Maps of Music

Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009)

Where the lyrics of Black Clouds & Silver Linings take you, and where it was really made.

This album was the last to feature founding drummer Mike Portnoy until Parasomnia in 2025, yet it was also Dream Theater's highest-charting album on the Billboard 200.

Key places

Recorded at Avatar Studios (2009)

Recording site Power Station Studio — The album was recorded between October 2008 and March 2009 at Avatar Studios in New York City. The band had recorded Falling into Infinity and Systematic Chaos at the same studio before. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Black Clouds & Silver Linings: tenth studio album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater
• Released 23 June 2009 through Roadrunner Records
• Produced by John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy; engineered and mixed by Paul Northfield
• Last album to feature founding drummer Mike Portnoy until Parasomnia (2025), following his return in 2023
• Highest-charting album on the Billboard 200, peaking at number six

Background

• Dream Theater began work on the album in October 2008
• Portnoy described it as a Dream Theater album with 'A Change of Seasons', 'Octavarium', 'Learning to Live', 'Pull Me Under' and 'The Glass Prison' all on one album
• Lyrics written by Petrucci and Portnoy; all but one song concern personal experiences
• 'A Rite of Passage' concerns Freemasonry

Recording

• Recorded October 2008 to March 2009 at Avatar Studios, New York City
• The same studio where the band had previously recorded Falling into Infinity (1997) and Systematic Chaos (2007)
• Jordan Rudess said Spectrasonics virtual instruments were used on the album
• Paul Northfield handled engineering and mixing

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Tracklist

Disc 1

Disc 2

Disc 3

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 in Boston, Massachusetts.
• Petrucci, Myung and Portnoy formed the band under the name Majesty while attending Berklee College of Music.
• The band was renamed Dream Theater in 1988 after a legal challenge from a Las Vegas group also named Majesty.

Members

• Current members are John Petrucci (guitar), John Myung (bass), James LaBrie (vocals), Jordan Rudess (keyboards), and Mike Portnoy (drums), who rejoined in October 2023.
• Petrucci and Myung have remained in the band since its founding.

Career

• The band has released 16 studio albums; Images and Words (1992) is its highest-selling release.
• Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999) received high critical acclaim.
• By 2018 the band had sold over 12 million records worldwide.
• The band has been referred to as one of the "Big Three" of progressive metal, along with Queensrÿche and Fates Warning.
• A View from the Top of the World's lead single "The Alien" won a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 2022.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Metal Hammer: Rich Wilson, previewing the album, called it Dream Theater's finest and most balanced album in a decade.
• AllMusic: Eduardo Rivadavia gave the album four out of five stars, writing that it is still an archetypal Dream Theater album, unlikely to broaden the audience much but guaranteed to thrill hardcore converts.
• Consequence of Sound: David Buchanan gave the album four and a half out of five stars, saying there are no improvements but no sheer letdowns.
• Metacritic: average score of 68, based on five reviews from mainstream critics.
• Classic Rock: named the album one of its 10 essential progressive rock albums of the decade.

Records

• Billboard 200: debuted at number six, selling 40,285 copies in its first week
• First time the band reached the top 10 of that chart
• Currently the band's highest single-week sales for an album
• Billboard Top Internet Albums: number one
• Billboard Top Rock Albums: number two
• Finland: number one, the band's first number-one position in that country

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Jordan Rudess said at a NAMM Show that Spectrasonics virtual instruments were used on the album.
• 'The Best of Times' was written by Mike Portnoy about his father, who died from cancer, and he played the song for his father before his death.
• 'Wither' was released as a single on September 15, 2009, and a video followed on November 18, 2009.
• The album won a 2009 Metal Storm Award for Best Progressive Metal Album.
• The album marked the first time the band reached number one in Finland.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Maps of Ages ↗ (mapsofages.com)

Privacy · Contact