Review by Xephyr for Dream Theater - Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory (1999)

Re-examining the Metropolitan Mecca

As I return to Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory, it's apparent that I'm bound to come at it from a more personal rather than analytical angle. I could break down the songwriting and album themes as much as the next person, but this album was such a massive part of my early experience with Metal and, more so, the “full album experience” that it feels like a disservice to myself to not indulge a bit. While I have a lot of fond memories with this release, it's incredible realizing how far I've come when it comes to the breadth of metal I listen to nowadays. Dream Theater used to blow me away with their massive song compositions and technical playing, and while they still kind of do, I'm definitely less enamored than I once was.

Reentering the Dream Theater fray after years of listening to increasingly heavy and technical metal albums has given me a new perspective on what Dream Theater are great at but, more importantly, what they struggle with. Scenes From A Memory is easily Dream Theater's most ambitious project made in their classic style, which has to be said since The Astonishing is something I just can't get behind. Although they were always writing extended pieces by Metal standards, 1995’s Change of Seasons was the beginning of their now expected 20 minute or longer epics. Fast forward to 1999 and Scenes From a Memory ups the ante to be triple that length to attempt to tell a story filled with all sorts of twists and turns. Somewhat confusingly, the album has a similar setting and follows similar characters as "Metropolis – Part I ‘The Miracle and the Sleeper’" off of 1992’s Images and Words, but the characters and their roles are completely different. Despite not entirely being a direct sequel, Scenes From a Memory manages to crank the storytelling, songwriting, and overall theatrics up a few notches.

Said storytelling, though, is a bit rougher around the edges than I remember. I never considered Dream Theater to be particularly lyrically competent, but the attempted plot of the album really sheds some light on how important solid lyrical flow and word usage can be. Most of the exposition and events throughout the album are explained in dry, exact detail to the listener, leading to some seriously awkward deliveries on LaBrie's part. "Fatal Tragedy", "Beyond This Life", and “One Last Time” are especially guilty as the passages where it's being explained precisely what Nicholas is doing are not only clunky but also straight up bewildering sometimes. Interestingly, though, "Deja Vu" and "Finally Free" are much better examples of this storytelling style, so they obviously know how to do it well enough, just not consistently. Despite those two stronger tracks the plot itself is admittedly all over the place, even though the overarching point of the story is fairly concise. In short, the protagonist (Nicholas) is haunted by dreams of himself in a past life (Victoria) and, in figuring out the mystery of her death, is killed by the same murderer in their current life (the hypnotherapist). While this is perplexing in its own right to first time listeners, the many perspective changes and codenames like "The Miracle" and "The Sleeper" make it unreasonably difficult to follow, especially in “Home”. Since the album only has one vocalist with LaBrie, he attempts to shift perspectives by shifting his vocal tone, with Victoria having a higher, more airy tone. It sort of works, but thanks to the middling split between groan-inducing, explicit exposition and randomly confusing plot twists, it can become a mess within the tracks mentioned before.

The songwriting, however, is easily some of Dream Theater's best and most varied, bordering on eccentric at times. "Home" contains one of my favorite opening riffs of theirs and "Overture 1918" plus "The Dance of Eternity" make up two of the most impressive instrumentals of their career. The catchy choruses of "Deja Vu" and "Finally Free" help to round out all the frantic tempo and time signature changes and keep things grounded, but I truly forgot how many ballads there are in this thing. "The Spirit Carries On" is the singalong cult classic, but when you add in "Regression", "Through My Words", "One Last Time", and "Through Her Eyes" it quickly becomes a bigger part of the album than I remember. Revisiting “The Spirit Carries On” garnered more respect for Dream Theater’s songwriting as it’s a fantastic portion of the plot right before the ending twist, but it still feels a bit too on the nose and pandering with its power ballad structure. Despite that, the flow of the album is still unparalleled and remains the highlight of Scenes From a Memory, with the twists and transitions sucking the listener in from the very beginning. I've gone back and forth over the years about LaBrie's vocals, and I have to admit that while I enjoy him less on the schlocky ballads, his skill and delivery still shines through on the album's more Metal highlights. The rest of the band put their best foot forward as always, with everything sounding very tight and inspired; not to mention the incredible bass run on "Dance of Eternity".

I'm not entirely sure what I expected revisiting this childhood album of mine, but I'm definitely more conflicted than I thought I'd be. I still get a ton of enjoyment out of it but, now more than ever, I see the cracks in Dream Theater's armor that slowly but surely pushed me towards other styles and subgenres of Metal. Somehow more than ever in this review I’ve found that it’s easy to criticize something you’re so close to, having spent many hours throughout the years with this album. It’s been a useful exercise to pinpoint attributes in albums I grew up with that may miss the mark here and there, but I still end up coming to the conclusion that this album is still amazing and one of the best concept albums Progressive Metal has ever seen. Scenes From a Memory has a tangible aura of completeness; “Overture 1928” sets up so many melodies that are utilized later in the album and the rapid-fire transitions between these melodies and between songs flow perfectly and keep the story and music pushing forward at a breakneck pace. This flow comes from Dream Theater being adept at morphing main themes into interesting variations and tangents that are complex and jagged but manage to feel smooth and correctly placed. The normally pesky but signature Dream Theater keyboard leads are soaring and integral to some of my favorite transitions, including between “Fatal Tragedy” and “Beyond This Life” and also between “The Dance of Eternity” and “One Last Time”. These seemingly small moments add up to a fulfilling whole, especially since they’re extremely memorable and just as satisfying to me as they were over ten years ago. Despite the occasionally inane way Scenes From a Memory goes about its storytelling, “Finally Free” is one of the best concept album closers I’ve heard with its distinctly eerie atmosphere and numerous callbacks to previous songs. While I don’t think that Scenes From a Memory is Dream Theater at their absolute best through and through, it undeniably showcases them at their most comfortable and creative as each band member is given ample room through the runtime to shine brightly. Regardless of how critical I become towards this album over the years, I still think it stands in a league of its own when it comes to Progressive Metal concept albums, with very few bands being able to capture the same spark and captivation that Scenes From a Memory did for me.