Falling into Infinity is the fourth studio album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater, released on September 23, 1997, through EastWest Records.

[1] Consequently, creative conflicts arose, with guitarist John Petrucci accepting the label's plea for change and drummer Mike Portnoy fighting against it.

[3] For over a year, Dream Theater wrote songs without being given permission to record them; according to Portnoy, at one point they became so frustrated that they considered retirement.

[8] Shirley made significant alterations to some of what was left on the album; most notably, he took the middle section out of "Burning My Soul" and turned it into what would become "Hell's Kitchen".

[11] In contrast to the difficult writing and pre-production stages, the band considered the recording sessions trouble free and enjoyable.

[15] All of Portnoy's lyrics were inspired by his frustration with Elektra Records: "New Millennium" and "Just Let Me Breathe" are aimed at the music industry and label, and "Burning My Soul" targets A&R man Derek Oliver.

As is the case with most Dream Theater albums, the songs were given working titles during production; for example, "Lines in the Sand" and "Burning My Soul" were originally called "Cat's Tail" and "Carnival of Clams", respectively.

[17] In the official Dream Theater biography Lifting Shadows, author Rich Wilson described Falling into Infinity's musical style as having an "accessible nature".

[27][28] In contrast to Portnoy's comments, John Petrucci has spoken fondly of the album, and in a 2014 interview stated, "Maybe I could set the records straight: I think that’s a really big misunderstanding.