History
Fans had previously requested the band to make the sequel to the first part of the song "Metropolis, Pt. 1" from Images and Words, but they had not yet been able, nor had they originally intended one to be made. With the Falling Into Infinity sessions, the band recorded a 21-minute instrumental demo of Metropolis Pt. 2 (which was later released by Mike Portnoy via his Ytsejam Records site along with the other Falling Into Infinity demos), but this did not make it onto that album.
After participating with keyboardist Jordan Rudess in Liquid Tension Experiment, a supergroup composed of various members of famous progressive rock bands, Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci found themselves writing music and working together with Rudess quite easily. They convinced the rest of the band to offer Rudess the position of full-time keyboardist for the band's upcoming album. He accepted, and current keyboardist Derek Sherinian was fired from the band via a conference call between the four members in New York and him in Los Angeles (Portnoy and Petrucci have stated that while it was an uncomfortable and unattractive situation, they didn't want to ask Derek to fly out from L.A. to New York only to be fired).
After his departure, the band went back to BearTracks Studios in Suffern, NY to record their new album, previously the site of recording for Images and Words. (A photograph of Beartracks Studios is featured on the album's back cover, meant to represent the house in the album.) After the commercial failure of Falling Into Infinity, their record label gave the band free rein over their new album's direction, which led the band to finally finish the story.
The album's recording was kept secret, to keep fans from meddling with the band's recording, and to surprise them. However, shortly before the album's release, the track list and release date were leaked onto the internet against the band's wishes.
Following the album's release, the band embarked on an extensive world tour, and at a show in New York City the band actually hired actors to "perform" the narrative elements of the album whilst they played. The performance was recorded and was released in 2001 as the Metropolis 2000 Live DVD. In 2011 the album was released on LP for the first time to celebrate Record Store Day.
Read more about this topic: Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory
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