The Alcoholics Anonymous suite is a series of songs by progressive metal band Dream Theater. Each song, written by drummer Mike Portnoy, deals with his experience of alcoholism in some form, and each represent a certain number of the Twelve Steps. The songs feature a number of recurring musical and lyrical themes, and all of them (except for "Repentance") are among Dream Theater's loudest and heaviest. As of step IX, the suite currently reaches a total of 44:24 minutes. All of the current steps start with the letters "Re".
So far, four songs have been written for the suite:
- The Glass Prison (Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence)
- I. Reflection
- II. Restoration
- III. Revelation
- This Dying Soul (Train of Thought)
- IV. Reflections of Reality (Revisited)
- V. Release
- The Root of All Evil (Octavarium)
- VI. Ready
- VII. Remove
- Repentance (Systematic Chaos)
- VIII. Regret
- IX. Restitution
The music to the song which represents steps X-XII has yet to be written, though the lyrics for it have been written. Mike Portnoy confirmed this during an interview with the German fanclub. It will most likely be released on Dream Theater's tenth studio album. The band also plans to release all of the songs together on a future live album.
All songs are dedicated to "Bill W. and his friends".
Additionally, the song "The Mirror" (Awake) was written about Portnoy's alcoholism, and is considered by many fans to be the prologue of the AA Suite. The song is also alluded to in the opening lyrics of the second, third, fourth, and eighth songs from the suite. Also, the first step of "The Glass Prison" is entitled "Reflection", and is often viewed as an allusion to "The Mirror" as also the title for step IV is, which is actually a quote from The Mirror. ("Reflections of reality are slowly coming into view...".)
It could also be noted that lyrically and/or musically, each song references the preceding songs:
- This Dying Soul:
- The lines "Hello mirror, so glad to see you my friend / It's been a while" references the song The Mirror.
- The lyric "I can't break out of this prison all alone" is said in The Glass Prison also.
- This song also shares a riff with The Glass Prison.
- The Root of All Evil:
- The starting guitar riff is similar to the last riff played in This Dying Soul, albeit slower.
- The "I can feel my body breaking" prechorus also features in This Dying Soul.
- The lyric "I can't break out of this prison all alone" is mentioned again.
- The lyric "Heal this dying soul" references the title of This Dying Soul.
- Repentance:
- The starting melody is identical to the one in This Dying Soul.
- The first lines "Hello mirror, so glad to see you my friend / It's been a while" is the same as the first lines in This Dying Soul.
