2015 Symphony X Album News

anonym115 said:
Hey guys, I got the album today, and have listened to it 3 times attentively. Here are my brief thoughts:

This is my favorite album from any band to date, including SX. This is coming from a fan of every individual song that SX has released (so that you know I'm not just an Inconoclast heavy metal fanboy).

MJR is insane. His technique has improved more than noticeably, and his riffs were very distinguishable from each other, and from previous stuff, in my opinion. His tone is also better than it has ever been, especially on the lead.

Pinella is abundantly present on the album. He borderline carries half the songs to a high degree. He does some GREAT work throughout. In fact, Nevermore is where he is present least. I was super impressed with his playing, but more importantly, his solo tone AND quality have improved dramatically.

Rullo hits very hard this album. I noticed his cymbal work is a bit more expressive than in the past. Great play by him.

Lepond is a machine. Playing already difficult Romeo parts on the even more difficult bass, all the while spicing the entirety of the album up with his own sassy licks.

Russell is still Russell, don't worry. He hits some crazy notes, shows incredible range and control, and even demonstrates two things in particular: 1) Not only can he hit high notes, but he can jump to them from way down deep in his register flawlessly. 2) He is a master of his rasp. He can flawlessly and gradually switch from clean to absolute filth and back without straining himself whatsoever. It was a treat to hear.

The vocal melodies are generally quite good, in fact. I think Nevermore may have been the weakest chorus, to be honest. In fact, the melodies on this album are strong in general.

Biggest strength of the album: It is SOOOOO varied. Everything from heavy metal, to prog, to ballad work, to neoclassicism, to dark gothic tone, to hard rock, to melodic symphonic wizardry.

I have exactly 0 complaints about the album. It gave me everything I wanted and more. If someone held a gun to my head and made me pick 5 favorites, I'd be upset, but I'd say Underworld, Kiss of Fire, Charon, Swan Song, and Legend. It is awfully close though. Every song has its merits.

One last thing: there are TONS of musical and lyrical references hidden in the album! I'm sure I have not found all of them.

Anyways, I hope this was informative. If you guys have any questions, I will answer them in as much detail as I can.
Click to expand...

where did you order from?
 
From the samples, it sounds a bit Iconoclast-y but with more varied songwriting. As someone who actually liked Iconoclast apart from the fact that they ran out of ideas 3-4 songs into the album, it seems promising.
 
The songs are incredibly different. The one and only problem I'm developing with the album, if you can call it a problem, is that I can't listen to the individual songs. I find myself compelled to listen from front to back each time, because while the songs are strong individually, there is a certain journey this album takes me on that listening to songs individually would miss.
 
This is exactly how it was intended, since Romeo is also an "album" person :)

And as far as I am concerned, I am, too.
Only two days left and I have to keep myself listening to more of those samples, since I want to hear the album as one now...
:Spin::loco::yow::loco::Spin:
 
I am trying to be good since I have already waited this long, so I only listened to the sample from the title track. I was surprised at how big of a chunk of the song the sample was actually, Anyway, at first I was like "oh gawd, Russ is trying to be growly again and there goes Pinella being doomed to hold one or two notes down on his keyboard the whole time". Then the track actually seemed to open up a bit and Russ calmed down quite a bit and Pinnella actually got to do something a bit more interesting on the keyboard than usual, mind you it wasn't anything too depthful or classical as it was pretty much just a cool sounding synthesizer melody.

So far I am quite sure I will like it more than IC, but I have some hope I will like it more than PL as well (which isn't saying much for it since PL is my second least favorite album).
 
Early impressions:
- Most diverse album, my ass. Shouldn't have read any reviews. Amazing...
- No terrible songs. No great songs. "Swan Song" had the potential.
- There are some good choruses. A lot of "big" choruses. A lot of radio-ish choruses. Seems like that was the focus because many of the verses come off like afterthoughts.
- There is no prog. Non-solo instrumental passages are few and far between. No interesting structures. Even the 9 minute track basically just has an extended bridge section.
- Probably the worst collection of riffs Romeo has ever recorded. Pretty much heard it all before from him and done better. Still 90% heavy stuff and his heavy stuff now all sounds like slightly modified riffs from Iconoclast songs. Okay. He tossed in some death metal-style tremolo picking for a second in a couple of songs, but other than that? Super derivative.
- Hands down the worst collection of guitar solos Romeo has ever recorded. I'm stunned. I get that some (most?) of the licks are intentionally lifted from the old songs, but everything is so interchangeable and completely unmemorable except for maybe the "Swan Song" solo. And that one isn't quite on par with the classics either. Dude just plays too many notes and too much in general these days.
- Speaking of that song, the similarities to "Through The Looking Glass" just serve to highlight exactly how much the band's songwriting has changed. Positively or negatively, I suppose.
- Those vocals on the "Run With The Devil" verse...is Russell serious?
 
