DREAM THEATER

(UNITED STATES)

SCENES FROM A MEMORY

(1999)
LABEL:

WARNER

GENRE:

PROGRESSIVE METAL

TAGS:
Concept-album, High-pitched vocals, Opera-Rock, Technical
""Scenes From A Memory" is simply one of the best progressive albums of the decade !"
TORPEDO (29.08.2003)  
5/5
(0) opinions (0) comment(s) (1) Biography
"Scenes From A Memory" is already the seventh album of Dream Theater (DT), a band eminently known on the progressive scene, which must be the only one in the genre to fill concert halls like the Zenith in France. 

For this opus, the team is the same, except for keyboard player Jordan Rudess replacing Derek Sherinian. As far as form is concerned, DT has decided this time to make original and release its first concept album. As a reminder, a concept album is an album that tells a complete story, the tracks can be compared to chapters in a book. And the concept of "Scenes From A Memory" like Queensryche's "operation mindcrime" is not an obscure story that is difficult to understand as some bands tend to do but an exciting adventure, a thriller more precisely, with a plot, twists and turns and a final outcome. To sum up the epilogue: a man having strange and redundant macabre dreams decides to go to a hypnotist to seek answers in his subconscious. Alluring, isn't it?

When you know that the music is perfectly modelled on the wefts of a David Lynch, you will probably be running for a copy of this prodigious album, which in my opinion represents one of the most accomplished musical works I have ever heard. 

From the first bars, the listener is immediately and skillfully caught by the hypnotist and his countdown starting the flight of the spirit of the main character into the meanders of his subconscious. And everything is accelerating.... Powerful riffs, total osmosis between melodies and lyrics, an imperial interpretation, an irreproachable technique mixing harmonies and thundering progressive passages and this for all instruments.

Roughness, gentleness, violence, regret, liberation, multiple and varied inspirations going to draw in different folklore and always based on the same theme will lead the listener to become an actor to go through all the steps leading to the truth.

Describing in detail the metal that DT proposes on this album would be a challenge. But if the music is exceptional, the contribution of lyrics sometimes accompanied by (essential) sound effects will lead many to the following conclusion: Scenes From A Memory is simply one of the best albums of the decade.
- Official website

TRACK LISTING:
01. Regression - 2:07
02. Overture 1928 - 3:37
03. Strange Deja Vu - 5:12
04. Through My Words - 1:01
05. Fatal Tragedy - 6:49
06. Beyond This Life - 11:23
07. Through Her Eyes - 5:28
08. Home - 12:53
09. The Dance Of Eternity - 6:13
10. One Last Time - 3:46
11. The Spirit Carries On - 6:38
12. Finally Free - 12:00

LINEUP:
James Labrie: Chant
John Myung: Basse
John Petrucci: Guitares
Jordan Rudess: Claviers
Mike Portnoy: Batterie
   
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READERS
4.8/5 (32 view(s))
STAFF:
4.9/5 (21 view(s))
MY RATING
 
LAST NEWS
DREAM THEATER: New album in February 2025
LAST INTERVIEW
DREAM THEATER ( FEBRUARY 2019)
For the release of "Wired Of Madness", Jordan Rudess' new album, the keyboard player talked with Music Waves about "Distance Over Time" by Dream Theater
 
OTHER REVIEWS
DREAM THEATER: Falling Into Infinity (1997)
PROGRESSIVE METAL - Despite its commercial label, "Falling Into Infinity" is an excellent album and once again presents DT in a new light, more rock, more open, more accessible.
EVERON: Fantasma (2000)
PROGRESSIVE METAL - Between progressive metal and neo-progressive rock, "Fantasma" proves to be a very endearing album.
 
 
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