Progressive metal giants DREAM THEATER recently entered an undisclosed studio to begin work on material for the follow-up to 2016's "The Astonishing" album. An early 2019 release is expected.

A new one-minute video message from DREAM THEATER guitarist John Petrucci, filmed during the guitar-tracking sessions for the band's new disc, can be seen below.

DREAM THEATER vocalist James LaBrie stated about the new material, "There's a heaviness to it, there's an aggression to it," while Petrucci added: "So far the music is heavy, it's progressive, it's melodic, it's shredding, and it's also epic. So it has all those elements, which… they are the five pillars of DREAM THEATER, if you wanna call it that."

Petrucci hinted in a recent interview that DREAM THEATER's next album will be musically inspired by the "Images, Words & Beyond" tour, which saw the pioneering group celebrating the 25th anniversary of its milestone RIAA-gold-certified album "Images And Words".

DREAM THEATER's next studio album — its 14th — will be the band's first for Sony Music's progressive imprint InsideOut Music. The group spent the past 25 years recording under various labels in the Warner Music Group system, most recently Roadrunner Records, which released five albums by the band between 2007 and 2016.