METROPOLIS PART 2 - SCENES FROM A MEMORY

To fans of Long Island's Dream Theater, the age of classic British progressive rock: Moodies, Genesis and Yes must seem quite tame. The minimalist guitar textures, diatonic polyphony and pieced-together album sides are primitive precursors to a fully integrated heavy-metal opera.

The classic British progressive rock bands were neo-romantic from their inception, trying to regain an innocence lost after world war two. Justin Hayward wrote of a "letter never meaning to send" and Greg Lake of a "letter hoping it will reach your hand." The letter is a throw back to the nineteenth century; even in 1967, people used a phone. At the center of Dream Theater's opus is a letter, the modern letter in the age of e mails, the only one somebody still writes, a suicide letter; revealing the significance of which would give away the ending.

Dream Theater cites Yes and Uriah Heep as influences; but one can hear allusions to Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Queen, ELP, of course, Van Halen, Metallica and Queensryche, as well as Frank Zappa. The piece is an eighty-minute romp through the history of progressive rock and heavy metal. Its story of the tragedy of forbidden/romantic love is an old one; but updated through references to psychoanalysis (regressive thearapy) and its antagonist a US senator.

The search for truth is the essence of classic progressive rock. The specific twist on Metropolis is that at its core of this murder mystery is a search for truth and redemption. In some way its quest for a place to belong, true love and redmeption seem to rediscover the lost idealism of classic progressive rock.

The album is quite beautifully crafted, fluid and exhibiting a host of pop song structures that are continually expanded not only through instrumental passages but the continuous progression of the story. The hook like quality is used to keep the listener in touch with the developing story. The main theme comes in about five minutes into the piece and then returns right before the end, which to me was reminiscent of Supper's Ready, which prolongs the main musical idea for four and a half minutes and then keeps you waiting another fifteen minutes to hear it again.

The ensemble here is quite exceptional, technically proficient and exciting. I would like to hear more keyboards, as well as a little less reliance on guitar virtuosity, but when you play like John Petrucci that in no way detracts from the enjoyment of the album.

This album definitely deserves five stars if not for the work that went into it, for the fact that the make it seem so easy.