Keep On Dreaming
Dream Theater guitarist John Petrucci is back with his second instrumental solo album - and this time he’s got a famous friend in tow. With Mike Portnoy perched on the drumstool after a decade apart from his former bandmate, Terminal Velocity hits the senses in more ways than one. We found out more.
Words: Chris Cope
Not sitting still: John Petrucci is finally moving at Terminal Velocity.
Images: Matthew Schieferstein
“You can’t help but change,” John Petrucci says when asked if he’s altered as a person since the release of his last solo album back in 2005. “Hopefully it’s a good change and a good evolution. But we’re all trying to become better: better people, better artists, better musicians. And so if there’s any change, hopefully it’s in that direction. But I don’t think anything really drastic has changed except for having a huge beard now that I didn’t have then.”
A lot has happened in the 15 years since guitarist Petrucci put his name to Suspended Animation. The US elected Barack Obama; Twitter and iPhones became things… oh, and his band Dream Theater lost a founding member, but more on that later.
Musically, at least, it is comforting to know that Petrucci is still reliably firing out prog metal and guitar wizardry in 2020, like a fizzing Roman candle, decades after first emerging on the scene.
For someone who plays so speedily, it’s a tad ironic his second solo album took so long to arrive. Terminal Velocity, however, feels like a well-appointed sequel to Suspended Animation, with fretboard gymnastics married to upbeat prog metal as well as other offshoots like swaggering rock, blues and jazz - all with a tone that may very well make guitar nerds weak at the knees.