DREAM THEATER released their seventh studio album "Train of Thought" on November 11, 2003, through Elektra Records, deliberately steering toward a heavier, darker sound inspired by how crowds reacted to their toughest material on tour. James LaBrie, John Petrucci, John Myung, Mike Portnoy and Jordan Rudess wrote the record in about three weeks in a New York rehearsal room, and Petrucci and Portnoy produced it at Cove City Sound, Pie and Beat Street studios, with Kevin Shirley mixing. Its seven tracks include "This Dying Soul", the next chapter of Portnoy's Twelve-step Suite, the 14-minute closer "In the Name of God" and "Stream of Consciousness", the longest instrumental on any DREAM THEATER studio album. The record opens with the chord that ended "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" and closes on the piano note that begins "Octavarium". It reached No. 53 on the Billboard 200 and topped the chart in Greece.
