Vocalist Jame LaBrie believes the new material owes much of its strength to having toured extensively with Mike Mangini, who joined the band after co-founding drummer Mike Portnoy decided to leave in 2010. Mangini appeared on 2011′s A Dramatic Turn Of Events but hadn't taken part in writing the music. "Mike played drums on three of my solo albums," LaBrie tells Ghost Cult. "I knew he was the man.

"When you're out on the road that's when the true colours of someone really start to show. Not only that, you get much more in tune with the musician and you understand how he works. By the time we went in to thinking about this album he was fully on-board. We knew that it was just going to be a phenomenal ride with him � which it was.