Title: Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory
Artiste: Dream Theater
Genre: Progressive Metal
Familiarity: I've heard two of their albums; didn't care for either.
1. Scene One: Regression: Okay, well before I've even heard a note I have a problem, and it's with the difficulty I've always had with Dream Theater, and that is pretension. If you're going to split your album up into tracks called “Scenes”, fine --- the album is called
Scenes From a Memory, after all --- but why further subdivide those scenes into parts? So you have Scene Two, I and Scene Two, II. Pre-ten-tious! Maybe I'll be eating my words at the end of this review, but this is not a good way to start off. Anyway, music, music... Oh great. We open on a clock ticking and a hypnotist talking, fading out now, nice acoustic guitar coming in, good vocal. Like this, despite my acerbic comments beforehand.
2. Scene Two: I. Overture 1928: This is an instrumental, and is pure prog rock/metal. Nothing bad to say about this. Flows directly into
3. Scene Two: II. Strange deja vu: Having read the plot I'm now intrigued and a little more disposed towards tolerance or acceptance of the album, and yet we'll see. But nothing bad so far and I've not heard any evidence of technical wankery like on the other two albums I listened to. Everything here seems to fit into the narrative, whether vocal or musical, though we have of course some distance to go yet.
4. Scene Three: I. Through my words: A short piano piece, very nice.
5. Scene Three: II. Fatal tragedy: Darker tinge to the piano now; whole thing takes on a more menacing tone. Choral vocals are great. An instrumental section that feels like it actually adds to, and belongs to the song rather than just being a jam, an excuse to show off. Some pretty spectacular keyboard work, all the same. Nobody said these guys can't play.
6. Scene Four: Beyond this life: Much tougher and rockier, hard guitar driving this from the start. Faster, almost frenetic in places, real sense of urgency and panic. Portnoy does some great work on the kit. This is one of the longer tracks, at just under eleven and a half minutes, so if there's going to be any wankery it should be here. I'm hoping not, though. Like the slower, gentler passage about halfway, then a solo from Petrucci that seems taken out of “Money” by Floyd. Well, there is an extended instrumental near the end, but it does seem to fit in and be part of the story. Well done.
7. Scene Five: Through her eyes: Touches of gospel in the opening, with a very Gilmouresque guitar then it becomes a ballad/lament with some lovely acoustic guitar. I shoudl speak about the vocal too. James LaBrie has a really nice, clear and soulful voice, and the emotion really bleeds through as he sings. Backing vocals really add to the song.
8. Scene Six: Home: Another long one, almost thirteen mnutes, but I'm feeling much more sanguine about this album now. Nice eastern tinge to the guitar (or is it a sitar? Sitar I think), the tempo slowly increasing as it goes before it breaks into a big powerful instrumental, almost three minutes before the vocal comes in strongly. The position Edward is put in is very well described and brought to life here, and the madness of the gaming table just adds to that, almost as if he's being told to take his own gamble. Great keyboard solo from Jordan Rudess, his first stint with them I believe
9. Scene Seven: I. The dance of eternity: Next up in an instrumental. Six minutes long. Meh, it's all right, but do we really need it? Does it convey any special message or make a bridge between sections? Maybe it does, and lord knows Genesis have long enough instrumentals themselves, but I'm just not as blown away by this as I have been with the rest of the album so far. Yeah, I could definitely have lived without that, but in fairness it's a small complaint where I thought there would be loads of them, so I'll let it slide.
10. Scene Seven: II. One last time: Back on track now. This is much better.
11. Scene Eight: The spirit carries on: Chanelling Waters here; very emotional sort of waltzy ballad. I hear a lot of “The tide is turning” from
Radio KAOS. Gospel coming back in, with a strong sense of Floyd backing vocals. Great guitar work from Petrucci. Love this one. Might have been better to have ended on this but...
12. Scene Nine: Finally free: ... back to the voice of the hypnotherapist with a nice picked guitar then some very dark symphonic strings with sounds of thunder before solo piano takes the tune, and we learn the horrible truth. Not sure what the news clips near the end have to do with it, though I read that after finding out the truth, the hero is shot by the hypnotherapist, who turns out to be the reincarnation of his killer in his other life as Victoria. It's possibly an unnecessarily dark ending to what could have been a triumph, but I suppose every story can't have a happy ending.
End result: Well, that was a total revelation! It's been quite a while since I enjoyed an album so much, and so unexpectedly. I don't know whether it will change my mind about Dream Theater, but at least now I now that they can make really great albums like this, so there are probably some gems in there. This really impressed me, and I had no idea it would. A real masterpiece, deserves to be up there with
The Wall and
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway as concept albums. I believe “Rolling Stone” chose it through their readers as the top concept prog album ever, and when I read that I was scathing in my inner criticism and disbelief, but I can kind of see the justification for it now.
So, Love or Hate? Taking me quite by surprise, I have to award this a
True Love. It's just that good, and the unexpected factor pushes it well over the line.