October 26, 1999 - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory
It's a double release day! On the same day as my last release and two years since "Falling Into Infinity", Dream Theater released their fifth album "Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory" on October 26, 1999. Keyboardist Derek Sherinian has since started his solo career and is no longer with the band, but replacing him on keyboards is Jordan Rudess, who played with John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy in Liquid Tension Experiment! This is a pretty awesome addition as we know Rudess is a phenomenal keyboardist and will fit in just fine. This album is a concept album and it's almost like a movie how it plays out, with every song being part of the story. Let's check out the latest from Dream Theater!
Music: there's some female vocals that are definitely not my thing overtop a pretty sappy keyboard riff and some light guitar. Rudess ends up playing the same piano riff as in "Through My Words" and Myung adds some slow but cool bass. LaBrie sings a sappy verse to match the mood and this is easily the weakest full song on the album. I don't mind softer parts of they are still entertaining, but this song is a snoozefest, not even a hint of heaviness! The next track is the longest at almost thirteen minutes and it's called "Home".
Story: we learn more about Julian and how his addictions to cocaine and gambling drive Victoria away from him. Edward swoops in and seduces Victoria after the break-up, despite feeling guilty hiding it from his brother.
Music: the first two minutes are a quiet but interesting intro with what sounds like some sitar giving things a bit of an Eastern feel. This builds and morphs nicely into a heavy new riff with some catchy guitar and this takes us finally to the first verse where LaBrie sings nicely overtop some cool guitar and drums. Petrucci plays some great stuff in the lead-up to the chorus and the chorus is pretty catchy with LaBrie sounding solid. Myung's bass is solid in the background along with Rudess's keyboards while Portnoy continues to play some great drums and Petrucci leads the way with some typically cool guitar. There's a weird part with sex noises in the background that is relevant to the story but not great to listen to. Rudess emerges out of nowhere with a fantastic keyboard solo and Petrucci nicely follows with a great guitar solo. After solo time they play a final chorus and then seem to end things as they began with the cool heavy riff from earlier, but things change direction for the last minute-plus as Petrucci leads us in a new direction with some pretty awesome guitar. It's a pretty fun way to finish things off and the elic finale leads right into track 9 "The Dance Of Eternity".
Story: none, song is instrumental.
Music: Myung plays a great bass riff that is so low and from there words can't properly describe how well and how awesome they build it up. There are no vocals, but the other four members are all at the top of their game on this one with bits and pieces of awesomeness on bass, drums, keyboards and guitar. I couldn't possibly write about all the awesome parts in this song, there are so fucking many! Rudess's old time-y piano solo sounds pretty wicked, but so does just about everything else! What a phenomenal song! The end leads right into "One Last Time".
Story: Nicholas believes he has solved it: Julian pleaded for Victoria to take him back, but when she chose Edward, he killed them both and made himself out as the "witness".
Music: Rudess plays some pretty solid piano to start before LaBrie leads a fairly simple verse. The chorus is pretty sappy and not their best but Petrucci follows it with a cool guitar solo and the following riff is still light but it's much more interesting with some cool keyboards. Rudess ends things on a nice note and his piano continues into track 11 "The Spirit Carries On".
Story: Nicholas says goodbye to Victoria and feels at ease with life and death.
Music: this is also a pretty sappy song with Rudess playing some decent but very sappy piano and LaBrie tries to be all emotional, and it's just not my thing. The second go through has some light acoustic guitar and that doesn't really help. Petrucci does play a long guitar solo and while it starts pretty sappy he plays some cool stuff by the end. Portnoy plays all kinds of solid fills and I like LaBrie's final verse and chorus where he's just being himself. The female vocals sound better on this track than the last one as they jam things out and Rudess wraps things up nicely. The final track on this album is "Finally Free".
Story: Nicholas hypnotherapy session ends and we finally learn the truth: Edward wished for more than just an affair, but when Victoria reconciled with Julian, Edward kills them both and it is he who is the "witness". Nicholas is followed home by his therapist (who it turns out was Edward in his past life), who proceeds to kill Nicholas to complete the cycle again.
Music: the therapist brings us out of the session as Petrucci plays some cool light guitar and Rudess adds some epic keyboards. It sounds like a haunting movie soundtrack as Rudess plays some wonderfully epic stuff that leads into some cool piano for the verse. LaBrie sings a nice verse to match the mood as Rudess leads the way with lots of solid piano. The rest of the guys join in and make things a bit louder and after another verse and chorus they move into a new riff that is the background as we actually hear Edward murder Julian, and then say "open your eyes Victoria", before firing off two more shots. After this scene ends things move really smoothly into a reprise of "One Last Time"! After this chorus Petrucci takes us to a new part where LaBrie sings a solid new verse. Things drop off and return to the quiet opening riff, but they quickly return to the loud and epic chorus. They jam out the ending with a repetitive but solid riff and Portnoy delivers a ton of great drums during this long fadeout. Eventually the music stops and we hear Nicholas get out of his car and enter his house with the TV already on. After a bit of news he turns the TV off, pours himself a drink, and then we hear some horns, sounds like a tuba maybe? The therapist suddenly says "open your eyes Nicholas", we hear Nicholas give a startled gasp, and then we hear static until the end of the album...
That is the end of "Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory" and I thought it was an absolutely phenomenal album. The way they tell this amazing story while still delivering some amazing music is really quite something. Every Dream Theater album has a couple sappy songs, and this one was no different, but the rest of the album was pretty freaking awesome. I think this blows their last and their debut album out of the water and it's way better than "Awake" as well. "Images And Words" is a great album in it's own right, but I think this newest album is so complete and amazing that it easily takes top spot for me. After the low of "Falling Into Infinity", this is a pretty awesome high! Keep it coming Rudess-era Dream Theater!
The album begins with "Regression".
Story: The main character Nicholas goes to past life regression therapy and has a hypnotherapy session.
Music: After the therapist finishes talking John Petrucci plays a very light guitar bit while James LaBrie sings a short verse. Up next is "Overture 1928".
Story: None, song is instrumental.
Music: they slowly build up to a pretty cool main riff with some epic guitar by Petrucci, some cool drums by Mike Portnoy and some epic backing keys by Rudess. Rudess takes the lead at one point for a pretty cool keyboard solo and then he nicely passes the torch to Petrucci for a possibly even better guitar solo. They both play some pretty sweet stuff in this cool instrumental track and the end leads perfectly into track 3 "Strange Déja Vu".
Story: Nicholas finds himself in an unknown yet somehow familiar place and discovers that in a past life he was a woman named Victoria, and she was murdered.
Music: Petrucci drives things with some pretty good guitar and LaBrie sounds solid singing overtop. Around halfway through the song the mood shifts to a new fast-paced riff with John Myung playing some pretty cool bass. LaBrie leads a solid new verse until Rudess enters with some epic piano and he nicely ties things back to the main riff to wrap up with a final chorus. After the song seems over Rudess starts to play some light piano that sounds decent and this leads right into the short next track "Through My Words", which is only a minute long.
Story: Nicholas believes Victoria is haunting him to try and get him to discover the truth about how she died.
Music: Rudess plays the same light piano and LaBrie sings a pretty sappy verse overtop. Track 5 is "Fatal Tragedy".
Story: we learn that Victoria's body was found along with the body of her lover Julian.
Music: Rudess's piano continues into the first verse of this song and continues to sound pretty good while LaBrie sings a much better verse. When things start to get louder things are really finding their way and words don't do proper justice to the cool guitar and keyboards we hear in a pretty sweet little break. They move to a pretty sweet new riff from here that is heavy with some cool guitar and this somehow leads perfectly into the chorus as well. After the chorus Petrucci takes off on guitar, then Rudess adds some interesting keyboards to the mix. From here things somehow get even better as Petrucci and Rudess enter dueling solo mode, and neither of them holds back! There is so much awesome stuff in this part! It's insane, my jaw is on the floor! This goes all way to the end of the song until we hear the therapist once again and I love his closing line of "remember, death is not the end, but only a transition". In comes the over eleven minute "Beyond This Life".
Story: Victoria began an affair with Julian's brother Edward and Nicholas is led to believe that Julian killed her and then himself, but he doesn't quite believe it.
Music: they kick right into a pretty coop main riff with solid contributions from everyone, but unsurprisingly the guitar and keyboards stand out a little bit more. The verse is more bass and drums as Myung and Portnoy combine for a great rhythm section and LaBrie tells the story of her murder really well in song. The verse licks up to the heavy opening and the chorus is quite quiet, but that makes it even more epic as LaBrie sounds pretty great here as well! Petrucci then rips off a pretty awesome guitar solo and they break into a cool new riff led by some fast and catchy guitar. This somehow leads perfectly onto the chorus again and then Dream theater continue to show their amazing progressiveness with another great segue into a pretty sweet keyboard solo by Rudess! This is followed by a long guitar solo by Petrucci and he fucking delivers the perfect fast solo to match the groovy mood. He then plays the perfect rhythm riff to set up Rudess's very unique and interesting keyboard solo. So much awesomeness! All this awesomeness somehow ends up at a final chorus with Portnoy playing some great drums and it's a neat little bow on what was quite an amazing song! Track 7 is "Through Her Eyes".
