Distance over Time', this could be a fascinating introduction to the band for someone who has just discovered them, as they would be amazed by the technicality mixed with the melodrama and the overall intensity of the music of the band. Then comes the reception of the fans and the critics who are well familiar with the back catalogue of the band, which would react more neutrally, declaring this album a great addition to the catalogue, but nothing too inventive or progressive nonetheless. And this is precisely what AVFTTOTW is, a great celebration of what Dream Theater do best.

Here, we can see them returning to the long form composition in the face of the 20-minute long title track, a great epic, not as monumental as something like 'Illumination Theory' from 2013 but still very solid and representative of the band's prog metal prowess. Other great tracks include the stomping 'Sleeping Giant' or the more flamboyant 'Awaken the Master'. 'Answering the Call' is another great song that almost hits the ten-minute mark, but generally, there are no weak entries on this album. Fantastic way for Mangini to say goodbye to the Dream Theater family.