METROPOLIS PART 2 - SCENES FROM A MEMORY

After being introduced to progressive metal by the wonderful Operation: Mindcrime, I became extremely interested in the genre as a whole. So, I decided to get the album that was considered the genre's proverbial jewel-in-the-crown, Scenes From A Memory. Oops.

This is not a bad album. In fact, at some moments, it's amazing. "Home" remains one of the best progressive metal songs I've ever heard. The album as a concept however, just doesn't seem to come together. The concept, and thus, the lyrics, for one thing, are incomprehensible. Too many of the songs get stuck in hard-to-digest solos. I find myself too often wondering, "what just happened?" The album simply doesn't gel. And don't get me started on the ending to "Finally Free".

Dream Theater had high moments. This is not one of them. It fails as a concept album, because the long instrumental sections do not allow a decent story to develop. The story seems to end just after it begins. Musically, the songs range from decent (One Last Time), to great (Fatal Tragedy), to amazing (Home), to "huh?" (Dance of Eternity). But, as stated before, the issue is that they just don't seem to come together, and a concept album with that flaw is doomed from the start.

3/5, because I'm in a good mood.

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