NEWS: New Dream Theater album title, cover, details

Fellow prog geeks rejoice! The new Dream Theater album is called ‘Black Clouds & Silver Linings’ and it will be released on June 23 on Roadrunner Records.

In addition to the standard-version CD, there will also be a vinyl LP and a three-disc, special-edition CD that will include the full album, a CD of instrumental mixes of the album and a CD of six cover songs, the titles of which will be revealed at a later date.

Six weeks prior to the June 23 street date, Roadrunner will release one cover song per week through digital retailers. A video for the first single, ‘A Rite of Passage,’ will be shot in late March.

‘Black Clouds & Silver Linings’ was produced by drummer Mike Portnoy and guitarist John Petrucci, and it was mixed by Paul Northfield.

The track listing is:

01. A Nightmare to Remember
02. A Rite of Passage
03. Wither
04. The Shattered Fortress
05. The Best of Times
06. The Count of Tuscany

Here’s a 1-minute teaser from the Eddie Trunk show.

NEWS: Rush releases Snakes & Arrows Live, considers final tour?

Rush has just released their Snakes & Arrows DVD, and fans are speculating that clues given by singer/bass player Geddy Lee in an interview with Billboard magazine (read about it here on the Rush Is A Band blog) are a hint that the band may be reaching the end of its life as a touring entity.

According to the interview,

... Lee says "Snakes & Arrows Live" will have to hold Rush fans over for a while. The trio is currently "on a break" and "a little burnt out right now," though he has every confidence there will be another Rush album in the future.
"I think we're gonna stay quiet for awhile and then start writing -- when we're going to start writing I can't say just yet," Lee notes. "It may be in the fall, maybe the spring, maybe the following spring. But eventually we'll start writing some songs and recording them, and hopefully that will be followed up by another tour down the road a couple years from now."

Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy has seemingly backed up reports Rush may play one final tour in 2011. Portnoy mentions on his forum that he was at a taping of Eddie Trunk's 'The Metal Show' on VH1 Classic. Mike writes:

I was called once again to bless the audience with my presence at a taping of this new show that will be on VH-1 Classic in Nov/Dec.

Today they shot two shows and the guests on the first show were Geddy and Alex. It was pretty cool, as we were waiting outside a limo pulled up and they both walked out. I think I may have said, "Holy Shit it Geddy!" and some guy behind me thought Alex was Mr. Peart which caused a series of frantic texts and calls to friends.

They were very reserved on the show although they did mention that there would be "one more tour". Alex made a funny quip about how "there's drugs backstage... like aspirin, cholesterol medicine, etc." Geddy mentioned how between sets he "checks on baseball scores".
It was pretty cool, so I thought I'd share.

CLICK HERE to buy the Rush: Snakes & Arrows Live standard DVD
CLICK HERE to buy the Rush: Snakes and Arrows Live Blu-ray DVD
CLICK HERE to buy the Rush: Snakes & Arrows Live 2 CD Set