in its entirety, with an intermission between the two acts, only playing songs from earlier albums on occasions later in the tour. Their performance was accompanied by a visual representation of the story on background screens. The band also made it a point to play at indoor theater halls such as Radio City Music Hall. In 2017, Dream Theater went on another tour, titled Images, Words & Beyond, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Images and Words. Each night they performed the album in its entirety, as well as "A Change of Seasons", which was originally written during the Images and Words sessions, and other selections from their catalogue. Distance over Time and Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory anniversary tour (2017–2019) In a May 2017 interview with Rockbook, frontman James LaBrie talked about the style of the band's fourteenth studio album: "It's really important for us that the new album will be our best effort. It should be who we are at that particular moment. [...] But if along the way we feel that there is another album we should recognize once again, then we'll do it." In December 2017, Dream Theater announced that they had signed a worldwide longterm deal with Sony Music via Sony's progressive music label imprint Inside Out, for the release of the album. The album was written in June and July 2018, and features pieces written collectively and lyrics written by Petrucci, Labrie, Myung and, for the first time ever, Mangini. In anticipation of the album, the band launched a "treasure hunt" in the form of an alternate reality game, where participants would search for various clues across the internet. The game ultimately led to a site revealing the title of the album to be Distance over Time. The site also revealed the cover art for the album, its scheduled release date in February 2019, as well as dates for a tour in North America celebrating the 20th anniversary of the band's fifth album Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. On November 6, 2018, a press release from Inside Out officially announced Distance over Time, with a release date of February 22, 2019. Upon release, the album received widespread critical acclaim. A View from the Top of the World and Lost Not Forgotten Archives (2020–2022) In April 2020, Metal Addicts reported that Dream Theater was expected to begin working on their fifteenth