METROPOLIS PART 2 - SCENES FROM A MEMORY

Subtitled Metropolis Pt 2, this is a concept album about an incident that is revealed through regression therapy. It's also the second DT album I owned, and is what convinced me that despite the high level of musicianship DT's end product wasn't really for me. All the ingredients were in place, but there was a little too much straight-on metal from the band, a little too much shredding from Petrucci and too little keyboards from Jordan Ruddess.

It sounds like an exaggeration but this album goes on for 77 minutes and I can scarely point to the bits of music I enjoyed ... The instrumental Dance Of Eternity (Vaudeville piano and a Myung bass solo!), The Wall rip-off The Spirit Carries On and the concluding Finally Free (which feels like one hell of an ironic title) are the best songs while the arabic moments on Home and a Ruddess solo in the middle of Beyond This Life also caught my ear but certainly there was nothing I hadn't already heard on A Change Of Seasons.

Far too much of the album was monotous and predictable. Surely we turn to prog-rock expecting variety, not formulae? I eventually sold my copy of this album, and I haven't really missed it. ... 26% on the MPV scale