Talking Into Infinity - A Dream Theater Podcast

It’s our fourth installment of ranking the songs on a Dream Theater record, and this time – as always, at random – we’ve been tasked with Systematic Chaos! It’s one of the most eclectic records in the band’s catalog and Brian and Jon can’t agree on whether or not In The Presence of Enemies needs to be considered as separate tracks – but how do these songs rate when pitted against each other?

Brian recently returned from the Monsters of Rock cruise and had a thought... if we could each book our own "dream cruise" with Dream Theater headlining, what bands would we choose to open for the mighty DT? Also, Brian tells us all about his experience on the MOR cruise - and Jon details more TouchTunes DT-related shenanigans!

Brian is on the Monsters of Rock Cruise, so Jon brings on personal friend – and friend of show – Joseph Wren (discussmetaljoe in the chat!) to, well… just bullshit about Dream Theater for an hour-plus! From The Astonishing to the Portnoy/Mangini debate to fans being jerks to each other for no reason… this episode is basically a bunch of DT fans hanging out and shooting the shit together – driven b...

It’s the next entry in our series of “you can’t have DT”, so… it’s 2002 and you walk into the record store to buy Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence… and the clerk tells you that you CAN’T buy it! You HAVE to choose something else… what records are you grabbing? We give OUR choices for what we’d buy when we can’t have what we really want – the new Dream Theater record! – along with special guest coho...

Jon here. Full disclosure - this is NOT a normal episode. My dad passed suddenly and we went online to announce that there wouldn't be a show tonight - but instead ended up talking about my memories of my dad for over an hour. From music to golf to humor, this is the most raw episode of TII we've ever done. To any of you who listen to the whole thing - thanks SO much for doing so.

It’s a new year, and it’s DEFINITELY going to be a wild one for DT and their fans! To ring in 2024, we give our thoughts on the possibilities of what might be in store for the next 12 months!

It’s back for the third time and it’s better than ever – the annual Fan Hangout show! Gorilla Farts will be flowing, Brian will be swigging off of some unholy swill he’s created, but… best of all – we get the FANS on to host the show and we spend a few hours talking about Dream Theater and anything else that comes to mind! It’s our chance to say “thank you!!” to everyone who TRULY makes the show h...

It’s our third installment of ranking the songs on a Dream Theater record, and this time – as always, at random – we’ve been tasked with Octavarium! It’s the backbone of the band’s infamous 20th anniversary tour, it contains one of their most celebrated epics – but how do these songs stack up when ranked one through eight?

It’s our 6th Album Cage Match, and this time Brian – since it’s his birthday - has picked the opponents and a special guest cohost! We’re stepping outside the realm of Dream Theater with our good friend Chris Akin and pitting two classic Iron Maiden albums against each other as Powerslave takes on Seventh Son of a Seventh Son! It’s Two Minutes to Midnight as these two Duellists go head to head. Ar...

It’s a very special episode on TII as we bring on legendary guitar writer Steven Rosen to discuss the second edition of his FANTASTIC new Eddie Van Halen book Tonechaser – Understanding Edward: My 26-Year Journey With Edward Van Halen! It’s 500+ pages detailing EVH as no other author has, and Steve is here to give us all of the incredible details about this unique, riveting and extremely personal...

Well, it’s official… Dream Theater co-founder Mike Portnoy is returning to the fold and will be back behind the kit!! What does this mean for the immediate future of the band? We give our instant reaction to this monumental announcement - with some help from our good friend and Dream Theater biographer Rich Wilson!

It’s a very special episode of Talking Into Infinity as we chat with the alien himself – Mr. Mike Mangini! He’s got a solo record coming out later this year titled Invisible Signs and recently dropped the killer first single Freak of Nature – he’s here to tell us all about his newest musical adventure! After that it’s fan vs. fan on TII as a grudge match that has been boiling for months on the sho...

After having ranked the songs on DT’s debut record, we’re back with another song ranking – pulled at random – and this episode we fall on 1999’s masterpiece Metropolis Pt.2: Scenes from a Memory! How do you rank the songs on a concept album? We’re about to find out!

It’s been 35 years since the release of Metallica’s masterpiece …And Justice For All, so we decided to deep dive the album and give our thoughts on this absolutely classic slab of metal! This is one of the two most influential records in Jon’s life, and fans worldwide have continually ranked this album either #1 or #2 in the band’s entire discography! We give our thoughts on this landmark album!

It’s the next entry in our series of “you can’t have DT”, so… it’s 1999 and you walk into the record store to buy Scenes From A Memory… and the clerk tells you that you CAN’T buy it! You HAVE to choose something else… what records are you grabbing? We give OUR choices for what we’d buy when we can’t have what we really want – the new Dream Theater record!

We’ve done a deep dive into DT’s debut record – but we haven’t discussed how we would rank the songs in order from worst to first. Let’s face it, Dream Theater is like pizza – even when it isn’t great, it’s incredibly good – so how can we possibly pit great songs against great songs? It’s time to find out, and we’re starting where it all began – 1989’s When Dream and Day Unite!

We are back from the Mammoth WVH/Sevendust/Alter Bridge show in Cleveland and we have plenty to talk about! Tonight we are winging it and discussing anything musical that comes to mind!

Jon is headed to Burgettstown, PA to catch Pantera on their current tour, so what better time to dig into what almost every Pantera fan considers their greatest record – the absolute CLASSIC Vulgar Display Of Power! We don’t have many superlatives to present here that haven’t already been used, so… grab a Black Tooth Grin, getcha pull, and let’s do it Lone Star State style once again with Wayne Jo...

Jon is back from Newport, Kentucky where he caught the Dreamsonic tour and he has some stories to tell! Since we’re on the topic of DT live, we attempt to write a setlist using only ONE song per album – and we CAN’T use songs we have gushed over a LOT on the show previously!

Brian is back and we are FINALLY talking some Sons Of Apollo on TII! We’ve dug into some seriously kickass records on the show and it’s about time that we talk about Psychotic Symphony, the amazing debut from SOA! Sheehan, Soto, Bumblefoot and, of course  - Sherinian and Portnoy – what’s not to like? We go track by track and give our thoughts on one of the most criminally underrated prog records (...

Brian had a last-minute commitment come up – so we’re switching gears on this week’s show! One of Jon’s good musician buddies – a self-professed huge Van Halen fan – is just NOW discovering the David Lee Roth era of the band! What are his impressions of the seven DLR records? How do they stack up against the Sammy albums? And, most importantly – how can this happen?? Grab your brown M&M’s and...

It’s the next entry in our series of “you can’t have DT”, so… it’s 1997 and you walk into the record store to buy Falling Into Infinity… and the clerk tells you that you CAN’T buy it! Jon, of course, stages a boycott and refuses to purchase anything until he’s allowed to snatch up FII, but… YOU have to choose something else… what records are you grabbing? We give OUR choices for what we’d buy when...

We're digging into one of the final DT albums we haven't touched on yet - 2013's self-titled record! The band were trying to incorporate all of their huge prog ideas into a much more concise, to-the-point song format for this release - did they nail it or did they miss the mark? We discuss!

It's a big double episode on TII! We welcome bassist Conner Green of prog technicians Haken onto the show to discuss their upcoming tour in support of their new record Fauna! After that we bring on the mighty Chris Akin for a spirited discussion about Metallica's brand new album 72 Seasons!

We are back from our trip to the suburbs of Pittsburgh to catch Queensryche and Marty Friedman! The show was killer… and we’re going to tell you all about it! (There WILL be setlist spoilers, so if you’re like Jon and want to avoid those – fast forward.) After that, we dig into Queensryche’s latest record Digital Noise Alliance… is this another solid step for the La Torre lineup or have QR lost a...