Here is my opinion on both songs...
End of Innocence:
AMAZING! I loved the melody, the riffs, the vocals, the lyrics, etc. A GREAT song! Catchy also (and NOT in a bad "radio disney" sort of way).
Dehumanize:
Umm... I really didn't like this one that much. Not horrible... just not GREAT! The lyrics were downright hilarious! Hahahaha! Especially the "bring out the switch... you son of a bitch!" part. I mean... WHAT?!?! Hahaha! Also... the melody was not as good in this song. The vocals were... alright. Good technique... Not as good of a song allover though.
I expect this to be the general consensus of most Symphony X fans. However, I prefer Dehumanized. I really like most of the vocal parts in End of Innocence, but most of the music (sans the intro) seems bland to me. For example, the bridge part seems like Romeo took a stock riff from Paradise lost and tagged it onto the end of the section. And Jason playing that groovy drum beat (without Lepond playing anything) in that empty section just sounds bizarre, and not in a good way. The groove following this section is also a bit boring and sounds weird, but it's possible that there's a keyboard part here that's not cutting through the mix. MJR's solo is honestly nothing special, sans the part near the end which does at least have some bursts of something resembling a melody. Also, Russ screaming "Feel my pain!" is just lame to me. I don't know, it's easy for me to see that this song has a very commercial appeal, which is somewhat the opposite of the Symphony X I love. I
really hope this is the most commercial song on the album...
Dehumanized is the opposite of this. It's an "I don't give a shit, balls to the wall" heavy metal song that works the keyboard into it in very interesting ways (the piano line in the pre-chorus gives me chills, and the diminished chord that Pinnella bangs over and over again during the main riff gives the song character). Now I'll admit that this type of song is far from my favorite style from Symphony X, but for some unknown reason I already prefer it to most of the more aggressive stuff from Paradise Lost. The main riff is indeed an odd tonality for Symphony X, but just when you think Romeo is going all Southern metal on your ass, they pull off that wicked (no pun intended) polyrhythm with Rullo playing a rather simple beat over the 13/8 riff. Now
that is the side of Symphony X I love - I've never heard a band make polyrhythmic grooves as interesting as them!
The odd-time groove following the intro riff (and following each chorus) is catchy and disorienting, which I realize are two words that should probably never be used together, but whatever. The aggression in the verses reminds me very much of Domination or Walls of Babylon, which I like, but the lyrics are definitely amongst Symphony X's worst. I like the message of the song, but I feel that they (and by they I obviously mean Russ) could have hit the writing pad a little harder. Some of those lines just scream stereotypical over-aggressive metal. On a better note, the chorus is simple yet extremely groovy, and it's set up by a beautiful yet haunting pre-chorus (thanks mostly to P).
But I think we all know that the meat of this song is Romeo's multi-faceted solo. Does
anyone not like this solo?! Easily stronger than any solo on Paradise Lost for me. I like how he plays back a bit after the initial onslaught, just throwing in bluesy little licks here and there. It's very different from most of what he's done on past albums, and a welcome change for me. I love the neoclassical shred stuff, but it starts to all sound the same after a bit. For some reason, the overall tone and feel of most of the solo reminds me of John Petrucci's solo in Lines in the Sand...
I completely agree with you about Paradise Lost (song). I find it to be a blatantly bad song. The main piano melody is a slight alteration of that of older songs, the vocal melody is easy to predict and the lyrics are extremely derived. It is so hard for me to listen to this without shutting it off because it is simply annoying.. It's like a Disney or American Idol track, meaning that the song was written because it had to be written and no more. Ugggg. Sadly unlike you I feel this way about the entire album Paradise Lost.
I'm not sure what way in particular you feel about the rest of the album, but I have to defend some of it by saying that there are quite a few songs on there that don't seem forced or sound like Disney or American Idol. Babylon, Seven, Domination, Revelation... hell, even Serpent's Kiss...
I'm actually a big fan of the song Paradise Lost, and i do consider it a mini-epic of sorts. As soon as the guitar arpeggios in the intro join in with the piano it feels like the journey has begun.
I'm not saying the song doesn't have some brilliant bursts of emotion and/or thoughtful music in it, but to me it just seems uninspired and "flat," if you will. I agree with Weston; the song just kind of plods along like it
has to, without any clear direction. Russ sings his heart out on the bridge, I'll give you that, but the majority of the song just seems to be marinating in a pot, if that makes any sense. The song feels stripped, simplified, and sometimes even naked. And not in the sexy way. But it's cool; to each their own.
I've actually been thinking that The Sacrifice is a much more in-depth, multi-layered song than the title track. It's not a brilliant song by any means, but it just has more meat to it...
Yeah, that's the song i'm referring to. I think Russ himself called it a mini-epic, and that's pretty much why i asked the question in the first place. Although i feel the title "Iconoclast" is more fitting to an aggressive song rather a very light one.
Gotta agree with you about the name.
