Dream Theater Finalize Album Title + Release Details

It may be hard to believe, but Dream Theater have yet to use their own moniker to title an album ... that is until now. With eleven discs behind them, the band chose to go the self-titled route for No. 12, perhaps signifying the union the group feels at this juncture in their career.

The 'Dream Theater' disc will arrive on Sept. 24 via Roadrunner Records. It was recorded in New York with the band's own guitarist John Petrucci serving as producer for the effort. "I see every new album as an opportunity to start over," says Petrucci. "To either build or improve upon a direction that has been evolving over time or to completely break new ground. This is the first self-titled album of our career and there is nothing I can think of that makes a statement of musical and creative identity stronger than that."

This also marks Dream Theater's first effort with drummer Mike Mangini having an active role not only in recording but the writing of the music as well. Mangini was chosen for the drum position after the exit of Mike Portnoy and while he recorded on 2011's 'A Dramatic Turn of Events,' a majority of the material was already penned by the time he joined the group.

Keyboardist Jordan Rudess recently told Loudwire, "Having Mike in the room with us as we were doing the writing and everything was such a wonderful thing. The man has such a strong energy and is such a great player that it made a big difference to our process to have him there, have him contributing ideas. The way I see it is like, he's such a specialist in his area. He's got such a rhythm math brain and that addition to what Dream Theater already has in the composition department was so cool, 'cause we've been able to do things I've never done before."

The 'Dream Theater' album will be available in CD, vinyl and limited edition box set formats, with pre-orders for the disc expected to begin in July.