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: 2009’s Black Clouds And Silver Linings marks the band’s highest chart debut yet (No. 6 on the Billboard 200). Dream Theater has just released a new LP, A Dramatic Turn Of Events, to mostly positive (if not dramatic) response.

Updated 09/26/2011