Story: Nicholas realizes he cannot move on with his own life until he solves Victoria's murder.Story: The main character Nicholas goes to past life regression therapy and has a hypnotherapy session.
Music: After the therapist finishes talking John Petrucci plays a very light guitar bit while James LaBrie sings a short verse. Up next is "Overture 1928".
Story: None, song is instrumental.
Music: they slowly build up to a pretty cool main riff with some epic guitar by Petrucci, some cool drums by Mike Portnoy and some epic backing keys by Rudess. Rudess takes the lead at one point for a pretty cool keyboard solo and then he nicely passes the torch to Petrucci for a possibly even better guitar solo. They both play some pretty sweet stuff in this cool instrumental track and the end leads perfectly into track 3 "Strange Déja Vu".
Story: Nicholas finds himself in an unknown yet somehow familiar place and discovers that in a past life he was a woman named Victoria, and she was murdered.
Music: Petrucci drives things with some pretty good guitar and LaBrie sounds solid singing overtop. Around halfway through the song the mood shifts to a new fast-paced riff with John Myung playing some pretty cool bass. LaBrie leads a solid new verse until Rudess enters with some epic piano and he nicely ties things back to the main riff to wrap up with a final chorus. After the song seems over Rudess starts to play some light piano that sounds decent and this leads right into the short next track "Through My Words", which is only a minute long.
Story: Nicholas believes Victoria is haunting him to try and get him to discover the truth about how she died.
Music: Rudess plays the same light piano and LaBrie sings a pretty sappy verse overtop. Track 5 is "Fatal Tragedy".
Story: we learn that Victoria's body was found along with the body of her lover Julian.
Music: Rudess's piano continues into the first verse of this song and continues to sound pretty good while LaBrie sings a much better verse. When things start to get louder things are really finding their way and words don't do proper justice to the cool guitar and keyboards we hear in a pretty sweet little break. They move to a pretty sweet new riff from here that is heavy with some cool guitar and this somehow leads perfectly into the chorus as well. After the chorus Petrucci takes off on guitar, then Rudess adds some interesting keyboards to the mix. From here things somehow get even better as Petrucci and Rudess enter dueling solo mode, and neither of them holds back! There is so much awesome stuff in this part! It's insane, my jaw is on the floor! This goes all way to the end of the song until we hear the therapist once again and I love his closing line of "remember, death is not the end, but only a transition". In comes the over eleven minute "Beyond This Life".
Story: Victoria began an affair with Julian's brother Edward and Nicholas is led to believe that Julian killed her and then himself, but he doesn't quite believe it.
Music: they kick right into a pretty coop main riff with solid contributions from everyone, but unsurprisingly the guitar and keyboards stand out a little bit more. The verse is more bass and drums as Myung and Portnoy combine for a great rhythm section and LaBrie tells the story of her murder really well in song. The verse licks up to the heavy opening and the chorus is quite quiet, but that makes it even more epic as LaBrie sounds pretty great here as well! Petrucci then rips off a pretty awesome guitar solo and they break into a cool new riff led by some fast and catchy guitar. This somehow leads perfectly onto the chorus again and then Dream theater continue to show their amazing progressiveness with another great segue into a pretty sweet keyboard solo by Rudess! This is followed by a long guitar solo by Petrucci and he fucking delivers the perfect fast solo to match the groovy mood. He then plays the perfect rhythm riff to set up Rudess's very unique and interesting keyboard solo. So much awesomeness! All this awesomeness somehow ends up at a final chorus with Portnoy playing some great drums and it's a neat little bow on what was quite an amazing song! Track 7 is "Through Her Eyes".
Music: there's some female vocals that are definitely not my thing overtop a pretty sappy keyboard riff and some light guitar. Rudess ends up playing the same piano riff as in "Through My Words" and Myung adds some slow but cool bass. LaBrie sings a sappy verse to match the mood and this is easily the weakest full song on the album. I don't mind softer parts of they are still entertaining, but this song is a snoozefest, not even a hint of heaviness! The next track is the longest at almost thirteen minutes and it's called "Home".
Story: we learn more about Julian and how his addictions to cocaine and gambling drive Victoria away from him. Edward swoops in and seduces Victoria after the break-up, despite feeling guilty hiding it from his brother.
