Just out of curiosity, what do you consider makes a power metal chorus, and can you give me examples of good choruses you consider non-power metal choruses. I'm just curious, because I've never thought about categorizing different choruses into different genres before.
Iconoclast spoiler thread
- Thread starter Liampie
- Start date
metalxmetalx
Member
- May 6, 2011
- 310
- 4
- 18
I have to agree with you in every particular here. The band is comprised of five members, not only two, and all of them should have contributed to the writing process.
Detective Clarence Beauregard
Dehumanized
I'm not really sure what specifies a "power metal" chorus, either. The overall vocal melody? Chugging guitars? Running double bass?
Set the World on Fire? Eve of Seduction? King of Terrors? Inferno? Champion of Ithaca? Evolution? A Fool's Paradise? Out of the Ashes? Dragon's Den? Do any of these songs have "power metal" choruses?
Detective Clarence Beauregard
Dehumanized
I haven't listened to that album in a while, but I think it's the part in Blackened right after the second chorus; the "death of mother earth" part.
And you're absolutely right - the chorus is definitely similar to Shortest Straw. This song just reeks of Justice-era Metallica. And while it certainly could be worse, I like my Symphony X sounding like Symphony X and not like a band I grew out of when I was 16.
_Gentleman of_the Snow_
Prog' Drummer
It seems you know perfectly well what a power metal chorus sounds like!
Champion of Ithaca was an amazing use of the power metal style. It had full purpose in the song.
This album is amazing and shows how they can manage all kind of spectrums of ideas and new sounds. And for the people that are blaming the band for the change of sound...cmon, you can like the album or not, but to say this album shows they are going downhill is just imo, incorrect. It is just another face of Symphony X and that's what people wants from bands. If you want to hear always the same kind of style it's ok, but to release again remixes of V is just...
My fav songs of this amazing album are Reign in Madness and Electric Messiah. WOW, WHAT AN AMAZING SONGS!!!
I like a lot the album!
My fav songs of this amazing album are Reign in Madness and Electric Messiah. WOW, WHAT AN AMAZING SONGS!!!
I like a lot the album!
Considering some of the lyrics on Iconoclast, the lyrics you wrote may be too intelligent for Symphony X now.
Islandstone
Member
Ok, I've listened to Iconoclast about every day the last 2 weeks, so it's time to express some of my impressions. (Been working a lot lately, so haven't found the time before now.)
The album was as expected in one way, and on the other hand had some surprises as well.
Like PL, it's still heavy and very dominated by guitar riffs (unfortunelately). But the choruses(and pre-choruses) are more, what should I say, 'pop-ish',or catchy than on previous albums(which isn't necessarily a bad thing). And there are some parts which really doesn't sound like Symphony X( Reign in Madness intro, which for the record I like; at least it's the synth in the front!)
Favourite song has to be When All is Lost. It could've been an Allen/Lande track, considering the intro, verse, bridge and refrain, which are all beautiful but quite cheesy, both musically and lyrically.
The Interlude really makes the song for me; I love the Kansas-like part at 4:40 with the Hammond organ, and it's followed by the best piece on the album. The 53 seconds from 5:20 - 6:13 are simply Beautiful, and proves that Symphony X still are capable of making magic. Reminds me of that awesome polyrytmic section in The Accolade; both sections could go on forever as far as I'm concerned.....
I'm also quite fond of Reign in Madness.
The chorus is epic ("Bow your heads and abandon hope, we're the Gods of pain"..), and I love the "There's no escaping" section with the acoustic guitar. One of my favourite parts on the album.
The Opeth-sounding part is also cool, though I must say I prefer Symphony X to sound like..well,Symphony X. Same goes especially for all the Pantera-like riffing; we all know MJR loves those riffs,and they're cool enough, but it really shouldn't be what people recognize about SX.
Heretic and Promotheus are the least liked so far, as neither don't do too much for me. I guess my dislike for the verse section in the latter doesn't help either..
The album was as expected in one way, and on the other hand had some surprises as well.
