Artist: Dream Theater
Label: Elektra
Release Date: 10/26/99
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Title: Metropolis Part II: Scenes From a Memory Artist: Dream Theater Label: Elektra Release Date: 10/26/99 |
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Abyss's Review:
O.K. going into this review, I must admit I've never really understood the whole Dream Theater thing. I've never liked them. This, their latest prog-fest, is the first time I've had the opportunity (well actually I'm being forced) to give them anything more than a cursory listen. I have heard their older material before, but it obviously didn't grab me enough for me to acquaint myself further with this band. My musician friends have always asked me how it was possible for me not to be blown away by the sheer ability with which these guys play. I'm not surprised to hear some impressive playing on this album, what I am a little surprised at is how little I care. To me, this album has basically two types of sounds, the heavier portions sound like a bad Saigon Kick, and the sappy ballads sound like a bad Richard Marx. If you are a fan of this band you may want to stop reading this review now because you aren't going to want to hear the rest of the stuff I have to say. I honestly have never heard a band try so hard to make radio friendly ballads and fail so miserably. This is a band that couldn't sell out if it wanted to, the songs just don't have any hook. What I said about Richard Marx before is not an exaggeration; worse still is that Richard Marx is actually much better than the syrupy pap that takes up a good portion of this album. I'm a little surprised about all of the hype I've heard about their lead singer from people who are devoted followers of such legends as Halford, Dickenson, and Tate. In all honestly I don't think Mr. LaBrie lives up to those aspirations at all, in fact it doesn't sound as if he's even really trying to. I guess the best part of the album is the crystal-clear production. You can hear every aspect of their multi-layered sound quite well, the problem is that you probably won't want to. The best song on the album is most likely "Home" which goes much further than its peers when it comes to hook. "Overture 1928/Strange Deja Vu", I guess, is also not completely without some amount of memorability, but these songs are far from strong enough to carry an album. Another thing I hate about this album is the lyrics. I normally don't even pay attention to lyrics, but there is so much soft stuff on this disc that you can't really miss them. They sound like the crappy love poetry I used to use when I was 16 and trying to get a girl into bed. I wasn't good then, and these guys ain't good at it now. I never review an album without giving it ample time in my CD player, but after the first run through of this CD, I was literally dreading listening to it again. But I did endure (the things I go through for you people), and it did sound slightly better the second time around, in all honesty. The first time through it can be used to induce vomiting, the second time it only causes nausea. Just as I was about done with this CD there was a moment when the annoying music I was listening to stopped, and a brutal, low-throbbing sound started entering my ears, but just when I thought there might be hope for this album, I realized that it was just my CD skipping.
"The lyrics sound like the crappy love poetry I used to use when I was 16 and trying to get a girl into bed."
Death's Review:
"The boldest artistic statement in their fifteen-year history," the promotional sticker screamed from outside the album's packaging as I unwrapped the plastic and put the CD in the player. Such hyperbole was not surprising to me. I had heard rumors that this album was somewhat of a return to form for Dream Theater and was fully prepared for a great record. But after hearing the album for myself, I can now honestly say to you that the sticker is an incredible understatement. Dream Theater has delivered the best album of 1999. In fact, this one's for the ages.
Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From a Memory is a work of mastery, stunning virtuosity, beauty and passion. If intricacy, complexity, technicality, or musicality are your forte, no finer example of progressive metallic wizardy is available on record. If drama, theatrics, dymnamics, or introspection are more your speed, you will immerse yourself in the twisting plot. And if pure metallic mayhem is what you're after, you'll be banging your head to your heart's delight to an abundance of double bass drum pounding, distored and downtuned riffing, and searingly prominent guitar solos. For those of you who haven't yet heard it, it is my pleasure to be your guide to metal's newest all-time classic. For those who have, let us now together revel in the glory of this undeniable masterpiece.
"Dream Theater has delivered the best album of 1999. In fact, this one's for the ages." Metropolis 2 is a concept album. "Metropolis Part I: The Miracle and The Sleeper" is, for the uninitiated, a fantastically epic track from 1992's Images and Words. However, it was not until last week that people caught wind of the tightly guarded secret that this new Dream Theater album was going to be the sequel. While the lyrics to "Part I" were, at the time, pretty much impossible to make any sense of, the idea of a Dream Theater concept album was nevertheless tantalizing.
