Regression

A man named Nicholas has been having dreams in which he sees a woman and a strange house as well as a graveyard and other things. He enters hypnotherapy to try and find out what it's all about. He learns that the girl he has been seeing in his dreams is Victoria, the woman who he existed as in a previous life. A bit later, he discovers a newspaper article detailing how a killer (Julian) murdered Victoria and then killed himself. Supposedly the only witness was Julian's brother Edward, who ran to get help as soon as he saw the murder. Nicholas also learns that the police found a swichblade on the ground, and a suicide letter in Julian's pocket. Nicholas then realises that the graveyard he had been seeing is the one in which Victoria is buried, and he finds her tombstone and says goodbye. Then, during the song 'Home', Nicholas discovers the events leading to the murder. Victoria had left her boyfriend Julian because of his drinking and gambling habits, and went to Julian's brother Edward for consolation. They end up gettin' it on, and developing a quick infatuation with each other, however, in 'One Last Time' they have a fight, and Victoria leaves Edward. Having discovered all of this, Nicholas expresses his feelings that he is now at peace with himself, and is no longer afraid of dying, because he realises that his spirit will carry on. He leaves his hypnotherapy sessions, and drives home. Now, in the last song, finally free, the listeners learn that much of what Nicholas just found out was a lie, and we discover what really happened. At the beginning of the song, Edward is worried about what he has just done. He decides to try and cover up his sin by writing a suicide letter which he will plant in his brother's pocket making it seem as though Julian commited the murder (and then suicide). In the next section of the song, the murder takes place: Julian and Victoria meet at their secret place, but because the brothers' minds are linked (see lyrics for Metropolis pt.1) Edward finds them. He and Julian briefly fight before Edward pulls out a gun and shoots Julian. He then comments "open your eyes Victoria" and shoots her as well, after which he runs off into the darkness. Julian, alive but fatally wounded, crawls to Victoria to spend his last moments with her before he dies. At the end of the song once the music ends, we hear Nicholas' car pulling into his driveway. He gets out, and goes inside his house, sitting down to watch some TV. He pours a drink and puts on a record. Unbenknownst to him, his back door creaks open, and suddenly we hear footsteps rush into the room. The hypnotherapist's voice is heard saying "open your eyes Nicholas!". Nicholas cries out, and the record comes off track. The white noise of the record player is the last thing the listeners hear.

Explanation of the final portion: Unfortunately, while Nicholas discovers that he is the reincarnated form of Victoria, neither he, nor the listeners realise until this point that the hypnotherapist, who helped him discover the secrets of his past, is actually the reincarnated form of Edward. Because the hypnotherapist didn't want the truth of Victoria's murder to come out publically, he had to kill Nicholas to keep it quiet. Now there will be no one to discover the secret, and Victoria's soul, and perhaps now Ncholas' soul will never see eternal peace.

Other story notes:

• This story is very closely tied to that of Metropolis pt.1, and I highly recommend that you read the lyrics for that song as well to understand more about this story.
• One of the main links between the hypnotherapist and Edward is that before their respective murders they each state "open your eyes____!"
• The white noise sound at the very end of the song is surprisingly similar to that which plays during the opening of 'The Glass Prison', which is the song that begins their next release, 'Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence', which shows a continuity between the albums even though there really is no other link lyrically or otherwise.
• The newspaper article on the murder states that after killing himself, Julian fell on Victoria's dead body, while he was actually lying there because he wanted to be with her in his last moments. I think that this is one of the most ironic and well-thought-out points of the story.

• The news on TV that Nicholas watches is an actual report on JFK taken the day his plane went missing.

  This song is really great! I highly recommend getting the live concert DVD as it shows the story through short videos as well as having a lot of other song footage from the final concert in New York. I'd love to see another concept album like this. Go DT!

\m/ DREAM THEATER \m/

hey, if anyone has a good synopsis about this album (it's a tribute album for those that don't know), then post it here, i wanna know what this whole albums about, i know it vaguely but there's still some rough edges to be trimmed out, so post here if you know

WAW...Doomsoldier I think you've got it all figured out!!! What a great concept album, and I really liked how the singer James Labrie controls his highly-pitched voice better than the other albums. The best tracks on this one are The spirit carries on, finally free, HOME (what a cool ouverture of this song) .

ROCK ON DT!

high fives Nice work Doomsoldier! I had vaguely figured it out but not to that extent...I never realized that the hypnotist dude killed him! Wow...thanks so much!.....This is such an amazng album! I'd say one of the best I've ever heard!

~Vampy

Wow, this is a really great album! One thing i don't get is, why must the reincarnation of Edward, the hypnotist kill Nicholas? Nicholas don't even know that Edward's the real culprit or the hypnotist is Edward, there's nothing to cover up as what Nicholas know is already been made public by the newspaper article, can someone help me out here?

But surely Nicholas knows that Edward is the killer, didn't he see that with the eyes of Victoria? The newspapers think that Julian is the killer, and I guess Hypno just don't want his old self to be revealed as a murderer.

Thank you guys for the info i kinda had an idea of what the story was about but after reading this its totally clear. when i listen to scenes from a memory i now listen to it in a whole different way. THANKS A LOT!!!

This whole concept album is loosely based on the Kenneth Branaugh film "Dead Again". I confirmed this when I met the band in 2000.

http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0101669/

Though I like certain songs more than ones off this album, its my favourite album. How it ties together, and the depth to the lyrics

One note, though- I believe that Nicholas did find out about what really happened that night, and that the listener is the one who the information is withheld from until the last song.

In "One Last Time," we open with Nicholas going over the notion he gets that something doesn't quite fit with the official version of the story. So he goes back to Edward's house, where he went in Fatal Tragedy, to try and find it out.

He goes in and finds that it looks exactly as it did in his dream. He goes into the room at the top of the stairs- Edward's room, where the affair took place. This room having had such a personal history for Victoria, his past life, he suddenly sees her final moments.

"The walls melt away and some woman is screaming. A man pleads forgiveness- his words I cannot hear."

We don't find out what he sees until Finally Free, but it is at this point he realizes what happened and has his spiritual awakening.