Like PL, it's still heavy and very dominated by guitar riffs (unfortunelately). But the choruses(and pre-choruses) are more, what should I say, 'pop-ish',or catchy than on previous albums(which isn't necessarily a bad thing). And there are some parts which really doesn't sound like Symphony X( Reign in Madness intro, which for the record I like; at least it's the synth in the front!)
Favourite song has to be When All is Lost. It could've been an Allen/Lande track, considering the intro, verse, bridge and refrain, which are all beautiful but quite cheesy, both musically and lyrically.
The Interlude really makes the song for me; I love the Kansas-like part at 4:40 with the Hammond organ, and it's followed by the best piece on the album. The 53 seconds from 5:20 - 6:13 are simply Beautiful, and proves that Symphony X still are capable of making magic. Reminds me of that awesome polyrytmic section in The Accolade; both sections could go on forever as far as I'm concerned.....
I'm also quite fond of Reign in Madness.
The chorus is epic ("Bow your heads and abandon hope, we're the Gods of pain"..), and I love the "There's no escaping" section with the acoustic guitar. One of my favourite parts on the album.
The Opeth-sounding part is also cool, though I must say I prefer Symphony X to sound like..well,Symphony X. Same goes especially for all the Pantera-like riffing; we all know MJR loves those riffs,and they're cool enough, but it really shouldn't be what people recognize about SX.
Heretic and Promotheus are the least liked so far, as neither don't do too much for me. I guess my dislike for the verse section in the latter doesn't help either..
So, after almost a month, I would like to know what are the albums opinions now that enough time has passed to internalize the songs.
I still have the same best - worst songs opinion (Ic and Bastards)
And I haven't listen to iconoclast in almost a week. I think It's getting boring quite fast, faster than anything they released before
I still have the same best - worst songs opinion (Ic and Bastards)
And I haven't listen to iconoclast in almost a week. I think It's getting boring quite fast, faster than anything they released before
Detective Clarence Beauregard
Dehumanized
I definitely agree with that.
Anyway, my song lists:
Songs that are good and fit in with the rest of their catalog:
- Iconoclast
- The End of Innocence
- Dehumanized
- When All Is Lost
- Prometheus (I Am Alive)
Songs that just barely didn't make the list above:
- Heretic
- Reign in Madness
Songs that are average for this album but weak compared to other albums:
- Bastards of the Machine
- Children of a Faceless God
- Electric Messiah
Songs that are just flat-out bad:
- Light Up the Night
- Lords of Chaos
Broken into three even tiers:
Top Tier:
- Children of A Faceless God
- When All Is Lost
- Electric Messiah
- Prometheus (I Am Alive)
Middle Tier:
- Iconoclast
- End of Innocence
- Dehumanized
- Reign in Madness
Bottom Tier:
- Bastards of the Machine
- Heretic
- Light Up the Night
- Lords of Chaos
Top Tier:
- Children of A Faceless God
- When All Is Lost
- Electric Messiah
- Prometheus (I Am Alive)
Middle Tier:
- Iconoclast
- End of Innocence
- Dehumanized
- Reign in Madness
Bottom Tier:
- Bastards of the Machine
- Heretic
- Light Up the Night
- Lords of Chaos
Lagtastic
I lag in real life
- Jun 29, 2011
- 27
- 0
- 1
Yes, Lords of Chaos is lackluster. It is the low point of the album.
However, from 2:48 onward, Light up the Night is very enjoyable imo. So much that I now enjoy the rest of the song. The unison section at 3:56 is badass and brings the whole song together for me. It uses the exact same diminished patterns MJR and MP used in the unison in King of Terrors at 4:06. Hell, it's even in the same key, starts on the same note on the same position on the fretboard, and starts with the same lick.
EDIT: Tear up that whammy bar Russell!
Its mindless.
I am still listening to most of this album every day. The only songs i skip all the time is Children, Reign of Madness and sometimes Heretic.
I am still listening to most of this album every day. The only songs i skip all the time is Children, Reign of Madness and sometimes Heretic.
Matt
Active Member
I enjoy the title track...however, none of the songs on the album come close to anything on V, Odyssey, DW, etc.
