Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess said he expected the band to start serious work on their 14th album in May next year.

The group discussed a return to the studio after taking some time off after touring in support of 2016's The Astonishing LP and then returning to the road for the Images, Words & Beyond run, which celebrated Dream Theater's 25th anniversary.

“We have been on the road for almost two years now, and we’re going to take a break and go to the studio and make a new album around May, and see what happens,” Rudess said in a new interview with The Metal Voice.

You can watch the video above.

Last year, Rudess addressed the challenge of following the heavily conceptualized The Astonishing. “I don’t think it’s a question of necessarily topping it," he said at the time. "I think this is a particular creative adventure for us, to write a concept album very much like a musical or rock opera. I think that whatever we decide to do next – which we haven’t really decided – will be something very different.”

Rudess provided a lighthearted answer when confronted with a similar question regarding the direction of the upcoming album. “I was saying we’ve always wanted to do a kind of country and western kind of album, and that this might be the time to do it,” he said. “With a little electronics mixed in would be pretty cool.”

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