Raising the Curtain on Dream Theater's "Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory": Prog Review #29
Dream Theater: Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory
Speaking of very long albums, we have Dream Theater's Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory (1999).
In my last review, I shared my mixed feeling on the proliferation of albums longer than 45-minutes in the 90s made possible by CDs. Length is not a problem of quality, but rather of exhaustion. If you're someone who likes to listen to albums, not just songs, then the total construction of the album matters. Stick a great song 50 minutes in, and many listeners may not be responsive, leaving a hidden gem that only the most ardent fans will appreciate.
Worth the Effort
But if you're reading these reviews, you probably enjoy prog. A part of that fandom is wanting to immerse yourself into an album experience: the longer and denser, the better. I may find the individual tracks on Dark Side of the Moon (1973) largely uninteresting, but I remain impressed with the quality of production, including the way the songs tie into each other. Its appeal is as an album rather than as a collection of songs, and it of course set the bar high for every concept album since.
To me, a concept album needs a few things to be great. Lyrical continuity more-or-less defines the concept album, but I like there to be overt musical connections, like repeated themes, or at least seamless transitions from track to track.
Metropolis Pt. 2 (1999) does all this incredibly well.
Sometimes, the riffs and melodies are a little too similar, but, again, in the context of the album, this works out pretty well. Besides, there are enough left turns to keep things interesting, like the little bits of synth horns and xylophone in "Beyond This Life" or the exquisite sentimental balladry of "Through Her Eyes".
Dream Theater is metal-adjacent. They're considered prog-metal, but their sound is hardly any heavier than 90s alternative, at least on this disc. That metal label caused me to stay away from the band for a long time. Unfortunate because if I had listened to this album in 1999, it would probably be one of my favourites now. My oft discussed newfound interest in metal—largely power metal and Iron Maiden, I'm finding—precedes my discovery of Metropolis Pt. 2, and the album has cemented it.
The appeal of power metal is often the same as Dream Theater's: the over-the-top sense of epic urgency is matched by elaborate guitar solos and dramatic rhythms. Dream Theater makes it very clear from their name that theatricality is their game. Metropolis Pt. 2 was their first concept album, and they went all out by making the album akin to a musical or opera. Each track is labelled as a scene, and the album tells a coherent narrative.
The disc tells the story of Nicholas, who has had recurring dreams or memories about a woman, Victoria, who was murdered, presumably 70 years earlier in 1928, based on the title of the second track. With the help of a hypnotherapist and his own research, Nicholas uncovers the truth about the murder. The details are not that interesting: it's a love triangle double murder thing. Along the way, Nicholas comes to understand that he shares Victoria's memories because he is her reincarnation. His mind at ease after his session with the therapist, Nicholas returns home. The twist comes when Nicholas is killed by the therapist, who is the reincarnated murderer.
There's a house I'm drawn to . . / There's a room at the top of the stairs / Every night I'm drawn up there. -”Strange Déjà Vu”
The story isn't that complicated, so it forms a somewhat coherent story that plays out in a discernible way track to track. It's well written though, and I love the dramatic irony of the penultimate song when Nicholas sings, "if I die tomorrow, I'd be all right because I believe that after we're gone, the spirit carries on." He dies that evening, in fact. If you put the album on repeat, the lyrics of the opening track are not Nicholas regressing into memory, but him greeting Victoria in the afterlife or some such place. This is clever writing.
Metropolis Pt. 2 is also interesting in comparison to concept albums from the classic prog era. The album's themes are intensely individualistic while trading on spiritualistic, new age ideas that, to me, seem particular to the millennial era. Consider by contrast the dystopian milieu of Rush's 2112 (1976) or ELP's "Karn Evil" suite (1973) that explore the decline of the human spirit through the absence and excesses, respectively, of artistic expression. In 2112, the hero's journey is a conduit for an indictment of the society, rather than an exploration of his personal development. There's also the political allegories of albums like Pink Floyd's Animals (1977) that confront immediate social ills on a broad scale.
There's a turn here in the 90s away from 70s themes: the 90s prefer the individual over the communal, the personal over the political, spiritual meditations on the self over sweeping pronouncements on the ills of society. Like Deloused in the Comatorium (2003), Metropolis Pt. 2 is more-or-less a psychodrama, exploring the emotions and sensations of an individual confronting the uncanny. Little happens, really, to the protagonists, but they see and experience quite a bit. Interest comes from their emotional journey, how they engage with what they discover. Both Nicholas and Cerpin Taxt die at the end of the albums as well. The stories begin and end with the life of the protagonists.
