Mike Portnoy has reunited with fellow Dream Theater founder John Petrucci on the latter’s upcoming solo album, Terminal Velocity. It marks the first time the pair have recorded together since Portnoy left Dream Theater in 2010.
While Petrucci had previously teased his solo album, not a lot of details were disclosed at the time. Now, Portnoy has revealed that he plays drums on the entire album, with Dave LaRue (Flying Colors, Steve Morse Band) on bass.
Portnoy co-founded Dream Theater in 1985 with guitarist Petrucci and bassist John Myung when all three attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. The drummer remained in the prog-metal band until 2010, when he parted ways with Dream Theater to drum for Avenged Sevenfold following the passing of Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan. When his tenure with Avenged Sevenfold didn’t last very long, Portnoy sought to rejoin Dream Theater, but they had already hired Mike Mangini, who remains the band’s current drummer.
Despite the drummer’s contentious split with Dream Theater, Portnoy and Petrucci have remained friends, and now they’re back together musically. Portnoy revealed the news with a tweet listing the musicians and the album’s tracklist, along with a visual teaser.
Portnoy was actually asked a little while back by My Global Mind whether he’d consider playing with Petrucci again, and he responded, “We would both love it … we are a great team of 25 years as we were co-captains of Dream Theater and [side project] Liquid Tension Experiment. … I look back at the relationship we had, and it was very special from a drummer/guitarist relationship.”
Despite his departure from Dream Theater, Portnoy has been one of the busiest drummers on the planet over the past decade, playing in The Winery Dogs, Steve Morse Band, Metal Allegiance, BPMD, and more acts. He also filled in on drums for Twisted Sister during their final tour, following the death of A.J. Pero.
Dream Theater, meanwhile, released their acclaimed album Distance Over Time in early 2019, following mixed reviews for their previous release, The Astonishing.
[editors-picks id=”920129,1029819″]
As of now, now specific release date has been announced for Terminal Velocity, although Petrucci has tweeted that it will arrive in fall 2020. Hear an audio snippet in Portnoy’s tweet below.
JOHN PETRUCCI – TERMINAL VELOCITY@JPetrucci – Guitar
Dave LaRue – Bass@MikePortnoy – Drums
⠀
TERMINAL VELOCITY
THE ODDFATHER
HAPPY SONG
GEMINI
OUT OF THE BLUE
GLASSY-EYED ZOMBIES
THE WAY THINGS FALL
SNAKE IN MY BOOT
TEMPLE OF CIRCADIA#johnpetrucci #mikeportnoy #davelarue pic.twitter.com/K48H9NniSy— Mike Portnoy 🤘 (@MikePortnoy) July 1, 2020
JOHN PETRUCCI – TERMINAL VELOCITY – FALL 2020
Artwork by Sean Mosher-Smith at Echo Designlab pic.twitter.com/sfl6lrJ919
— John Petrucci (@JPetrucci) June 18, 2020
[cos-videojs id=”dreamtheater27sjohnpetruccireflectsonrush-1552938152316,stateofmetal-1567537000586,slipknotroadshow-1564440157295,metalhealthfinal-1570686896285,tourstopvolbeat2ctoto2ctheblackkeys-1570222943993″ auto_play=true show_playlist=true sticky=true]