Music: the first two minutes are a quiet but interesting intro with what sounds like some sitar giving things a bit of an Eastern feel. This builds and morphs nicely into a heavy new riff with some catchy guitar and this takes us finally to the first verse where LaBrie sings nicely overtop some cool guitar and drums. Petrucci plays some great stuff in the lead-up to the chorus and the chorus is pretty catchy with LaBrie sounding solid. Myung's bass is solid in the background along with Rudess's keyboards while Portnoy continues to play some great drums and Petrucci leads the way with some typically cool guitar. There's a weird part with sex noises in the background that is relevant to the story but not great to listen to. Rudess emerges out of nowhere with a fantastic keyboard solo and Petrucci nicely follows with a great guitar solo. After solo time they play a final chorus and then seem to end things as they began with the cool heavy riff from earlier, but things change direction for the last minute-plus as Petrucci leads us in a new direction with some pretty awesome guitar. It's a pretty fun way to finish things off and the elic finale leads right into track 9 "The Dance Of Eternity".
Story: none, song is instrumental.
Music: Myung plays a great bass riff that is so low and from there words can't properly describe how well and how awesome they build it up. There are no vocals, but the other four members are all at the top of their game on this one with bits and pieces of awesomeness on bass, drums, keyboards and guitar. I couldn't possibly write about all the awesome parts in this song, there are so fucking many! Rudess's old time-y piano solo sounds pretty wicked, but so does just about everything else! What a phenomenal song! The end leads right into "One Last Time".
Story: Nicholas believes he has solved it: Julian pleaded for Victoria to take him back, but when she chose Edward, he killed them both and made himself out as the "witness".
Music: Rudess plays some pretty solid piano to start before LaBrie leads a fairly simple verse. The chorus is pretty sappy and not their best but Petrucci follows it with a cool guitar solo and the following riff is still light but it's much more interesting with some cool keyboards. Rudess ends things on a nice note and his piano continues into track 11 "The Spirit Carries On".
Story: Nicholas says goodbye to Victoria and feels at ease with life and death.
Music: this is also a pretty sappy song with Rudess playing some decent but very sappy piano and LaBrie tries to be all emotional, and it's just not my thing. The second go through has some light acoustic guitar and that doesn't really help. Petrucci does play a long guitar solo and while it starts pretty sappy he plays some cool stuff by the end. Portnoy plays all kinds of solid fills and I like LaBrie's final verse and chorus where he's just being himself. The female vocals sound better on this track than the last one as they jam things out and Rudess wraps things up nicely. The final track on this album is "Finally Free".
Story: Nicholas hypnotherapy session ends and we finally learn the truth: Edward wished for more than just an affair, but when Victoria reconciled with Julian, Edward kills them both and it is he who is the "witness". Nicholas is followed home by his therapist (who it turns out was Edward in his past life), who proceeds to kill Nicholas to complete the cycle again.
Music: the therapist brings us out of the session as Petrucci plays some cool light guitar and Rudess adds some epic keyboards. It sounds like a haunting movie soundtrack as Rudess plays some wonderfully epic stuff that leads into some cool piano for the verse. LaBrie sings a nice verse to match the mood as Rudess leads the way with lots of solid piano. The rest of the guys join in and make things a bit louder and after another verse and chorus they move into a new riff that is the background as we actually hear Edward murder Julian, and then say "open your eyes Victoria", before firing off two more shots. After this scene ends things move really smoothly into a reprise of "One Last Time"! After this chorus Petrucci takes us to a new part where LaBrie sings a solid new verse. Things drop off and return to the quiet opening riff, but they quickly return to the loud and epic chorus. They jam out the ending with a repetitive but solid riff and Portnoy delivers a ton of great drums during this long fadeout. Eventually the music stops and we hear Nicholas get out of his car and enter his house with the TV already on. After a bit of news he turns the TV off, pours himself a drink, and then we hear some horns, sounds like a tuba maybe? The therapist suddenly says "open your eyes Nicholas", we hear Nicholas give a startled gasp, and then we hear static until the end of the album...
That is the end of "Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory" and I thought it was an absolutely phenomenal album. The way they tell this amazing story while still delivering some amazing music is really quite something. Every Dream Theater album has a couple sappy songs, and this one was no different, but the rest of the album was pretty freaking awesome. I think this blows their last and their debut album out of the water and it's way better than "Awake" as well. "Images And Words" is a great album in it's own right, but I think this newest album is so complete and amazing that it easily takes top spot for me. After the low of "Falling Into Infinity", this is a pretty awesome high! Keep it coming Rudess-era Dream Theater!
Comments
Post a Comment