DREAM THEATER — Metropolis, Part 2: Scenes From a Memory (review)

DREAM THEATER — Metropolis, Part 2: Scenes From a Memory album cover Album · 1999 · Progressive Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
Warthur
Dream Theater make something of a comeback on Metropolis Part II: Scenes From a Memory, which also sees Jordan Rudess join the band on keyboards. With three quarters of Liquid Tension Experiment onboard, you expect a certain level of technical flashiness, and this used to turn me off of the album, since I thought they took their technicality a little too far and indulged in showing off for the sake of showing off.

However, on relistening to and gaining a new appreciation of Dream Theater's back catalogue, I'm happy to admit I was wrong: in fact, Dream Theater have a fantastic knack for making sure their technical playing always serves a purpose in reinforcing the tone of the story or the individual songs and conveying emotion through them.

Another thing which had previously annoyed me was some of the religious perspectives explored through the lyrics and overall plot, with The Spirit Carries On typically annoying me. I freely admit that this might be a side effect of the darker side of this multi-incarnational cosmic murder mystery evading me on previous listens, which lends a certain irony to that song which counterbalances some of its sappier implications.

Possibly I have simply gained more appreciation of the theatrical in music, because this is very much a narrative concept album with all that implies - but whilst many such albums end up compromising the music in order to serve the needs of the narrative, here Dream Theater do a fantastic job of allowing the narrative and music to mutually support each other without either needing to compromise. Given how many other narrative concept albums have struggled with this in the past, that's a major achievement.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Le bannissement Atmospheric Black Metal
CANTIQUE LÉPREUX
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tarantula Heart Sludge Metal
MELVINS
Buy this album from MMA partners
God Damned You To Hell Traditional Doom Metal
FRIENDS OF HELL
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Absence Melodic Death Metal
THE ABSENCE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Unextinct Technical Death Metal
HIDEOUS DIVINITY
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Fallen Ashes - Wage War (Official Lyric Video)
FALLEN ASHES
Bosh66· 7 days ago
EXISTENTIAL DEAD - Unreality (Single) 2024
EXISTENTIAL DEAD
Bosh66· 7 days ago
EXISTENTIAL DEAD - Cold Hands
EXISTENTIAL DEAD
Bosh66· 7 days ago
IRON MONKEY - Misanthropizer (Official Music Video)
IRON MONKEY
Bosh66· 10 days ago
??? (Losing ART) - "????" (Official Music Video) [HD]
漂浮者樂團
Bosh66· 10 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed