I'm a long time Dream Theater fan; having loved them since I was a teenager in Boston (where they were founded, out of Berklee College of Music; and when they were mostly traveling back and forth between Boston and NYC for gigs), and having posted about them several times before (here's a post with some of their music linked: http://anarchangel.blogspot.com/2007/07/change-of-seasons.html )
Well... a couple years back, Dream Theaters founding drummer, Mike Portnoy, decided he needed a break from touring with the band for a year or two; maybe do some side projects, take a couple months vacation... you know, pretend to have a life for a bit (and importantly, to rebuild his life after beginning recovery from decades of alcoholism).
Unfortunately, the rest of the band disagreed, and decided they were going to go on without Mike (and yeah, there's a LOT of bad feelings about that; within the band, within the rest of the metal community - Mike has a LOT of friends, and frankly... James LaBrie, who seems to have been the major driver of the decision to go on without Portnoy, is generally thought of... poorly - and among fans).
Even more unfortunately, the band, and their music, has definitely suffered for their decision to move on without Portnoy (which, I should be clear, is not the fault of their excellent replacement drummer, Mike Mangini... also a Boston boy coincidentally). Their recent album without Portnoy is possibly their worst reviewed, and is definitely their worst selling album in many years.
On the other side of things though, Mike Portnoy has never been happier; and he's been making some great music with his friends, both guesting on others work, and participating in several new bands.
One of those bands, is another metal supergroup (I think Portnoys third or fourth supergroup) called "Adrenaline Mob"...
... and I have got to tell you, they SERIOUSLY kick ass... or better, I have to SHOW you:
Honestly, based on their first album, I think these guys are one of the best new straight ahead hard rock slash straight metal band of the last five or ten years.
There have been better bands in some of the subgenres of metal certainly... these guys are really just straightforward classic hard rock and metal, in the vein of Disturbed, Hellyeah, Avenged Sevenfold, etc... (the two singles I embedded above are both very radio friendly, some of their stuff is harder, more metal; some is more hard rock, even edging in to hard alt).... and there is absolutely nothing wrong with at.
