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Train of Thought
Cover art by Jerry Uelsmann
Studio album by Dream Theater
Released	November 11, 2003
Recorded	March - April, 2003 - Cove City Sound Studios and Pie Studios, New York
Genre	Progressive metal
Length	1:09:19
Label	Elektra Records
Producer	Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link IGN (8/10) link
Dream Theater chronology
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002) Train of Thought (2003) Live at Budokan (2004)

Train of Thought is the seventh full-length studio album by progressive metal band Dream Theater.

Contents 1 History 2 Songs 3 Track listing 4 Chart performance 5 Credits 5.1 Band 5.2 Guest 6 Confusion with Superior's Younique 7 References 8 External links

Inspired by the audience response to Dream Theater's heavier songs while on tour^[1], Train of Thought is widely considered their heaviest album to date. The album was written in three weeks.^[2] It was engineered by Doug Oberkircher and mixed by Kevin Shirley.^[3]
There are some connections to previous and following albums of the band:

• The album has seven songs, while its predecessor (Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence) has six and its successor (Octavarium) has eight.
• The first song "As I Am" starts with the ending synth/orchestral chord of SDoIT and the ending piano note (F) of "In the Name of God" is the first note of Octavarium's "The Root of All Evil".
• "This Dying Soul" continues Mike Portnoy's Alcoholics Anonymous suite, started with "The Glass Prison" on Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence and later continued with Octavarium's "The Root of All Evil" and Systematic Chaos "Repentance". The songs share some of the lyrics and melodies.

• The Chant/Hymn at the end of "In the Name of God" (from 12:56 onwards, coming from the right-side speaker) is the American civil war hymn "Battle Hymn of the Republic".
• "Honor Thy Father" was written about Mike Portnoy's step-father. When asked about what inspired him to write that song, he stated in an IRC chat: "I'm not very good at writing love songs, so I decided to write a HATE song!!!"^[4]
• Between 05:51 and 06:07 of the song "In the Name of God", there was a hidden composition buried beneath the far louder sounds of the song itself which lay undiscovered for over a year and a half. The band did not tell anyone that a hidden "nugget" (as it became known amongst Dream Theater fans) was present in the song, and only when Mike Portnoy mentioned it in his Mike Portnoy: Live at Budokan Drum-Cam DVD over a year later did someone find it. The Mike Portnoy message board was rife with fans scouring the song looking for what it might be, until a fan going by the pseudonymous name "DarrylRevok" mentioned that from 05:51 to 06:07 there appeared to be morse code audible, which Nick Bogovich (user handle "Bogie") isolated and discovered that when translated to English, the phrase "eat my ass and balls" (a Mike Portnoy catchphrase) was the result.^[5]
• The bridge of "In the Name of God" contains references to several noted cult leaders, including David Koresh, Marshall Applewhite, and Jim Jones.
• Jordan Rudess played the very last barely audible piano note of the song "In the Name of God" with his nose.
• Stream of Consciousness is the longest Dream Theater instrumental to date (not counting live mash-ups such as Instrumedley).
• John Petrucci utilizes 7 string guitars once again for this album to achieve the low B Tuning for heavier sounding guitar.

1. "As I Am" – 7:47 (Petrucci)
2. "This Dying Soul" – 11:28 (Portnoy)
   • "IV. Reflections of Reality (Revisited)"
   • "V. Release"
3. "Endless Sacrifice" – 11:23 (Petrucci)
4. "Honor Thy Father" – 10:14 (Portnoy)
5. "Vacant" – 2:58 (LaBrie)
6. "Stream of Consciousness" – 11:16 (instrumental)
7. "In The Name of God" – 14:16 (Petrucci)

All music by Myung/Petrucci/Portnoy/Rudess, except "Vacant" by Myung/Rudess Lyrics as indicated

• Billboard 200: Train of Thought - #53
• Billboard Top Internet Albums: Train of Thought - #53
• UK Album Charts: Train of Thought - #146

• James LaBrie – Vocals
• John Myung – Bass
• John Petrucci – Guitars, backing vocals
• Mike Portnoy – Drums, backing vocals
• Jordan Rudess – Keyboards

• Eugene Friesen – cello on "Vacant"

Around 2003, when Train of Thought was released, in many file sharing networks Superior's album Younique was released as Train of Thought. Superior's music is very similar to Dream Theater's which only made things more confusing and because Train of Thought has only seven tracks, Younique was cut between tracks 7 and 8, resulting in a release with 7 tracks as well. The confusion continues to this day.^{[6] [7]}

• The writing of Train of Thought
• The recording of Train of Thought

v • d • e Dream Theater
James LaBrie | John Myung | John Petrucci | Mike Portnoy | Jordan Rudess
Chris Collins | Charlie Dominici | Kevin Moore | Derek Sherinian
Discography
Albums and extended plays: When Dream and Day Unite | Images and Words | Awake | A Change of Seasons | Falling into Infinity | Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory | Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence | Train of Thought | Octavarium | Systematic Chaos
Live albums: Live at the Marquee | Once in a LIVEtime | Live Scenes from New York | Live at Budokan | Score
Videos and DVDs: Images and Words: Live in Tokyo | 5 Years in a Livetime | Metropolis 2000: Scenes from New York | Live at Budokan | Score
Singles: Another Day | Lie | The Silent Man | Hollow Years | Through Her Eyes | Constant Motion
Suites: A Mind Beside Itself | Alcoholics Anonymous suite
Other notable songs: Pull Me Under | Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper | The Mirror | A Change of Seasons | The Glass Prison | Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence | Stream of Consciousness | Instrumedley | Octavarium | In the Presence of Enemies
Sideprojects
Explorers Club | The Jelly Jam | Liquid Tension Experiment | Liquid Trio Experiment | MullMuzzler | Nightmare Cinema | OSI | Platypus | Transatlantic | True Symphonic Rockestra
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Dominici | G3 | Gigantour | Lifting Shadows | Majesty Demos | Meanstreak | Songs by lyricist | YtseJam Records