The album delivers on that promise, sparing no bombast or pretension. Part 2 is as ambitious as Operation: Mindcrime, and perhaps only an accompanying film short of The Wall or Quadrophenia. Comparisons to those rock classics are by no means unwarranted. After one listen to Part 2, they are impossible to really deny.
"Scenes From a Memory is a work of mastery, stunning virtuosity, beauty and passion." In the metal gnere, there is no universally accepted list of concept classics. Beyond Mindcrime, the leaders are unclear. To be sure, Savatage's Streets: A Rock Opera, W.A.S.P.'s The Crimson Idol, and Fates Warning's A Pleasant Shade of Grey belong somewhere on this list. Early returns on Part 2 show it may top them all.
The album begins with the soothingly solitary brittish accent of The Hypnotist, slowly lulling the listener, or main character, Nicholas, to sleep. The mood blends into a lonely Pink Floydian strumming of a distant lyric, as Nicholas begins his journey back to his past life. "Hello Victoria, so glad to see you, my friend."
"Overture 1928" shreds. The intro riff is very Mindcrime-era Queensryche, quickly moving into classic Dream Theater jamming. But this isn't the Dream Theater of the recent Falling Into Infinity lite-rock delivery. This is Images and Words type DT, with killer John Petrucci guitar and Jordan Rudess keyboard solos over incessently melodic but metallic riffing. This is good shit.
The next track, "Strange Deja Vu," kicks ass. Catchy as hell, but metal too. Think Queensryche's "NM 156" combined with "Pull Me Under." The song tells the tale of Nicholas' vision of Victoria and related past memories. By the time the song moves back to the Nicholas-present, the blues-based clean Dregs-esq riffing raises things to a new level while still benefitting from a smooth transition. The songwriting throughout is just outstanding, particularly in light of the complexity of the music.
"The songwriting throughout is just outstanding, particularly in light of the complexity of the music." Beyond the chaos, we move to the distance of the piano intro "Through My Words," which quickly and seamlessly becomes "Fatal Tradgedy," one of Part 2's more metallic moments. Filled with the downtuned artificial harmonic riffing last favored on the band's underrated Awake, the track rocks with riffs, guitar tricks, double-bass parts and keyboard dissonance. If you doubt that Dream Theater is metal, if you doubt that Mike Portnoy could drum for Testament or Slayer, check out the last half of this track. And if you doubt that Petrucci shreds like Dimebag Darrell on Cowboys From Hell crossed with Rising Force era Yngwie, you will never doubt again after you've heard this brutal masterpiece of musical beauty. "Now it is time to see how you die."
Or better yet, listen to "Beyond this Life," which immediately follows. Emperor or Dream Theater? You decide. But seriously, the speed of the clearly thrash-style drumbeat fits perfectly with the lyrical discovery of the plot's central crime. The acoustic guitar that becomes the same riff towards the middle makes for the perfect bed on which to shred. Dream Theater are artists who ROCK, and ROCK hard. And who like metal. My appollogies to Fates Warning, but never before has a band this individually talented chosen to rock this hard. LaBrie sounds killer here. He finsihes sounding like something from a Yes album before the in-your-face instrumental fury of the final riffing sequence. Kansas, Genesis, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple all would be proud. Each would be smoked by Dream Theater's metallic intensity.
Things get a bit overwrought with the intro to "Through Her Eyes," sounding like a forced cross between The Dark Side of the Moon's gospel vocals and Eric Clapton's guitar noodling on Roger Water's The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking. Nice try, though. Anyway, beyond LaBrie's yearning vocals on this one, the true star is John Myung's classy fretless bass work.
