Songfacts®:

• At six-and-a-half minutes, "Invisible Monster" is one of the shortest songs on the A View from the Top of the World album. It is also more contemplative and moody than many of the prog metallers' other tracks.
• Guitarist John Petrucci said this was written after the band had created a bundle of "super energetic and upbeat, tempo-wise" tunes. Drummer Mike Mangini suggested they do something more mid-tempo, and they came up with this more laid-back track.
  
  Petrucci added that the hook, riff, and melody came easily. He equated it to Dream Theater's 1992 breakout single "Pull Me Under," where, "We'd just start playing, something would come out, and we'd be, like, 'Whoa, that's cool.' There's a serendipitous moment where it happens."
• Lyrically, the song depicts anxiety as a monster. The beast plagues its victims with "whispers in the ear" about frightening events that are unlikely to happen. "It's like there's an invisible monster beating you," explained Petrucci. "You don't see it, but it's haunting you all of the time."
• William "Wombat" Felch (Mudvayne, Hellyeah) directed the video, which follows the story of an artist's internal struggles. The piece of art created by Felch on the clip now lives inside Dream Theater's studio.