METROPOLIS PART 2 - SCENES FROM A MEMORY

This is one special album for me as it holds many pleasant memories. This was the second disc by Dream Theater that I obtained (the very first being 'Awake'), and a mighty good one it is.

With Kevin Moore gone after 'Awake' and Derek Sherinian just after the 'Once in a live time' live album and prior to this release, 'Scenes...' introduces the talented Jordan Rudess, who had played with Petrucci and Portnoy on the very enjoyable and quite jazzy 'Liquid Tension Experiment'. Many people complain that he is too techhnical and hasn't got the ability to play with real 'feeling', but I for one think that the man has been a bit misunderstood here. Sure, he is very technical and less 'spirited' (especially lately) than maybe the greatest keyboardists that roam(ed) this planet, but still I find him to be a genious and virtuoso on keys. In fact, I think that occasionally his playing is (was?) tremendously 'spirited' and creative.

Anyway, the man does a mighty good job at playing his instrument and gives a very good contribution to the band (shamefully the good effect only lasts for 'Scenes...' and a few live albums, the latter albums, starting with 'Six degrees...' being quite disappointing in my honest oppinion).

The rest of the musicians are awfully good too on this album, a minor con being James LaBrie's quite cheesy vocals maybe.

The music is excellent, ranging from simple-structured ballads, calmful melodic songs to a bit chaotic and messful metal-pieces with complex structures and many raging instrumental passages, appropriate for headbanging. 'Scenes...' couldn't be called a rip-off like some of the albums by DT, all material generated for this album seems very original and intriguing. There are very cheesy parts in many songs though and the vocal performance by LaBrie doesn't make it any better, only on the contraire, worse, but the overall impression of the album shadows all the parts of cheesieness for me. If one is open-minded about 'Scenes..' and gives it quite a few listens, I think the (great) overall-quality of the album can't be missed.

The album has a quite good concept, very nicely fitting with the music. It tells the story of Nicholas, a man who has disturbing memories popping out in his mind once in a while, taking a session with a hypnotherapist in order to understand the haunting scenes in his mind, and of what happenes in result of this session. The plot is nicely presented and progresses throughout the album. The concept is built on the mystical-filosophy-based idea of eternity and rebirth. In the story there is a girl who appears in Nick's dreams and who is actually Nicholas in a previous life. If you're interested to know more about the story then you can read the plot-retelling other reviews on this site.

'Metropolis pt.2: Scenes From A Memory' is in conclusion a masterpiece in my oppinion and an excellent album in many ways. In my oppinion, it's the primary and most important work of Dream Theater, being the best album of the 3 DT albums I recognise as masterpieces, the other two being 'Awake' and 'Images & Words'.

One of the few essential albums of prog-metal.

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