The Twelve-Step Suite

(This series of drawings was so big that it deserved it’s own separate page)

Dream Theater, a progressive metal band that I’m a fan of, has a piece of music known as the “twelve-step suite.” It is a series of five songs that are on different albums (one song on each album from “Six Degrees” all the way through “Black Clouds”). When these songs are sequenced together, they have similar musical and lyrical themes. The lyrics were written by Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, who dealt with alcoholism in the past, attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and has been clean and sober since 2000. After he stopped drinking, he decided to write a suite of tracks describing the twelve step program which would span several albums.

No.	Title	Original album	Length
1.	“The Glass Prison” I. “Reflection” II. “Restoration” III. “Revelation”	Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence	13:53
2.	“This Dying Soul” IV. “Reflections of Reality (Revisited)” V. “Release”	Train of Thought	11:24
3.	“The Root of All Evil” VI. “Ready” VII. “Remove”	Octavarium	8:08
4.	“Repentance” VIII. “Regret” IX. “Restitution”	Systematic Chaos	10:43
5.	“The Shattered Fortress” X. “Restraint” XI. “Receive” XII. “Responsible”	Black Clouds & Silver Linings	12:49

I am NOT an alcoholic, nor have I dealt with any form of substance abuse. However, I have had some bad experiencess and emotional/behavioral issues that have led me to battling such inner demons.

I grew fascinated with this particular piece of music, especially on what it’s about because even though I’ve never been drunk or have been through such a program, when I’ve had such issues, I’ve felt the need to change my own behavior patterns to get out of my own “glass prison” and face the world again.

I decided to illustrate each “step” in my own interpretive way, and use select lyrics from the corresponding part to accompany and describe the image. What resulted was a very theraputic journey on its own.

The Grey smudges are either of the following: eraser marks, finger rubbing (for shading), or simply lighting problems from the scanner itself. I know the handwriting is poor at best, so click on the image for viewing full size to be able to read it.

I just photoshopped the typed text over a blank spiral notebook page..

The little images represent the following: bad experiences (the bully), anger (the eyes and fist), sadness (the person on the deathbed) and heartbreak

Here we have the person breaking out of the "glass prison." I interpreted the verse on the right as someone there to help, thus I added in an angel

Nothing really much needs to be said here, I feel the image and lyrics describe the situation pretty well here.

I thought it'd be interesting to have the angel and demon (two sides of consciousness) be present in the mirror.

This is what came to mind when I looked at the lyrics to this part, just another wall to break through, or rather another step to go up.

This is where you search even deeper in the 12-step program to find all the added baggage that's felt like a load.

Here we have our person attempting to toss away the same heavy box he carried.

The sad image - When you start to feel regret for all the wrong you have caused and done, and feeling bad about not fixing the problems sooner. This is where we begin to accept.

Here is where you seek not only the forgiveness of others and your higher power, but also forgiving yourself.

This is where we approach the point where we can rise above our past and climb over it to a new future.

Here you are ready to recieve what is to come in the future, determined to hold true to your newfound ways.

I wasn't sure what to put for this image, but I settled for the "helping hand" to make it very simple and to the point while telling a lot.