Dream Theater have introduced the return of founding member Mike Portnoy, over a decade after he left the line-up.

The information of his return to the prog band was shared by the band right now (October 25) with a shock X/Twitter replace. “We are thrilled to announce the return of drummer @MikePortnoy to Dream Theater,” it learn.

Within the publish, the band additionally confirmed that the brand new line-up is already set to start work on a brand new studio album, which can mark their first with the drummer since 2009’s ‘Black Clouds & Silver Linings’.

Portnoy’s return additionally marks the restoration of the traditional 1999/2000 line-up – additionally that includes singer James LaBrie, guitarist John Petrucci, bassist John Myung and keyboardist Jordan Rudess.

Throughout that point, the five-piece recorded six albums, together with the fan favourites ‘Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory’, ‘Images And Words’ and ‘Train Of Thought’. Portnoy later parted methods with the prog metallic heavyweights in 2011 and went on to hitch different initiatives together with The Vineyard Canines, Sons of Apollo and Adrenaline Mob.

His return to Dream Theater additionally marks the departure of present drummer Mike Mangini, who was chosen to hitch the band as a part of a really public audition course of again in 2011. The drummer had beforehand performed in bands together with Annihilator and Excessive, and was additionally a part of Steve Vai‘s reside band.

Again in 2005 he additionally took half in Labrie’s first solo album, and give up his job at Berklee School of Music in Boston to hitch the band. Throughout his 12 years in line-up he performed on 5 studio albums.

“I understand Dream Theater’s decision to get Mike Portnoy back at this time,” he mentioned in an announcement shared on the band’s official web site. “As was said from Day 1, my place was not to fill all the roles that Mike held in the band. I was to play the drums in order to help the band carry on… To the fans: thank you so much for being amazing to me. I cherish the pictures I have of you all losing your minds and having fun. Finally, I really love the band, crew and management and wish them and the entire organisation all the best.”

The remaining members additionally shared their very own respective statements about Mangini’s departure on the positioning.

“I’m very proud of all the amazing music we made together that culminated in our first Grammy win last year… I wish him all the best of success in his future musical endeavours,” wrote Petrucci, whereas LaBrie described him as “one of the most amazing and naturally gifted drummers I have had the pleasure of working with”.

“Mike Mangini is one of the most exceptional drummers on earth and I feel privileged that we got to create a whole body of work with him,” added Rudess, who additionally shared his pleasure to “reunite the core Dream Theater family”. Founding member John Myung additionally defined that he was “excited to see what this next phase of Dream Theater creates for the future”.

drummer mike mangini of dream theater performs at pala partenope on january 22, 2023. credit: ivan romano/getty photographs

Sharing an announcement on the web page, Portnoy wrote: “I’m overwhelmed with pleasure to be returning house and reuniting with my brothers! There’s a lot shared historical past between us all…so many recollections, a lot music…to assume we’re arising on 40 years since this journey started!

“The idea of creating new music together is so exciting and I absolutely cannot wait to hit the road and get to play live for a whole new generation of fans that weren’t ever able to see this lineup before…There’s no place like home!!”

Though that is Portnoy’s first time writing music with the band since 2011, he did workforce up with a few of the members within the time since – specifically within the Liquid Rigidity Experiment 2021 album ‘Liquid Tension Experiment 3’ and John Petrucci’s 2020 solo album ‘Terminal Velocity’.

The information of Portnoy’s return comes simply weeks after Dream Theater revealed plans to enter the studio to file their sixteenth studio album later this yr.

The band’s fifteenth studio album ‘A View From The Top Of The World’ was launched in 2021 and was the primary album to be recorded at their very own studio, DTHQ (Dream Theater Headquarters).