Here is a quick summary of the interview:
Mixing is indeed in its final stages and Petrucci said he is very happy to be at that point.
"We've had many rehearsals the past few weeks for the upcoming tour. Like every one of us, Mike is getting ready and in my opinion, he's definitely ready with a great and professional attitude." I'm a bit skeptical about this being true; maybe the interviewer might have made a mistake in translating what JP said...
DT will try to release a few songs as singles(fairly obvious...) and JP said: "I definitely stand behind the cliché, and I'm proud to say that the album came out better than excellent and I'm really proud of every aspect of its creation that is portrayed in it: the energy, the band's spirit, lyrics/tunes, and the sound"
I can confirm that ש translation from earlier on in the thread is accurate:
"It's clear to me that it's possible to directly connect the name of the album to everything that has happened with the band in the last year, but it's not the case. the name is connected to the lyrical content of the album, and to the fact that most of the lyrics are about big changes that has happened in history and now in the world (socially, politically, spiritually). The songs are actually about that, and the title of the album represents that fact, but at the same time, I have to confess that it's clear that it's possible to translate it the way in which you talk about - although it wasn't the meaning."
When asked about being the band leader with MP for decades now and dealing with his departure, JP said:
"There's a misunderstanding - there was never one or two people that led the band, we always worked as one cohesive unit when some of us has different responsibilities. Personally, nothing really changed. It's certainly different when you aren't part of a pair producing the albums and maybe responsible about certain decisions in a different way than the other band members, but I feel pretty much the same. Mike definitely did some amazing things for the band and was amazing with the fans, but the things I do haven't really changed. It's different when I'm producing alone now, but it's something that I enjoy doing and I enjoy taking the responsibility on myself."
"Some of us began writing some material at home before Mike's announcement..."
"While we're writing the music, we build the songs' structures, and then we decide where the singing comes in, and sometimes when that happens, words come out and certainly phrases and melodies. Generally, most of the construction of the words occurs at this stage. Sometimes, and those are very rare situations, there are songs ready with them (referring to lyrics) and we are forced to work on the music differently. There's one rare case in this record where I had a song fairly ready lyrically speaking and then I could accommodate it to some existing music in the form of riffs that I thought of for another song. But that's very rare, and almost never were there situations where someone came in with lyrics from home and we were forced to accommodate music for them or compose something unique for that specific text."
Since this is a thread discussing the album, I only put information pertaining to it. There are some other tidbits, but they don't belong in here. I hope the info is clear to you guys; my Hebrew regressed a bit ever since I left Israel.