PARASOMNIA

It seemed that Mike Portnoy's departure from Dream Theater was a closed chapter in 2010, but surprisingly the prodigal drummer returned to the band to take his place fifteen years later, after which his determination and energy at the helm of the percussions and his compositional talent came to bring a revitalising breath of fresh air to "Parasomnia" (2025), the sixteenth album by the New Yorkers, wrapped since 2011 in a self-referential web that produced five very good albums technically, but with a somewhat dull creative spark.

With a conceptual theme centred on sleep disorders and their various manifestations, "Parasomnia" flows between charged hypnotic and sombre atmospheres, sustained by a rocky rhythmic base built by Portnoy's drums and John Miyung's always diligent bass. From the powerful and disturbing instrumental "In the Arms of Morfeus", a myriad of sonic constructions and deconstructions intertwine in tracks of great forcefulness such as the dark classic prog metal of the nightmarish "Night Terror" and John Petrucci's irrepressible haemorrhage of riffs, the tormented and muscular "A Broken Man" including a brief and inspired jazz moment, the oppressive and murky "Dead Asleep" that contrasts a great guitar solo by Petrucci with the synthesized dalliances of Jordan Rudess, and the raw and powerful "Midnight Messiah" and the virtuoso overlapping play of guitars and keyboards once again.

And preceded by the whispering and brief ambient interlude "Are We Dreaming?" and by the splendorous power ballad "Bend the Clock" with a convincing voice of James LaBrie (of very good performance on the album by the way), the extensive suite "The Shadow Man Incident" unfolds stupendously, alternating emotive peaceful valleys and peaks of instrumental grandeur drawn from the most genuine progressive metal, on a par with other huge tracks like "A Change of Seasons" or "The Count of Tuscany" and with some subtle nods to the magnificent "Metropolis Pt.2 : Scenes from a Memory". An unbeatable closing of what is probably Dream Theater's best work since 2002's "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence".

Very good

4/4.5 stars

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