METROPOLIS PART 2 - SCENES FROM A MEMORY

This album has always been a favorite of mine. I can pop it in my cd changer and go to any track and be amused, whether from nostalgia of previous listens or finding something I haven't noticed before. I find it so balanced and steady that there are no songs or parts on this album I detest or hate. It was made in such a way that, whether by luck or genius of it's creators Dream Theater, it has been able to survive as a top prog-metal act for seven years now, clearly an accomplishment in itself.

What really stands out to me in Scenes from a Memory is the overall completeness in this album. Not only has DT put together several killer and standout tracks, specifically five, six, eight (Fatal Tragedy, Beyond This Life, Home) where in each we are given a taste of DT's finest of metal influenced sound, but we are treated to to gentle sound featured in tracks four, seven, ten and eleven (Through My Words, Through Her Eyes, One Last Time, The Spirit Carries On) as well as the stuff inbetween, tracks two, three, nine and twelve (Overture 1928, Strange Deja Vu, The Dance of Eternity, Finally Free)

All of these songs creating the perfect balance between heavy and soft, fast and slow. After being thrown steadily through the adrenaline filled sections of each heavy part of this album we experience a "calm in the storm" where the pace changes from aggressive to slow and relaxing.

Most of this mood changing I feel is due to both the band's percussionist and bassist who each have an amazing amount of influence to how the song flows. It always feels like these two instruments alone, while focus is not necessarily put on them, define the pace the song should flow, while the band's vocalist, keyboardist, and guitarist build off of the other two to give atmosphere and emotion to the song.

All of these entities end up looping, circling, and chasing around each other to create amazingly complicated songs that have a lot going on it is presented in an easy to digest manner. The tracks themselves intertwine through similar sounding parts and through an interesting fiction story and make produced package in this album.

Memorable Dream Theater tracks and a concept story behind it, Scenes is always solid addition to your library if you haven't already gotten it.