While I disagree completely with everything you just said, except the Run with the Devil comment, I can respect all of your opinions except the comments about he riffs and the solos. I think only the Odyssey has near the level of riffs that this CD does. And I loved most all the solos. There was some nuance I haven't heard from Romeo that came out in his playing this time around. There were also a lot of cool timings in the solos.

I also just don't think this CD sounds anything at all like iconoclast except in its production. One exception is that Kiss of Fire is like a ten times better version of heretic in some ways.

@nckissman: preordered from nuclear blast. i live in northwest ohio.
 
AsoTamaki said:
Early impressions:
- Most diverse album, my ass. Shouldn't have read any reviews. Amazing...
- No terrible songs. No great songs. "Swan Song" had the potential.
- There are some good choruses. A lot of "big" choruses. A lot of radio-ish choruses. Seems like that was the focus because many of the verses come off like afterthoughts.
- There is no prog. Non-solo instrumental passages are few and far between. No interesting structures. Even the 9 minute track basically just has an extended bridge section.
- Probably the worst collection of riffs Romeo has ever recorded. Pretty much heard it all before from him and done better. Still 90% heavy stuff and his heavy stuff now all sounds like slightly modified riffs from Iconoclast songs. Okay. He tossed in some death metal-style tremolo picking for a second in a couple of songs, but other than that? Super derivative.
- Hands down the worst collection of guitar solos Romeo has ever recorded. I'm stunned. I get that some (most?) of the licks are intentionally lifted from the old songs, but everything is so interchangeable and completely unmemorable except for maybe the "Swan Song" solo. And that one isn't quite on par with the classics either. Dude just plays too many notes and too much in general these days.
- Speaking of that song, the similarities to "Through The Looking Glass" just serve to highlight exactly how much the band's songwriting has changed. Positively or negatively, I suppose.
- Those vocals on the "Run With The Devil" verse...is Russell serious?
Click to expand...

It is obvious that you hate the album, could you sell me your copy of it on discount?
 
It's only $10 and you're still looking for a discount? Come on, man. Don't be a cheapo.

anonym115 said:
I also just don't think this CD sounds anything at all like iconoclast except in its production. One exception is that Kiss of Fire is like a ten times better version of heretic in some ways.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the production is a big part of it. It makes it "sound" the same. Add in the fact that lyrically, minus a few references to machines, just about every song has been the same thing for the past 10 years and the overall "vibe" of the album feels far from fresh.

It's not note for note, but the riffing style is definitely the same too. I'm not gonna try and analyze already, but for example the title track, "Underworld". The verse riff and "Electric Messiah" don't sound very similar to you? And the intro... it's "Set The World On Fire" with a touch of "The End of Innocence". Too much of the same patterns repeated. That's not just with the riffs either. How many songs use "Oooooh...[somethingsomething]" as a prechorus? Half, maybe? Kinda ridiculous.

I guess the whole diversity, "most varied", "peaks and valleys" etc. comments are probably what led me to disappointment. I would never having expected "To Hell And Back" to be what it is. "Awakenings" has peaks and valleys. Come on, Romeo...

Also, the "Heretic" solo smokes the one in "Kiss of Fire". That chorus is badass though.
 
I have listened to the album once and here are my initial thoughts:

  • Definitely more varied than the last album. Seems to do a bit of everything except the neo-classical stuff is mostly missing.
  • Still very heavy. There's a lot of different types of heavy, though.
  • Was hoping for lots more acoustic sprinklings throughout the album.
  • Underworld (the song) seems like it needs to be about 2 minutes longer; it seems like part of it is missing. A 7 and a half minute title track would seem just about perfect. It should probably also follow Overture rather than Nevermore.
  • The songs Charon, To Hell and Back, Swansong and Legend are great. Legend is probably my favorite on the album after the first listen.
  • In My Darkest Hour seems like filler. I would have probably left it off the album and put Nevermore in that spot instead. Hopefully this song will grow on me. I like everything else.
  • I actually really like Run with the Devil. I would definitely rather hear this type of fun song rather than something like Bastards of the Machine.
  • A lot more blues / hard rock riffs and vocals in several songs.
  • There's actually very little that reminds me of older albums. The most I can say is this seems somewhere between Paradise Lost and Iconoclast, but with a more bluesy / hard rock vibe (and more variety and a little proggier than both of those albums). I think most of the songs are better than everything on Paradise Lost, except nothing is as good as Revelation. Underworld stands on its own; they've definitely progressed their sound further.

