DREAM THEATER DRUMMER HOPES METALLICA MAKES GOOD CD

Like most fans of heavy music, Dream Theater is hoping that Metallica comes out strong with their new album, which is expected out later this year.

One of the most anticipated albums of the year is Metallica’s new effort Death Magnetic. The album is expected to be released in September of 2008, and the band just performed at Bonnaroo 2008 as well as several European Festivals.

It’s hard to find heavy music artists that are not influenced by the metal foursome. Recently Dave Grohl cleared up misconceptions that he wrote an open letter to Metallica pleading them to make the next album good. He said he commented about them in an interview but didn’t write a letter. Dream Theater are also fans of Metallica and we asked drummer Mike Portnoy about his expectations for the follow-up to St. Anger.

“Well the new direction, who knows? Until the album comes out I have no idea what that direction is. St. Anger which took a beating from a lot of people, personally, I would take that album over Load and Reload any day of the week. You know it had its faults. It had its flaws. The production was weird and the vocal melodies were weird, but at least it had a spirit. At least they were attempting to get heavy again and play long songs again. The formula they used in the ’90s with Load and Reload was not my cup of tea. It was way too polished, way too bluesy and straight ahead so St. Anger to me was a nice step in the better direction, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the next one.”

Metallica worked on the new album with Rick Rubin, and the first single is set to premiere as part of the Rock Band video game. Meanwhile, Dream Theater will take the summer off and then head into the studio to work on a new record. They’ll also release a DVD of their performances from the recently completed Progressive Nation tour.