Octavarium is the eighth studio album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater. Released on June 7, 2005, it was the band's final release with Atlantic Records. Recorded between September 2004 and February 2005, the album holds the distinction of being the last album ever recorded at The Hit Factory in New York City. With Octavarium, the band decided to create "a classic Dream Theater album", drawing upon their various stylistic influences while trying to make the music less complex. It was the first Dream Theater album to feature an orchestra. The album's structure was based around the concept of the musical octave. Looking at the history of the word Octavarium reveals very little. The only historical record of it is a historical book in the Vatican called the Octavarium Romanum. It consists mainly of lessons regarding various Catholic feasts. The book was first mentioned under the pontification of Sixtus V (1585-1590) (Sixtus the fifth in 1585) and then was not mentioned again until it was brought up under Clement VIII (1592-1605) (Clement the eighth).
Octavarium peaked in the top five in the Finnish, Italian, and Swedish charts, and in the top ten in the Dutch, Japanese, and Norwegian charts. Critical reception of the album was generally positive; the diversity of the music was praised, although critics found some of the songwriting to be inconsistent. Dream Theater promoted the album on a year-long world tour, with the majority of concerts lasting almost three hours and featuring a different setlist each night. The tour finished at Radio City Music Hall accompanied by an orchestra; this performance was recorded and released as a live album and concert video entitled Score. They co-headlined the 2005 North American Gigantour with Megadeth.Octavarium is the eighth studio album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater. Released on June 7, 2005, it was the band's final release with Atlantic Records. Recorded between September 2004 and February 2005, the album holds the distinction of being the last album ever recorded at The Hit Factory in New York City. With Octavarium, the band decided to create "a classic Dream Theater album", drawing upon their various stylistic influences while trying to make the music less complex. It was the first Dream Theater album to feature an orchestra. The album's structure was based around the concept of the musical octave. Looking at the history of the word Octavarium reveals very little. The only historical record of it is a historical book in the Vatican called the Octavarium Romanum. It consists mainly of lessons regarding various Catholic feasts. The book was first mentioned under the pontification of Sixtus V (1585-1590) (Sixtus the fifth in 1585) and then was not mentioned again until it was brought up under Clement VIII (1592-1605) (Clement the eighth).
Octavarium peaked in the top five in the Finnish, Italian, and Swedish charts, and in the top ten in the Dutch, Japanese, and Norwegian charts. Critical reception of the album was generally positive; the diversity of the music was praised, although critics found some of the songwriting to be inconsistent. Dream Theater promoted the album on a year-long world tour, with the majority of concerts lasting almost three hours and featuring a different setlist each night. The tour finished at Radio City Music Hall accompanied by an orchestra; this performance was recorded and released as a live album and concert video entitled Score. They co-headlined the 2005 North American Gigantour with Megadeth.false2025-11-08 01:32:24Octavarium20052005-06-072005-06-0776Progressive Metal11218121167089c12794e-79df-4be1-997e-ad100efe8b0828503ab7-8bf2-4666-a7bd-2644bfc7cb1d5a52d5f9-9173-3d88-bc27-569e333f9207/media/data/media5/Music/Dream Theater/Octavarium/folder.jpgDream TheaterDream TheaterDream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 in Boston, Massachusetts. The band comprises John Petrucci (guitar), John Myung (bass), Mike Portnoy (drums), James LaBrie (vocals) and Jordan Rudess (keyboards).
Dream Theater was formed under the name Majesty by Petrucci, Myung and Portnoy — all natives of Long Island, New York — while they attended Berklee College of Music. They dropped out to concentrate on the band. Petrucci and Myung have been the only two constant members. Portnoy had remained until 2010, when he was replaced by Mike Mangini after deciding to leave to pursue other musical projects before rejoining Dream Theater in October 2023. After a brief stint with Chris Collins, followed by Charlie Dominici (who was dismissed from Dream Theater not long after the release of their first album), LaBrie was hired as the band's singer in 1991. Dream Theater's first keyboardist, Kevin Moore, left the band after three albums and was replaced by Derek Sherinian in 1995 after a period of touring. The band recorded one album with Sherinian, who was replaced by current keyboardist Jordan Rudess in 1999.
Dream Theater has released fifteen studio albums. The band's highest-selling release is their second album Images and Words (1992), which reached No. 61 on the Billboard 200 chart. The albums Awake (1994) and Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002) also entered the charts at No. 32 and No. 46 respectively, and each received critical acclaim. Their fifth album, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999), was ranked number 95 on the October 2006 issue of Guitar World magazine's list of the greatest 100 guitar albums of all time. It was also ranked as the 15th Greatest Concept Album in March 2003 by Classic Rock magazine.
As of 2018, Dream Theater has sold over 12 million records worldwide and has received three Grammy Award nominations (including one win in 2022). Along with Queensrÿche and Fates Warning, the band has been referred to as one of the "big three" of the progressive metal genre, responsible for its development and popularization.