Progressive metal giants DREAM THEATER are preparing to begin work on the follow-up to 2011's "A Dramatic Turn Of Events". The band's guitarist, John Petrucci, has posted several photos of the DREAM THEATER studio along with the caption, "Let the fun begin…"

In an interview with Metal Insider conducted early last month, Petrucci stated about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the next DREAM THEATER CD: "So far it's not very developed at all. We're scheduled to go into the studio in January… We have a handful of ideas we compiled while we were on the road, and we have those archived. And since I got back from the road, and have had some time off, I've been spending more time compiling, writing and demoing some things. There are a bunch of seeds, a bunch of ideas, and a definite direction. Everybody is hired, the studio is locked, and the vision for the type of album has been talked about and secured. The only thing that's not there is the main material, but we'll go in January full force."

He added: "Before we go into an album, I like to sit down and think about what we're going to do instead of just going in and winging it. I'll usually come up with some sort of proposal, and we'll talk about it a bunch of times over the course of the month, and get everyone on the same page. This way, people can start to think about musical ideas in that direction, and get in the right headspace. For me, it makes everything so much clearer when you're in the studio. If you have a direction and a goal, you get better results."

Asked if drummer Mike Mangini — who replaced Mike Portnoy in 2010 — will be more involved in the making of the new record than he was in "A Dramatic Turn Of Events", Petruci said: "Yes. For the last album, he wasn't involved in the writing. We wrote it without him for 2 ½ months, and he came in and tracked. This time, he's going to be in from day one, so we'll write together as a full group. The tapes that we have from doing that a bit on the road have been incredible. At soundcheck, if I'd come in with an idea and we'd start jamming on it, he was really quick and had great creative concepts. I think it's going to be a very cool experience."

Regarding a possible release date for the new DREAM THEATER album, the guitarist said: "I'm not sure. We're on the same schedule as 'A Dramatic Turn Of Events', meaning that we entered the studio at the same time to work on that album, and it didn't come out until September. It's too early to tell if it will follow the same release schedule. By the time we're done, writing, recording, mixing, mastering, it could be May-ish, and then we hit the summer festival season in Europe around July or so, it'll probably be a similar schedule."

DREAM THEATER's next CD will be released through te Roadrunner, with whom the band re-signed last fall. DREAM THEATER first joined forces with Roadrunner in January 2007 and has so far released three critically acclaimed albums with the label. Roadrunner issued DREAM THEATER's ninth studio LP, "Systematic Chaos", in 2007 and went on to release "Black Clouds & Silver Linings" in 2009 as well as "A Dramatic Turn Of Events".