Artist Dream Theater

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Dream Theater

Dream Theater has been playing symphonic rock since the late ’80s, making the New York band a stalwart of the progressive-metal scene. The group’s 2002 album, Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence, may have been too overblown even for longtime fans, as it ran though a metal symphony built around searing operatic vocals, the usual virtuoso rock instrumentation, and, sometimes, a full orchestra. But the group remains oddly commercial: The newBlack Clouds And Silver Linings marks the band's highest chart debut yet (No. 6 on the Billboard 200).

Updated 08/13/2009