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Rating: In 1999, Dream Theater returned to delight our ears with an exceptional concept album, both melodically and technically. The instruments play in perfect sync, adorning the story of young Victoria, who is relived in Nicholas's mind when he confides in a psychoanalyst (who will later be revealed as a murderer): a tale transformed into a true “rock opera”, even divided into two acts. This time the five musicians took care of everything.
The result is an absolute masterpiece: a kind of "compendium of rhythmic, harmonic, and melodic techniques existing on the face of the Earth"; the Dream Theater touch every genre, from progressive to metal, to jazz, to grunge, not despising splendid "ballads" like “Through Her Eyes," “One Last Time," or the beautiful “The Spirit Carries On," gently shaped by James LaBrie's voice. It's incredible how delightful it is to lose oneself in the acrobatics of John Petrucci's strings, in the almost humanly impossible evolutions of John Myung's bass, to be mercilessly hit by Portnoy's explosive double kick, or to climb the scales that Jordan Rudess invents every half minute on the keys. Even just after a couple of listens, you realize this is not a normal album.
You become attached to Victoria's story. You are amazed by a piece, “The Dance of Eternity,” which is entirely instrumental for something like nine minutes but never bores. You are left confused by the continuous shifts in tempo that every band member handles with ease. You are shocked when the album, and thus the story, comes to an end, abruptly and unsettlingly cut off. There are no better pieces than others: they are all uniformly wonderful. Baroque, extreme, redundant, engaging. Irresistible.
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