Train of Thought is the seventh studio album by progressive metal band Dream Theater.
Inspired by the audience response to Dream Theater's heavier songs while on tour, the album was written in three weeks. It was engineered by Doug Oberkircher and mixed by Kevin Shirley. It does not contain the Parental Advisory label even though it contains a few explicit words. Most of the album was recorded live in the Live At Budokan DVD, including As I Am, This Dying Soul, Endless Sacrifice, Stream of Consciousness and In the Name of God, which had an improvised guitar solo in the last 3-4 minutes. Vacant was recorded live in the Score DVD on April 1, 2006 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City and the 2nd disc contained Honor Thy Father (recorded in Chicago on August 12, 2005.)
As mentioned in videos of the recording/writing sessions, which were filmed by Mike Portnoy, (edited by Joey Cruz) the band "cooped themselves in a rehearsal studio" in New York, and wrote the full album from March 10th through April 3rd, in a record time of three weeks, after which they began recording, starting with the drum tracks and ending with the vocals. Also, in the "Chaos In Progress" documentary Portnoy says that they Dream Theater wanted Train of Thought to be a "balls to the wall" album with heavier, darker riffing, exposing them to a number of new metal fans.Train of Thought is the seventh studio album by progressive metal band Dream Theater.
Inspired by the audience response to Dream Theater's heavier songs while on tour, the album was written in three weeks. It was engineered by Doug Oberkircher and mixed by Kevin Shirley. It does not contain the Parental Advisory label even though it contains a few explicit words. Most of the album was recorded live in the Live At Budokan DVD, including As I Am, This Dying Soul, Endless Sacrifice, Stream of Consciousness and In the Name of God, which had an improvised guitar solo in the last 3-4 minutes. Vacant was recorded live in the Score DVD on April 1, 2006 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City and the 2nd disc contained Honor Thy Father (recorded in Chicago on August 12, 2005.)
As mentioned in videos of the recording/writing sessions, which were filmed by Mike Portnoy, (edited by Joey Cruz) the band "cooped themselves in a rehearsal studio" in New York, and wrote the full album from March 10th through April 3rd, in a record time of three weeks, after which they began recording, starting with the drum tracks and ending with the vocals. Also, in the "Chaos In Progress" documentary Portnoy says that they Dream Theater wanted Train of Thought to be a "balls to the wall" album with heavier, darker riffing, exposing them to a number of new metal fans.false2025-11-08 01:32:21Train of Thought20032003-11-112003-11-1169Progressive Metal11218121167066701c3aa-f399-428b-8518-6501b8b4e39528503ab7-8bf2-4666-a7bd-2644bfc7cb1d3eb5524e-34c6-31d8-97cc-fb98356825fb/media/data/media5/Music/Dream Theater/Train of Thought/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.