Portnoy takes his drums and goes home.

So I'm a bit late with this by a few hours seeing as I was at work all day and saw this on Loud Reviews while checking the blog. Here is the official announcement I'm not sure what to think of at the moment.But here is my initial reaction anyways after the jump.

25 years is a long time to be with anything. People in the workforce usually retire after 25 years. Mike was a workaholic with not only Dream Theater but various other side projects like Liquid Tension Experiment and others. I can understand burnout. It really seems though that what turned into a favor for Avenged Sevenfold may have done more then that. Maybe he had fun playing stuff that wasn't as complicated. Maybe he liked playing in front of larger crowds.Maybe he enjoyed not being the 'boss'.
Regardless of his intentions the fact that the rest of Dream Theater wanted to continue on without him is a bit mindboggling. Mike Portnoy wasn't just the drummer but the primary songwriter. That's not to say he was always the best songwriter but neither is his hero Neil Peart. Not all of the songs worked. I just don't get who they're going to get on the skins as competent as him and who is going to think they have the ability to write songs. And just how different a sound is Dream Theater going to have the next time around. Maybe this is what the band needs to bring new life as well. Because as I stated on my Maiden concert review, DT just didn't seem to have any passion onstage and maybe this has been brewing for awhile.

Time will tell. I wish the best of luck in whatever Mike Portnoy does from here.

The title of this song sort of says it all in terms of fan reactions.



*update* Here is Dream Theater's response to the departure. It also has come to mind that the band or maybe even Mike Portnoy was rumored to have wanted to get rid of James Labrie.Personally I think this would have been a better move then him moving on but apparently I know nothing.