Dream Theater - The Glass Prison

"The Glass Prison" is a song by the progressive metal band Dream Theater. Arguably one of the most aggressive and heavy tracks the band has ever released, it is 13:52 in length and is the first track on the Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence album. "The Glass Prison" alludes to the first three of the well known 12 steps of alcoholism rehabilitation created by Bill Wilson. The lyrics were written by the band's drummer, Mike Portnoy, about his experience with alcoholism.

This track was often used to begin concerts since the World Tourbulence tour.

Four sequels to "The Glass Prison", entitled "This Dying Soul", "The Root of All Evil", "Repentance" and "The Shattered Fortress", appeared on subsequent albums Train of Thought, Octavarium, Systematic Chaos and Black Clouds & Silver Linings, respectively. The follow-up songs reference the previous ones and each other, both lyrically and musically, and so may be considered a "suite", in the classical sense. The suite as a whole, which is generally referred to as the Twelve-step Suite, can be considered to be a sequel of sorts to "The Mirror" (found on 1994's Awake), as they reflect numerous thematic and lyrical ideas found in that song, but "The Mirror" is not considered a component of the suite. Though it is clear that Mike has stated that the songs reflect his alcoholism, it is unclear how deep it ran with him. Fans wonder but highly respect his right to privacy; he has (to date) never made an official statement regarding the degree of the subject.

Mike Portnoy has also stated his intention to release all 12 steps on a future live release.

This is the only Dream Theater song to feature the sound of turntables, although the effect was actually achieved by keyboardist Jordan Rudess manipulating the pitch-ribbon of his keyboard, not with actual turntables.

The static heard at the end of "Finally Free", the last song of Dream Theater's previous album, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory is also heard at the beginning of "The Glass Prison", attributing to the theme of album continuity used by Dream Theater, but Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence itself has no apparent affiliation with Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. It can also be noted that the final sequel "The Shattered Fortress ends with static as well, suggesting that the static is not reference to "Metropolis pt 2." Alternatively, Static beginning and ending the suite alludes to the theme of cycles, such as on the album Octavarium.