As much as I hate to say it, I think a shakeup is in order...they need another songwriter...
As much as I hate to say it, I think a shakeup is in order...they need another songwriter...
The Invisible Guest
Member
I was pretty pleased with the new disc pretty much from first listen and nothing has changed since. I've listened to the disc 40 plus times .. still going strong for me.
I basically took the twelve tracks in order of how they are on the double disc and placed them on my ipod touch. I don't skip over any of them. Sure, some tracks are better than others, but I think all of the tracks are good.
I've went thru many different favorite tracks so far .. early on it was Iconoclast and at various times it's been any of the following .. Reign In Madness, Heretic, Electric Messiah, Children Of A Faceless God, and When All Is Lost.
I've always enjoyed Evil Russ vox, so that hasn't been a problem for me at all. I am very happy to hear the keyboards on an equal playing field with the guitars again. Keys are a huge part of SymX and they seemed to be buried in the mix on PL.
All told .. I'm happy. Iconoclast is right up there for me this year with Cynthesis - DeEvolution for disc of the year.
Britt
EyeballKid
Shyamalan'd
Equal playing field? Though I agree there are certainly more keys present on IC than on PL, and doing some interesting things with new patches, they are still minimal compared to previous SX material.
My tiers:
Songs that are good and fit in with the rest of their catalog:
- The End of Innocence
- Dehumanized
- When All Is Lost
- Prometheus (I Am Alive)
- Children of a Faceless God
Songs that just barely didn't make the list above:
- Reign in Madness
- Iconoclast
- Heretic
Songs that are average for this album but weak compared to other albums:
- Electric Messiah
Songs that are just flat-out bad:
- Bastards of the Machine
- Light Up the Night
- Lords of Chaos
CantoX
Member
My turn!
Songs that are good and fit in with the rest of their catalog:
- Iconoclast
- The End of Innocence
- Dehumanized
- When All Is Lost
- Prometheus (I Am Alive)
Songs that just barely didn't make the list above:
- Bastards of the Machine
- Children of a Faceless God
- Reign in Madness
Songs that are average for this album but weak compared to other albums:
- Heretic
- Electric Messiah
Songs that are just flat-out bad:
- Light Up the Night
- Lords of Chaos
Detective and I the same top and bottom songs, but the middle ones differ. I like Bastards and Children, both are cool songs.
Songs that are good and fit in with the rest of their catalog:
- Iconoclast
- The End of Innocence
- Dehumanized
- When All Is Lost
- Prometheus (I Am Alive)
Songs that just barely didn't make the list above:
- Bastards of the Machine
- Children of a Faceless God
- Reign in Madness
Songs that are average for this album but weak compared to other albums:
- Heretic
- Electric Messiah
Songs that are just flat-out bad:
- Light Up the Night
- Lords of Chaos
Detective and I the same top and bottom songs, but the middle ones differ. I like Bastards and Children, both are cool songs.
You all suck, this is the true ranking:
Best tracks:
- Iconoclast
- When All is Lost
Awesome tracks:
- Reign in Madness
- Dehumanized
- Lords of Chaos
- Light up the Night
Okay tracks:
- Children of a Faceless God
- Electric Messiah
Meh tracks:
- Bastards of the Machine
- Prometheus (I Am Alive)
- Heretic
AND FUCK THE END OF INNOCENCE!!!!11!1!!1
Best tracks:
- Iconoclast
- When All is Lost
Awesome tracks:
- Reign in Madness
- Dehumanized
- Lords of Chaos
- Light up the Night
Okay tracks:
- Children of a Faceless God
- Electric Messiah
Meh tracks:
- Bastards of the Machine
- Prometheus (I Am Alive)
- Heretic
AND FUCK THE END OF INNOCENCE!!!!11!1!!1
EyeballKid
Shyamalan'd
You all suck, this is the true ranking:
Awesome tracks:
- Lords of Chaos
- Light up the Night
AND FUCK THE END OF INNOCENCE!!!!11!1!!1
And yet, "We rule! We fly!" and "My dying eyes scream with pain" are classified as "Awesome"...
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