METROPOLIS PART 2 - SCENES FROM A MEMORY

After (arguably) rekindling the progressive fire with their first three albums, Dream Theater finally hit a major snag in the road when they attempted to take the more conventional path on their 1998 album 'Falling Into Infinity'. Not ones to be held back by such a let down, the band decided to regroup, find a new keyboardist and move back into more familiar grounds. Enter Jordan Rudess, and the need to make something great.

Metropolis Pt 1 was always a popular track by the band, and by now they must be eternally grateful to themselves to have put that Pt 1 at the beginning. Apparently there was never any plan to make a pt 2, and when they titled the original with a 'pt 1' it was more of a sick joke. Fortunately for them they were able to make an album off of what would become pt 2 while being able to recycle themes, a couple riffs, soundscapes and credibility from their masterpiece, Images and Words. Luckily, the album doesn't come off as a blatant rip-off of their own material and what used to be a very confusing muddle of words in Pt 1 is fleshed out into an incredibly complex story in pt 2.

This (as to be expected) is a concept album and rock opera from start to finish. The tracks run together to form two acts which in turn run together to make the album into one giant song. While the album does, at times, suffer from the ''Wall of sound'' effect thanks to it's repeated motifs and themes it does still manage to keep interest thanks to both the story and skilled playing of each member. While Dream Theater sometimes takes flak for being a little bit to ambitious on their instruments, here they seem to have done everything right. The instrumentation actually comes off as part of the story and advances the plot while keeping the audience entertained.

It would be pointless to go into this album and give track by track thoughts because really each blurb would entail me typing the same thing over and over again (not to mention that this is the 600th review for the freaking album) -- So I'll do it as a whole. How does the album sound? Dark, moody and fast with blinding solos, a couple good slow parts and a lot of flat out creepy moments when it comes to story line. In terms of story, it's very complex and difficult to work out. Basically, it's the story of a man who experiences strange visions in his sleep so he goes to a shrink to figure out what they all mean. Though hypnosis the man discovers about a young girl who was murdered back in the 30s and has to figure out the real reason why it happened. The ending really will surprise you, even if you fancy yourself someone who doesn't care for Dream Theater lyrics.

Conclusion:

Not Dream Theater's best album as many may claim it to be, mostly thanks to it's inaccessibility as a 75+ minute album that really sounds completely the same the first couple listens. This is still a great album featuring great playing and writing which will almost definately make a great addition to your collection -- 4 stars.

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