''Spontaneous Combustion'' is an album by

progressive metal Progressive metal (often shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven sound of the former with t ...

group Liquid Trio Experiment, and is the result of the studio improvisations of

Liquid Tension Experiment Liquid Tension Experiment (LTE) is an American instrumental progressive metal supergroup founded by Mike Portnoy in 1997. The band initially released two albums, between 1998 and 1999. An extension of their second regular album, with the abse ...

which occurred during

John Petrucci John Peter Petrucci (born July 12, 1967) is an American guitarist, best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. He produced or co-produced (often with Mike Portnoy before Portnoy's absence from the band 2010-2023 ...

's hiatus, while he spent time with his wife while she was giving birth. The remaining trio of

Mike Portnoy Michael Stephen Portnoy (born April 20, 1967) is an American musician who is primarily known as the drummer, backing vocalist, and co-founder of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. In September 2010, Portnoy announced his departure fro ...

Tony Levin Anthony Frederick Levin (born June 6, 1946) is an American musician and composer specializing in electric bass guitars, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known for his work with King Crimson (19 ...

and

Jordan Rudess Jordan Rudess (born Jordan Charles Rudes; November 4, 1956) is an American keyboardist, composer, and software developer, best known as a member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater and the supergroup Liquid Tension Experiment. Early lif ...

continued to make music during this period. It was released on October 23, 2007. A few songs from '' Liquid Tension Experiment 2'' were spawned from these jam sessions including "914", "Chewbacca", and "Liquid Dreams". The song "Chris & Kevin's Bogus Journey" is not a reference to Portnoy and Petrucci's former

Dream Theater Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 in Boston, Massachusetts. The band comprises John Petrucci (guitar), John Myung (bass), Mike Portnoy (drums), James LaBrie (vocals) and Jordan Rudess (keyboards). Dream Theat ...

bandmates Chris Collins and

Kevin Moore Kevin Moore (born May 26, 1967) is an American former keyboardist, composer and the founder of the Chroma Key music project. He was also a member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater, co-founder of the progressive rock supergroup O.S. ...

, but rather to the track on Liquid Tension Experiment's first album entitled "Chris & Kevin's Excellent Adventure", which is itself a reference to the band's photographer's habit of calling Mike Portnoy and Tony Levin "Chris and Kevin", even after being corrected several times. It is also a reference to the 1991 film ''

Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey ''Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey'' is a 1991 American science fiction comedy film, and the feature directorial debut of Pete Hewitt. It is the second film in the ''Bill & Ted'' franchise, and a sequel to ''Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'' (1989) ...

'', the sequel to ''

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure ''Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'' is a 1989 American science fiction comedy film directed by Stephen Herek and written by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon. The first installment of the ''Bill & Ted'' franchise, it stars Keanu Reeves, Alex Win ...

''. The song "Jazz Odyssey" is a reference to the movie '' This Is Spinal Tap'', in which Spinal Tap experiments with an improvisational song of the same name. While the jams were improvised in 1998, it took until 2007 to release them, as the master tapes of the jams were somehow misplaced before they were delivered to

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter"), sometimes spelled Magna Charta, is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardin ...

. The recordings on the album (and "the only remaining records of these sessions in existence") were taken from Portnoy's 2-track stereo DAT.Spontaneous Combustion liner notes

Track listing

Personnel

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mus ...

s *

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

*Chris Cubeta - engineering *Jim Brick - mastering

References

2007 albums Liquid Tension Experiment albums Magna Carta Records albums Jam sessions {{2000s-metal-album-stub