Drum legend Mike Portnoy (The Winery Dogs, Flying Colors, ex-Dream Theater) has checked in with the following update:

"OMG... I am BLOWN AWAY....

I know I've been posting teases for months throughout the making of this album, but I just spent the last 1hr & 50mins listening to the completely finished, final mastered new Neal Morse Band double concept album in its entirety and I am completely floored...

By the time I was rounding the album's grand finale, the goosebumps were so overwhelming I actually uncontrollably wept like a baby!!! (I swear.....)
In my 30+ year career, I consider myself to have made two masterpiece concept albums: Dream Theater's Scenes From A Memory and Transatlantic's The Whirlwind. 

Ladies & Gentlemen, in my opinion, we have absolutely topped them both! This is the album of my (& Neal's) careers. It's so monumentally epic and perfect in every way. I will be so bold as to put my balls on the table and say I think this album can even sit side by side with The Who's Tommy and Quadrophenia, Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, and Pink Floyd's The Wall.

Yes, I said it!!! : )

Thank you to Neal Morse, Randy George, Eric Gillette and Bill Hubauer for the honor of writing and performing such incredible music with you and to Jerry Guidroz and Rich Mouser for making it sound so amazing.

The official Press Release with more info on this incredible album, as well as US & European Tour Dates, is coming this week! So stay tuned for more...."

Stereoboard.com recently spoke with drum legend Mike Portnoy (The Winery Dogs), who discussed his departure from Dream Theater, Flying Colors, and his musical relationship with ex-Spock's Beard frontman Neal Morse. Following is an excerpt from the interview.

Stereoboard: You made my favourite album of 2015 in the shape of The Neal Morse Band's The Grand Experiment. You've worked with Neal so much over the years, is he your musical soul mate?

Portnoy: "He definitely is my musical soul mate, at least in the prog world.  He and I have now done, I think, 16 studio albums together and we're currently in three bands together. So my relationship with him is as deep as it gets and I think a lot of it is mutual admiration and respect. He is one of my favourite songwriters of all time. I was a huge fan of what he was doing with Spock's Beard in the mid ‘90s, but once we began working together in Transatlantic, and then on his solo material and with Flying Colors, he and I have created this bond that is musical but also personal. He's one of my dearest friends and has helped me through some heavy times and I've helped him through some of his heavy times. We've been there for each other. We love working together."

Go to this location for the complete interview.