The closest we can get to these kinds of intense solipsistic psychological experiences in the 70s is Genesis. Rael's dreamy perambulations in The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) are like Metropolis Pt 2. and Deloused, though inflected much more with 70s Alice-In-Wonderland-inspired psychedelia and a general disregard for coherence and internal logic.
Dream Theater's baroque interest in love triangles and spiritual rebirth is consistent with the more inward turn of thinking in the 90s, when many of the social evils and existential threats of the cold war era seemed like only a memory. The themes of those 70s concept albums returned in a big way after 9/11, though, notably on Green Day's intensely political American Idiot (2004) and Bad Religion’s The Empire Strikes First (2004).
Metropolis Pt. 2's concept stands above all these others in terms of its narrative: it's crafted with a clear sense of direction and purpose. I'm surprised at how coherent a concept album can be when it's actually listener focused and not a vague rendering of the writers' idiosyncratic experiences. This is a rare thing for prog bands if Rolling Stone's top 50 is any indication.
If I die tomorrow / I'd be alright / Because I believe / That after we're gone / The spirit carries on/ - “The Spirit Carries On”
What About the Music?
The music on Metropolis Pt. 2. album cleverly mirrors the tone of the story. Amidst the tale of past-life hauntings, jealousy, addiction, lies, and murder, there is an underlying optimism about how individual experiences transcend the physical plane, how death is never the end but a new beginning. The tunes play along with these themes. Although the album starts with some calming dialogues and a dreamy acoustic intro, the immediate impact most of the time is from the chugging riffs, noodling guitar, and pounding beats. But there are many softer interludes, like the chorus on "Beyond This Life" and parts of "The Spirit Carries On" where the instruments lose their harsh tones as the lyrics turn to those hopeful themes. The short ragtime interlude and the bass solo on "Dance of Eternity" participate in this as well, adding whimsy to the tumultuous instrumental piece.
Prog makes repeated close listening essential to appreciation almost as a matter of definition, and Metropolis Pt. 2 is not any different. But where I've had a lot of difficulty finding enjoyment in modern prog, Dream Theater makes it pretty easy after just a couple listens. The frequent returns to lyrical and musical themes is a large part of that, and it may be that as a band that took off around the same time as many of my favourite bands, Dream Theater just taps into the same kinds of sounds and production that has been familiar to me since my earliest days as a music fan.
Histrionic, emotional, deeply serious, optimistically spiritual, Metropolis Pt. 2 is so much of what I'm not, and therefore so much of what I love in the music I listen to.
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
Rush - Moving Pictures
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Yes – Close to the Edge
Genesis - Selling England by the Pound
Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick
Can - Future Days
Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Yes - Fragile
Rush - Hemispheres
ELP - Brain Salad Surgery
Pink Floyd - Animals
Genesis - Foxtrot
King Crimson - Red
Gentle Giant - Octopus
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells
Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All
Premiata Forneria Marconi - Per Un Amico
King Crimson - Larks’ Tongue in Aspic
Camel - Mirage
Rush - 2112
Tangerine Dream - Phaedra
Magma - Mëkanïk Dëstruktïẁ Kömmandöh
The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium
Van Der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts
Supertramp - Crime of the Century
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Dream Theater - Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory
Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Supertramp - Crime of the Century
Genesis - Foxtrot
Camel - Mirage
Yes – Close to the Edge
King Crimson - Red
Gentle Giant - Octopus
Dream Theater - Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory
Genesis - Selling England by the Pound
Rush - 2112
Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick
ELP - Brain Salad Surgery
Rush - Moving Pictures
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
The Mars Volta - Deloused in the Comatorium
Premiata Forneria Marconi - Per Un Amico
King Crimson - Larks’ Tongue in Aspic
Pink Floyd - Animals
Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All
Yes - Fragile
Rush - Hemispheres
Tangerine Dream - Phaedra
Magma - Mëkanïk Dëstruktïẁ Kömmandöh
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Can - Future Days
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells
Van Der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts
Opeth - Blackwater Park
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here