Canadian-based producer/engineer Richard Chycki has checked in on his blog and provided an update on DREAM THEATER. "Over the past weeks, I’ve been in the studio with long-time friend James LaBrie of Dream Theater, recording vocals for the band’s new album that is quickly nearing completion. I gotta tell ya, new DT drummer Mike Mangini (ex-EXTREME, STEVE VAI, ANNIHILATOR) is a monster player on the album. I worked with him on LaBrie’s solo album Elements of Persuasion in 2005 and he was frightening (in a good way!) in the studio back then."

Read more here.

A little more than a month after drummer Mike Portnoy’s sudden departure from Dream Theater, the band held three days of auditions in New York City. Over an incredibly productive three-day period, the band played, jammed and spoke candidly and at length with seven of the world’s greatest drummers. The remaining members of the band got to know the candidates musically, personally and professionally and thus assessed the fit of each drummer’s incredible chops with the band’s trademark prog-rock sound.

After intense consideration, the band unanimously chose drummer Mike Mangini to fill the seat behind the kit which was left vacant by Portnoy’s departure late last summer.

Check out a new Dream Theater band photo below:

With the addition of Mangini to the band’s lineup, Dream Theater moved forward into the studio to begin recording their third release for Roadrunner Records. Guitarist John Petrucci reprises his role as producer, and Paul Northfield (RUSH, QUEENSRŸCHE, PORCUPINE TREE) assumes the same engineering position that he has had on Dream Theater’s previous two Roadrunner releases. The band will kick off a world tour in July 2011.

Mangini, for one, cannot wait to get on the road and show the Dream Theater fan base why he was the chosen one.

“I am just busting at the seams on being the new drummer for Dream Theater,” he said. “Digesting the incredibly challenging catalog, exploding with creative ideas, and anticipating what James, John, John and Jordan will come up with collectively and individually for new music and a fresh stage show is going to be really exciting and fun for me. I consider this opportunity the absolute pinnacle of my career. I can’t even imagine what untapped and future musical genius is inside of these guys; I can’t wait until we get into the studio together. Playing with these guys…it’s the mountaintop. This is where I want to be.”