Progressive metal giants DREAM THEATER have been working on the follow-up to 2013's self-titled album since January at Cove City Sound Studios in Glen Cove, New York. The band's guitarist, John Petrucci, tells Revolver magazine: "The new album will be a further progression of the band's creative identity.

"Every time that we go into the studio, we always try to make something that's better than the last."

He continues: "Everybody in the band has this kind of attitude where we love doing what we do, we're very lucky to be able to do what we do, and we feel that the best is still to come. That's partially why we self-titled our last album, because it signified a new beginning, and the strength of the belief that we have in the future of the band."

Regarding the songwriting process for the new CD, Petrucci says: "A new album project is like a fresh and inspiring blank canvas, and I love that every couple of years you have the opportunity of reinventing, trying something new and starting from scratch. But given the history of the band, you do have to take all of that into account and consider what we've done already, what we haven't explored yet, and what will not only keep us interested and fired up, but will also keep people who listen to the band excited, as well. You really have to deliver the goods — you can't rest on your laurels, you can't get lazy."

DREAM THEATER's new album is tentatively due in early 2016 via Roadrunner.

"Dream Theater" sold around 34,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 7 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD, which arrived in stores on September 24, 2013 via Roadrunner, earned DREAM THEATER its second Grammy nomination, for "Best Metal Performance" for the single "The Enemy Inside".