WHEN OPERA MEETS METAL ROCK

Hi guys, how are you? Francesco C. here! Do you remember my last post? I told you about my favourite kind of music and today I’d like to follow up and talk about one of my favourite albums, “Metropolis Pt.2: Scenes from a memory” by Dream Theater.

Who are the “Dream Theater”?

As I said in a previous post, they’re one of my favourite bands. They’re a progressive metal band from the US, they started in 1985 in Boston. They have changed some members during their career, but the most important ones are John Petrucci (the guitarist), Myke Portnoy (the drummer) and John Myung. In all these years they’ve made 23 albums.

  

What is a rock opera?

“Metropolis Pt.2: Scenes from a memory” was released on the 26th October 1999. The album is composed by 12 songs and it lasts 77 minutes. It is considered a rock opera, a collection of different rock songs forming a story all together, just like an opera. But in the rock opera there aren’t actors or narrators because the writers let the music speak for them. Another band I listened to who make rock operas are The Avantasia. The album is divided into acts two\, just like operas.

The plot

 “Metropolis Pt.2: Scenes from a memory”  is about a man, Nicholas, who goes to an hypnotherapist. While , hypnotized, he dreams to be a woman called  Victoria in 1928. He finds out more about the girl: Victoria killed herself! But in another of his “dreams” Nicholas finds out that the girl was murdered by Edward Baynes, her lover. After that, Nicholas is sure of being the reincarnation of Victoria’s soul and he returns cheerful to his home. During the last song of the album, the listener finds out that the hypnotherapist is Edward’s reincarnation and he finally kills Nicholas.

I personally love this album. I don’t know why. Every time I listen to it I experience new feelings. feelings that I haven’t felt before with any other album.

Have you ever listened to this album? If you have, what do you think of it?  If you’ve never listened to it, why don't you  check this song below, in the video? This song is the second to last and it tells about Nicholas’s reaction to finding out that he’s Victoria’s reincarnation.