"Never before has a band this individually talented chosen to rock this hard." "Home" kicks off Act II, and as an almost "Space Died Vest" type distance summons the listener to accept the mild sitar strumming, which builds the tension over the Tool-like bass line, played at the outset of the track. The heavily effect-laden, wah-wah, middle-eastern riffing kicks in soon enough, and is so decidedly metal it makes asking the question a bit ridiculous. Hearing Protnoy hold back for the sake of the power of the 4/4 beat shows the importance of restraint in rock drumming better than anything else I've heard in some time. And while several tracks on Part 2 quote liberally from musical passages of the original "Metropolis," this one has lyrical references throught. "Lakes of fire," "Scenes from memories," and "new love that's born for each one that has died," (the last likely being the best ten word summation of the Part 2 plot I can muster) are all here. And the ending riffs just rip with technical metallic progressive mastery. One of the album's highlight's, and in some ways a mini thematic climax. Intense.
"The Dance of Eternity" is very much in the Dream Theater tradition. Heavy, jammy. Very Images and Words, only seemingly more focused. The old-time piano rag, or whatever you would call the breakdown in there (you know the part if you've heard the album), is totally smooth and fits perfectly. And I don't even want to know what Myung is doing to make his bass move as quickly as he does during his breaks on this track. Sick ass shit.
"One Last Time" is a typical piano/ gutiar ballad, albiet with an aggressive Petrucci lead. But herein lies the lyrical plot twist that adds necessary dimension to the story and plot. "In spite of the evidence, there's still something missing . . . ."
"I don't even want to know what Myung is doing to make his bass move as quickly as he does." "The Spirit Carries On" screams Roger Waters. This is not necessarily a bad thing. An album of this scope needs climactic moments like these. A simple, hopeful, thematic summation. For all you Savatage fans out there, this one is the "Believe." For all you Who fans, your "Love Reign O'er Me." Good song.
Which brings us to the end, to "Finally Free." We return to the Hypnotist, who raises us from our hypnotic slumber and eases us back into the present. The terrible plot truth is revealed admist dramatic Jordan Rudess stylings worthy of a movie soundtrack. LaBrie digs deep, and delivers the pain of the Miracle, the innocencee of Victoria, the discovery of the Sleeper. Nicholas, it seems, has "finally broke free." And the memories come rushing back in full aural color, returning the listener to the gruesome scene with a greater understanding of what took place that fateful day.
"Dream Theater takes a bold dive back toward unquestioned integrity and credibility." The album ends with a dramatic denouement which, like any good sequel, leaves the listener questioning the finality of the tale. And with that, the best album of 1999 comes to a close. I hope some of you readers will take my word for it and immerse yourself in this artistic masterpiece. I know I'll be obsessed for weeks to come. So much to digest. High praise must therefore go out to Dream Theater, who takes a bold dive back toward unquestioned integrity and credibility with their latest release. I can only hope the record achieves the acclaim it so richly deserves.
Hel's Review:
They actually did it at long last. The appearance of the killer song, "Metropolis-Part I: The Miracle and the Sleeper" on Images and Words set their fans on fire and has been on the top of fans' list of songs they want to hear played live ever since. For the last 7 years, we've been wondering, "What ever happened to Part 2?" Who would have guessed it'd be a full album?!
Dream Theater, until now, had been number one on my list of "Bands that need to put out a concept album". Now that they finally have, I, for one, am thrilled. The story is not as hit-you-in-the-head obvious as Queensryche's Operation: Mindcrime, nor as it-is-whatever-you-think-it-is vague as Nevermore's Dreaming Neon Black. It's somewhere in between. And definitely just as good as either of the forementioned albums.
"There's nothing poorly executed on this album." I'm not going into the story. Enough of it is obvious that I don't need to bother telling it to you. The rest of it is vague enough that I'm sure you'd disagree with whatever I say. Leave it to Dream Theater to come up with a concept as complex as their music.
The music. There are pieces from "Metropolis I" all over the place. A riff or melody in this song, a lyric in that one. I have always been a huge fan of musicians/authors dropping bits and pieces of their other works into their newest ones, so this is like the album of my dreams! Not to mention how smoothly the album comes back around to where it started from. A story beginning and ending at the same point or in the same way has always been one of my favorite techniques, and it is often poorly executed. There's nothing poorly executed on this album.
"It's the kind of album you could talk about forever." It's the kind of album you could talk about forever. Everything's complex, so no matter what aspect you pick, there's plenty more to dissect when you're done. Is it metal? Not every note, sure, but there are tons of places where, if you were listening with me, I would turn to you and say, "that's fucking METAL!"
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