METROPOLIS PART 2 - SCENES FROM A MEMORY

It actually was created in a crusial time for the band, after Falling Into Infinity, the band's effort to be commercial in order to satisfy the company they had contract with... And while Falling Into Infinity was a fine album, it almost tear the band apart. Feeling really far far away from their roots and from the style they preferred, Dream Theater almost quit after that album (FII), with Mike Portnoy first and most of all wanting to quit, since he couldn't stand the direction the band was taking.

But it was not only him, everyone pretty much had the same feeling too.

At that time Portnoy and Petrucci participated in the Liquid Tension Experiment project, creating two wonderful albums along with Tony Levin on Bass and Jordan Rudess on keyboards. Now, Rudess was familiar with them before LTE and they actually approached him to join the band before settling with Derek Sherinian, but he refused, having other plans at the time. Fortunately, this time he was available and having worked all three of them with LTE, they felt he could join the band. So he did.

And in a desperate move to try to pave their own path, Dream Theater decided to isolate, create an album and then bring it to the company AFTER its finished. No external producers. No one else but the band members themselves pulling all the strings and creating the music they liked. If the company rejected it, then it would be the end...

But how can one reject THIS GOLIATH? Being "desperate" and putting your soul into a project like this, thinking/felling/fearing it probably is your last ever, is always a recipee for success! And this was the story here as well. Dream Theater did create one of the best albums of all times. Scenes From A Memory is a Masterpiece of a magnitude difficult to describe. It stands there with Giant Concept albums like Operation Mindcrime by Queensryche, The Wall by Pink Floyd etc and along with Images and Words it is a duet that screams all that Dream Theater is all about!

Dazzling melodies, crunching solos, music flowing like never before, wonderful melodies, chorus vocals, flawless singing by Labrie, incredible keyboards by the magician Jordan Rudess (there are passages that are really really incredible to believe they could put in a record like this - try Dance of eternity rag piano passage for example, one of a kind!) and of course Pertnoy/Petrucci/Muyng/Rudess in the best peroformance of their lives! And considering we are talking about Dream Theater, one can only begin to imagine what a pantheon of a performance the band delivers with this album.

When I first got my hands into this one, I actually heard it for 2-3 months without EVER pushing the Stop or Forward button! It was impossible! Beware, the first times you will listen to it, you may find it difficult to stop listening or scipping any song! The structure is incredible, the flow is unmatchable, the melodies are so wonderful, the skill portrayed is mind blowing, so you really don't stand much of a chance stopping this storm of musical majesty raging in your ears!

I won't go into details about particular songs of the album, many reviewers before me have covered that in detail.

I will only say that this is EASILY one of the best Progressive Metal albums EVER CREATED! I really can't understand how can anyone rate this with less than 4 stars. I respect it totally, but I think either they had no clue of what they were hearing or they were not into this kind of music in the first place, which means that you should take negative reviews with a lot of sceptisism. Just wonder through the net and you will see this masterpiece toping ALL of the lists about best progressive metal albums ever created (including this site).

That should say something...

For those very few who may have not heard this masterpiece yet, I envy you... Stop reading this and go check this one out... See you after you recover ;-)

Dream Theater at its best, with an album that was destined to change the course of Progressive Metal History.

The Best of Times indeed...

PS: Really, I do respect every man's opinion, but for those rating this album with 1 or two stars and casting all the curses they can on it...

Really?

Really you bother hating and cursing "Scenes"? I mean, come on, you can do better! I read lines about unintersting music, about weak concept story (OK, The Wall or Operation Mindcrime may have better storylines, but really you think the story of Scenes is weak? Are you joking?) and everything else anyone can blame an album about...

Not smart (and I am being polite here). You may not be into prog metal, you may hate musicians that are trully masters in playing their instruments, you may find that a complex solo or an adventurous instrumental is your worst. But then again you are not reviewing the right album, you may belong to another music genre.

And even then, if you can hear "Through my words" or "The Spirit carries on" or even the wonderful "Finall Free" and still come up with a line like "this album has no emotion, it is just a showoff" or something like this, then you are just plainly being mean, hateful and not objective at all! And I may not know or understand what is your problem with Dream Theater (or any other band or album that gets such a bad or angry review on a recognised masterpiece) but spewing all this poison against a world recognised masterpiece is really not good and it won't contribute to anyone becoming wiser about the music we love. You could simply state that it is not of your taste (which is totally different from saying it is bad) and let others give it a try...

Really, be serious about your reviews, you do no good to our beloved music with such attitude.

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