@RuRoRul: A very educating post! And not in a sarcastic way. Everything you say is right. Like you say, while where here. We might as well talk about how it sucks. I personally don't think my ranting, or anyones will change anything. The most we could do as fans, is write a letter to Nuclear Blast. And tell them to shape up, but I mean what would that do?(Especially since it might not even be their fault to begin with) It might make us feel good about ourselves. That as a fan base world wide, we can come together to fight for one thing. That's cool. But I mean we do that on a daily basis here on the forums. Mixed cultures/ethnicities, all with one thing in common... Music (I would say symphony x, but its well known that not everyone here holds them as high as others. Which is alright, to each their own.)
I've said it many times before, of course Id rather be listening to new symphony x, or discussing the new album in a positive or musical manner. But we can't have any conversation like that because their is nothing to go by. Accept the very vague Allen interview. I'm sure the new album will blow me away, updates, or lack their of wont effect me in that sense. But as fans, and as long time frequenters, it is a bit of a let down. I don't think anyone person on these forums is advocating "tweet first, produce music late" Besides, even if someone where, that is one thing that will never happen with this band. I believe it was an official (can't remember which) who said that there is some members who don't even have a computer. And the ones who do, don't particularly like the interwebs. The music will always come first, but like Kenn and many others have mentioned. It's become less of an update issue now, and more or a promotion issue.
Anyone who has been around, for at least the Paradise Lost release knows how the band functions at this point in time. I just find it very odd, since the band was well aware of the tension they created with the Paradise Lost release. They knew what was going on in the forums in those days, and what kind of complaints went on. Romeo and Allen even acknowledged such things in many live interviews. With something like this;
" We have (X) amount of hours of left over music, and are back on track with writing, and already know where we want to go with the next album. We're sorry about the five year break, and wont make you wait another five years for an album. But we had some huge opportunities we just could not pass up, like gigantour, and the tour with Dream Theater, where huge for us man."
Of course this is not word for word, but anyone who followed them through the interviews, or the very RARE PL updates, or even talked to them at a live show heard similar stories. Than of course we get our first new album update, saying they are going to the studio. Really? Because we had no news prior to that. Than we get more news months later about how this is done being recorded, we got this left. Romeo promises some photos. Nearly a year later, we have nothing but some tour information (which starts in a week or so) and that they are done the album. Oh and an interview from Metal Messiah Radio with Russell Allen, talking very briefly about the album direction and title. I mean, they had god knows how much music left over, they said they wouldn't take another five years. But its just lather, rinse, repeat. All over again. Same BS that happened with paradise lost. And I think it kills fans, and promotion when information on an album that is presumably coming out in a month, two, or three is so damn scarce.
I mean think about it, they are going on tour very soon, I'm assuming its to support their new album. Meaning they will be playing tunes from the new album. So in no time we can all just youtube what some of the new songs will be called, and what they sound like. Cool I suppose, but come on. This is all supposed to covered here, and set in stone here, before hand. If you didn't know about the Russell Allen interview, you wouldn't know about the new album coming out soon, or the fact that its called 'Iconoclast'. Yet you notice on facebook that you can buy tickets to a symphony x show...You don't say to yourselves, "why the hell are they going on tour again, they just got off a 2 year tour of paradise lost. Shouldn't they be working on something new?" Its mind boggling really.
/end rant
Anyways, i'm hyped for the album, got my tickets to the show. I'm sure its going to blow my socks off. But I still disagree with their/nuclear blasts/management/etc promotion tactics. If they have any what so ever... Twelve year old kids with youtube channels promote themselves better than symphony x. It's not fair to fans, but more importantly the band, whether self brought on or not. They deserve the attention.
