Dream Theater was almost aggressively out of fashion in 1999. Few bands subscribed to their dense blend of progressive rock and post-
Halen metal, and those that did usually didn't have major-label contracts, the way
Dream Theater did. There was a point where they tried to straighten out their sound somewhat as they flirted with straight-ahead, laid-back metal on 1997's
Falling Into Infinity, but with its 1999 studio sequel,
Scenes from a Memory,
Dream Theater delves straight into old-fashioned prog rock.
Scenes from a Memory is an unabashed concept album told in two acts, about the 1928 murder of a young woman and how a modern man is haunted by the crime. A convoluted, difficult tale is told in a convoluted, difficult fashion, with no less than four tracks clocking in at well over ten minutes and three others ranging from 6:30 to 8:50. Clearly, this is intended as some sort of masterwork, and what's remarkable is that
Dream Theater comes close to creating just that with
Scenes from a Memory. The album plays more like a suite than a collection of individual songs. At times, that means the album can bog down slightly in its own flights of fancy and long instrumental sections, but concentrated listens reveal the intricacies of the song structures and the musicianship. Occasionally, it can seem as if
James LaBrie oversings, but that's a minor point: the overall, end result of the album is quite impressive indeed. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine