How does a band follow up a masterpiece such as Scenes From A Memory? The answer is not easy, as any album that follows up a masterpiece is usually judged in a rather harsh manner, and not objectivly. Luckily, I got this album before the other, so I can judge it from a more fair perspective and tell you that it is indeed a worthy album.
Despite having the weakest excuse for cover-art ever to grace a DT album, what's on the inside is not weak at all, on an album that spans 2 discs despite having only 6 songs. "Longer is Better" is the mantra this time around, with the epic title track clocking in at a whopping 42 minutes and the shortest song being just a shade under 7 minutes. High points of the album include the opener, the extremely experimental, long and heavy "The Glass Prison" which promises to be the first part of a longer epic, The excellent ballads "Misunderstood" and the title track itself, which spans the entire second disc and seems to touch upon every aspect of the Progressive Metal genre at least once.
On "The Glass Prison" the "new DT" (meaning with Jordan Rudess) actually come close to being what people feared when JR joined the band, Liquid Tension Experiment with vocals. However this works extremely well and isn't repeated on any other song. From the moment you hear that this song begins with the ending of "Finally Free" from the previous album, you know you're in for something special. The next song, unfortunately is the weakest, although it does grow on you over time. "Blind Faith" sounds a bit stripped for DT in the vein of prog, but manages to sound busy, it takes some getting used to. surely though, the song is worth it for LaBrie's lyrics and Rudess' piano solo.
Misunderstood gives us a typical introspective Petrucci song that we've grown fond of, this one starting out slow and building to a crescendo ending that some have faulted, because of it's cancophonous sound, but can also grow on you. The technically charged "The Great Debate" gives us an almost Tool-esque song that isn't as politically charged as you might think at first (it centers on the debate of stem cell research, but does not pick a side, it's simply about the debate.) The song, although it can seem a bit TOO technical at first, is also a "it will grow on you big time" song, and includes some of the coolest drum fills Portnoy has ever done.
"Disappear" is something else entirely, it's definately DT's saddest song, beating out former tear-jerkers Anna Lee, Take Away My Pain and Space-Dye Vest. As for the title track, all I can say is it must be expreienced. Although critics have sometimes used the word "cheesy" in connection to this song, they forget they're listening to prog. it's to be expected, and even embraced to a certain extent, I mean it's not like DT has gone so far as Styx!
Overall, Six Degrees is a great album that is definatley worth your time, although certain tracks will take more time to become a part of your musical favorites than others.