METROPOLIS PART 2 - SCENES FROM A MEMORY

"Metropolis pt.2: Scenes From a Memory" is maybe Dream Theater's best work and one of the best progressive rock albums of all time. And it's correct to put this record as the N° 1 of Prog Metal. This is the follower of "Falling into Infinity". Without any doubt, the musicians are incredible. Despite of I'm a spanish speaker, the story of this conceptual album is awesome, and I think this is the only time I pay attention to the lyrics. During the record some characters "talk", like Nicholas, Victoria Page, Senator Edward Baynes (The Miracle) and Julian Baynes (The Sleeper), and, in the beggining, The Hypnoterapist, like an opera - rock work. The history it's like the continuation to "Metropolis pt. 1: The miracle and the sleeper", from "Images and Words". And it's nice the idea of the chronological key: past, present. On this work, Dream Theater definitely found the balance between shredding and vocal parts, because sometimes too much shredding has no feeling, as most of people says. This is their first work with Rudess, who stands out maybe more than Derek Sherinian, and does an excellent work. This is a fantastic musical journey since the beginning to the end. I never get tired of listening to it !! Well, let's go to the tracks:

ACT I:

Scene One: "Regression", starts with an hypnotic clock sound and then the Hypnotherapist: "Close your eyes and begin to relax...." Bagins a one minute long acoustic which, if you listen carefully, tou'll realise it has the same melody to a part of "The spirit carries on". It's used like an intro to the story and the record.

Scene Two:

I. "Overture 1928" This instrumental track starts heavily a la Dream Theater with intrincated riff "tarara, tarararara, tarara...". Then goes with different transitions (some of them are repeated then), with solos in the middle. During the album, some melodies here (the first guitar solo) are repeatitions of some ones of "Metropolis pt. 1". Nice solos here.

II. "Strange Deja Vu" This is the continuation of the Overture, but with voice (this one is almost all voice). James Labrie sings excellent here, giving nice melodies that can't go out of my head and make you sing them all the time. It goes very melodic on "tonight I've been...", and then really rocks on "Back on my feet again...". Here I must say that DT, in difference of most of metal bands, is more open to music, I mean, it's not just metal, they add rock, hard rock, sometimes some jazzy things and, in my opinion, a bit of symphonic. But it's classyfied as progressive metal because it's a metal band.

Scene three: I. "Through my Words" Is a keyboard-based short song, which works as a prelude to the follower song.

II. "Fatal Tragedy" Starts with a suspense feeling "Alone at night...". Then go some rare riffs. On the "chorus" Petrucci and Portnoy give additional vocals, something that is repeated through the album. The instrumental part is very dark, a provides, as is usual, well done solos.

Scene four: "Beyond this Life" This 11 minutes song begins with a rocker riff that make you headbang even if you don't want to !! Then Labrie sings about the headline, and there are sticky bass lines. Here go obscure and rocker parts, and it's good to put it all on the song because it contrast. At the soloing time it's a hard- blues base with a guitar keyboerd duel, this reminds me of Deep Purple. There are almost 5minutes of soloing. Excellent track.

Scene five: "Throuhg her Eyes" Nice and emotional ballad, with a lot of piano and a few guitar notes. I think here the drums are electronic, something that surprises me a lot. The additional vocals by Theresa Thomason are really good and quiet, and here Labrie's voice is very soft (why there are so many people who say he's a bad singer? I can't understand it).

ACT II:

Scene six: "Home" Is the longest song of the album. Starts and finishes with sort of arabian music and good bass line and guitar effects. When the voice enters it reminds me a lot to "Metropolis pt. 1", and the melody of the chorus too. There is a crazy piano solo on the middle.

Scene seven:

I. "The Dance of Eternity" The second instrumental, more complex than the other one, again with some pieces of "Metropolis pt. 1", always with tempo changes. Jazz, metal, rock, all in one !! Extremely complex, masters of shredding !!

II. "One Last Time" The lirycs on this one are made by Labrie. Nice mid-tempo song and melody: "One last time, we'll lay down today".

Scene eight: "The Spirit Carries On" Is the other ballad and the only conventional song of the album, with nice chorus and fantastic Floydian guitar solo. This song really touches me.

Scene nine: "Finally Free" Perfect closing to this masterpiece. You return to the real world, with some classical music on the background before the song begins. I love the final part (sound very Floyd). I fell like I'm in heaven when I hear this.

Overall, it's a masterpiece of progressive music, specially for progressive metal fans. One of the best prog albums in history. Don't miss it, you won't be dissapointed !!

Rating: 5/5

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