Dream Theater – Beyond This Life

My personal favorite from the album “Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory”. Scene Four: Beyond This Life We learn the newspaper account of what happened in 1928. The story is that an anonymous witness heard a horrifying sound and upon reaching the scene of the sound discovered a woman who’d been shot dead, and the shooter standing over her. The witness tried to help, but the man shot himself next. The newspaper account talks of a sad close to a broken love affair. This indicates that the victim and the murderer are identified as previous or maybe even current lovers. The paper goes on to explain that Victoria and her lover had recently broken up due to his decadent lifestyle; it’s later suggested that gambling and/or drug addiction might be of significance. Julian later drops a liquor bottle in scene 9, so it’s possible his habit was drinking. It’s also indicated that Victoria would have taken him back if he’d straighten up his lifestyle. The article speculates that the murder may have been premeditated. Next we read an account of the physical evidence at the scene. There is evidence of a ‘violent struggle’ and a switchblade is found. The switchblade causes some confusion, because the victim is a young girl and typically you wouldn’t expect a young girl in 1928 to be carrying a switchblade, unless she was anticipating a need to defend herself. Also found, in the killer’s pocket, is a written note. It clearly reads that Victoria’s lover would rather take his own life …