METROPOLIS PART 2 - SCENES FROM A MEMORY

Many people consider this album an absolutely masterful piece in the company of Close to the Edge, Foxtrot, Red, Wish you were here etc., what's more some people even proclaim it "the greatest piece of music ever. When it was released I was very excited to see the title"Metropolis Pt 2.". Metropolis Pt 1. is one of my favourite songs from one of my all time favourite albums called Images and Words. At first listenings I was completely blown away, but time moved on... Unfortunately, for Scenes from a Memory. This is a decent album, but it contains so many hints from Images and Words, and sometimes it is so similar to Pink Floyd(The Spirit Carries on comes to mind first) that it is certainly not a "revolutionary", "groundbreaking" or "cornerstone" album. It's not really good idea for a band to write a concept piece which is not really about the lyics. Dream Theater had some good lyrics in the past, but writing a story is another thing. This story as trite as possible, some love story, some murder some "dark mystery' including reincarnation, without any real substance. But after all Dream Theater are not profilic novelists. Actually there are many enjoyable parts on this album. Home is the best track by far, the only composition that I truly like in its entirety. Fortunately, this is the longest song on the album, too. Heavy, melodic, virtuosic, , everything that can be expected from a leading prog metal act. Other tracks have very good parts, with some runining effects. For example Beyond this life could be excellent without some horrible Rudess-keyboard sounds and the effect-driven vocals by James LaBrie in the beginning. Through my words/Fatal tragedy doesn't start very promisingly, but towards the end the band members go absolutely nuts with their instruments, in a positive sense of course. For me the first real higlight in this album. The track I don't like at all is the über-cheesy ballad Through her eyes. The Dance of Eternity is probably their weakest instrumental. The piano playing which reminds me of some cartoon soundtracks is actually funny, but this entire album is not supposed to be funny, but "dark", "mysterious", "brooding" and blabla. So it is quiet out of place, I think. With all its flaws it is still a pretty good album, with some refinement in the concept, and a bit shorter playing time could be even better. So for me a three star rating seems to be the most adequate.