I'm sure my thoughts and views on the album will change with more listens.
 
@AsoTamaki: I feel like we are on different wavelengths man, haha. It felt so fresh to me, and while I of course heard a few iconoclast similarities, I found it refreshing. Iconoclast is something that is extremely tolerable in small chunks, which is what you got here (in parts). I like hearing bits of a band's previous work in their new stuff. I also found that "ooooh" phenomenon to be kind of cool. In fact, it's done is such a way that it seems intentional to me. I think there is some kind of motif there.

I also can't believe you don't find the album diverse as all get out. That is just crazy to me.

Lastly, I think it's borderline sinful to suggest that any part of Heretic is superior to Kiss of Fire, including the solo. The last run in the KoF solo gets me so riled up.

@Adam Fiske: I'm so sad you don't like In My Darkest Hour. That song is almost pure awesome to me. That being said, Run with the Devil is actually regrowing on me, though I still think it's the weakest song. I'm kind of shocked you didn't hear any DWOT in there, as well. It's not an explicit reference to the album, but there are little chunks and blends that remind me of things that would belong on that album. I also find it interesting that you think Revelation as a song is superior to the entirety of the album. Interesting is the right word there.
 
Revelation is right up there with Rediscovery, Awakenings and Communion in my book.
Heretic does have a really good solo section, but it's about the only part of the song I like. Kiss of Fire seems like a much tighter version of the Heretic-style, with a much better short-but-sweet chorus.
Maybe it's the production of the album that's keeping me from seeing the similarities to DWoT. Perhaps they'll become more apparent with more listens. Charon is about the only thing that reminds me of DWoT, and really it reminds me more of The Odyssey. But it definitely has a more early-SymX feeling.
 
It's so funny to hear people talk about the production because I have felt for a while now that Jens Bogren is primarily the reason SyX's sound has gotten so mundane, stale, and tiresome ever since PL released...
 
On first listen I can easily without doubt say that Underworld is a LOT better than Iconoclast. I would even say I like it more than Paradise Lost. Basically this means that of the "new era" SyX albums it is definately the best of the 3.

Personally as of only one listen I would put Underworld on my ranked list of SyX albums as tied with The Odyssey. My personal favorite albums are, by the way, V and after that probably Twilight in Olympus. I still am not a very big fan of the Jens Bogren production quality; however, with Underworld I feel that even when the riffage starts cranking its not as mind numbing as it was on Iconoclast. I would say the wall of sound forecast from IC to UW is from a red flag to an orange one. The other big difference is that most of the heavier songs are more enjoyable due to the fact that they are broken up several times by songs that are a bit more diverse than them. They do not really tread any new ground here for the most part; however, I would say that Iconoclast was quite a new ground type of album from them and we all know how that turned out...

The only track I just plain hated was Run With the Devil. It just had this constant fast tempo both musically and vocally that screamed "wham, bam, thank you ma'm". It just irked me, especially in the verses when Russell did some weirdness with his voice that gave me sort of a lame Avenged Sevenfold vibe. Nevermore is an ok song while the title track ended up being quite interesting. I would agree with whomever above stated they wished Underworld was a longer track because it had a lot more room to develop. Without You I like quite well but wish the chorus wasn't so overly repeated, or even better if the chorus was just done better in general. I actually found myself really enjoying Kiss of Fire. It kind of reminded me of how I felt about King of Terrors when Odyssey first came out. It was their heaviest song of theirs thus far at the time and that alone made it interesting. The small bursts of blast beats was just sort of cool to hear in a SyX song, even though its not the kind of thing I would want them to do too often. Charon developed into something decent that reminded me a bit of Pharo from DWoT. I think it the kind of track that will grow on me some. My Darkest Hour was probably my least favorite track after Run With the Devil. It was probably the most filler track on the album but unlike RWtD it was listenable.

I left out To Hell and Back, Swan Song, and Legend for a reason. These tracks are what really makes Underworld a good album. These are songs I feel have the potential to be remembered as SyX "classics". These three songs are all better than anything on either PL or IC. The song on either of those two albums that maybe comes somewhat close to as good would be Revelation.

The main thing with Underworld is it is not a complete return to form, but just enough to at least make it better than IC and PL.
 
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