Rank SX's last/first songs on each album!

[anonym115]

I set out trying to rate, from favorite to least favorite, the last songs on each SX album, as well as the first songs. I thought it would be interesting to see what I'm guessing should be a wide variety of opinions on the topic. I'm not going to include the debut album.
Rank them as stand-alones, please, instead of how you feel they serve/close the album! Here are the songs to be ranked:

LAST SONGS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER:

Winter's Dream (both parts together)
Candlelight Fantasia
Lady of the Snow
Rediscovery (both parts together)
The Odyssey
Revelation
Reign in Madness
Legend

FIRST SONGS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER:

Damnation Game
Of Sins and Shadows
Smoke and Mirrors
Prelude/Evolution (together)
Inferno
Oculus/Set the World (together)
Iconoclast
Overture/Nevermore (together)

Here is my list, which really shocked me upon completion, and is probably going to change as I think about it more:

Each from Favorite to Least Favorite

The Odyssey
Legend
Candlelight Fantasia
Lady of the Snow
Revelation
Reign in Madness
Rediscovery
Winter's Dream


Smoke and Mirrors
Overture/Nevermore
Oculus/Set the World
Inferno
Prelude/Evolution
Damnation Game
Iconoclast
Of Sins and Shadows


While I'm at it, I'll do the title tracks, counting Rediscovery Part 2 as the TiO title track (since Romeo said most of the song TiO ended up in that song) and not giving V a title track...

Underworld
The Odyssey
Iconoclast
Damnation Game
DWOT
Rediscovery
Paradise Lost

 

[AsoTamaki]

The last songs were pretty easy to decide, but the openers were harder. Especially since you said not to consider how they serve as actual album openers. I did include the debut unlike you and counted "The Odyssey" as the last song from that album. You should've at least used "Frontiers" if you were gonna count the bonus tracks!

From best to worst:

Openers:
Of Sins and Shadows
Smoke and Mirrors
Inferno
Evolution
Iconoclast
The Damnation Game
The Raging Season
Nevermore
Set The World On Fire

Closers:
A Winter's Dream
The Odyssey
Lady of the Snow
Rediscovery
Candlelight Fantasia
Reign in Madness
Revelation
A Lesson Before Dying
Legend

 

[anonym115]

I didn't want to count Frontiers as it is indeed bonus. And Masquerade is definitely the last song on the CD so I didn't want to make any exceptions just because (perhaps) the Odyssey should have been last.

 

[iceandfire84]

Masquerade and Frontiers are both limited edition bonus tracks on both the cd case and on Wikipedia. The Odyssey is definitely the album closer.

Neat little poll though. I'll have to give it some thought and post about it.

 

[RuRoRul]

Closers:
The Odyssey
Revelation
Rediscovery Part 2
Legend
Reign in Madness
A Winter's Dream
Candlelight Fantasia
Lady Of The Snow
A Lesson Before Dying


Openers:
Inferno
Iconoclast
Smoke and Mirrors
Evolution
Nevermore
Set The World On Fire
Of Sins and Shadows
The Damnation Game
The Raging Season


Title Tracks:
The Odyssey
The Divine Wings Of Tragedy
Revelation Part 2 - The New Mythology (I'm counting this as the V: The New Mythology Suite title track if anything...)
Paradise Lost
Iconoclast
Underworld
The Damnation Game


The opening songs are pretty difficult to rank, as I think a lot of them are quite similar in nature and quality. Apart from The Raging Season as last they all are quite close. There's not much betwen the closing tracks from Reign In Madness to Lady Of The Snow either.

 

[anonym115]

Hmmm I never knew that. When I bought the album it had Masquerade on it but not Frontiers! Looks like I will have to rerank.

 

[LittleTortillaBoy]

From favourite to least favourite:

Openers:

Inferno
Evolution
Iconoclast
Smoke and Mirrors
Of Sins and Shadows
Nevermore
Set the World on Fire
The Damnation Game
The Raging Season

Closers:

The Odyssey
Candlelight Fantasia
Rediscovery
A Winter's Dream
Legend
Revelation
Lady of the Snow
Reign in Madness
A Lesson Before Dying

 

[EyeballKid]

LAST SONGS:

The Odyssey
Candlelight Fantasia
Rediscovery
Winter's Dream
Revelation
Legend
Reign in Madness
Lady of the Snow

FIRST SONGS:

Prelude/Evolution
Inferno
Oculus/Set the World
Of Sins and Shadows
Smoke and Mirrors
Damnation Game
Iconoclast
Overture/Nevermore

 

[anonym115]

Just as I thought, already a wide variety of opinions!

 

[Durakonis]

I have two options here, either to listen to all of them once and make a list out of that recent experience, or make a list which would most probably change from time to time. Instead, let me write down my almost stabile choices.

I'll pick Iconoclast as the opener; and The Odyssey, Candlelight Fantasia, Lady of the Snow and Rediscovery (and maybe even Legend) are tied quite close as for my favourite SX album closers.

 

[Islandstone]

Openers

Prelude/Evolution
Inferno
Of Sins and Shadows
Smoke and Mirrors
Iconoclast
Oculus/Set the World
Overture/Nevermore
Damnation Game



Closers:

The Odyssey
Rediscovery
Candlelight Fantasia
Revelation
Legend
Winter's Dream
Reign in Madness
Lady of the Snow



Title tracks:

The Divine Wings of Tragedy
The Odyssey
Rediscovery
Paradise Lost
Iconoclast
Underworld
Damnation Game

 

[Detective Beauregard]

I'm skipping the debut since I never listen to it, although I'd love to hear some more of those songs re-recorded with Russ and LePond.

The openers are tricky, since there's very little variety in terms of song style and structure. For me, the winner is clearly Iconoclast - if you can get past the abysmal chorus lyrics, the song has far more substance and depth than the "wham bam thank you ma'am" vibe of the remaining tracks. There isn't much to say about these - I greatly prefer the epics.

Iconoclast
Inferno
Evolution
Set the World on Fire
Of Sins and Shadows
Smoke and Mirrors
Nevermore
The Damnation Game

The closers are obviously much easier to rank. Legend actually surprises me, as it's the first "regular" song to close out a Symphony X album. Reign in Madness is great, as I think it brings the album full circle and ties in with Iconoclast, but from another (albeit cheesy) point of view. Unfortunately, it was exclusive to the album's special edition, and thus I doubt we'll ever hear it live. Finally, I'm not sure why they made the choice to close out Divine Wings with Candlelight Fantasia, as I think the title track would have been more appropriate.

The Odyssey
Rediscovery
Candlelight Fantasia
Revelation
Reign in Madness
A Winter's Dream
Legend
Lady of the Snow

 

[iceandfire84]

For me, the winner is clearly Iconoclast - if you can get past the abysmal chorus lyrics, the song has far more substance and depth than the "wham bam thank you ma'am" vibe of the remaining tracks.

Couldn't agree more on all counts there, Detective

Album Openers:

Iconoclast
Prelude/Evolution
Inferno
Smoke and Mirrors
Of Sins and Shadows
The Damnation Game
Overture/Nevermore
Oculus Ex Inferni/Set the World on Fire
The Raging Season

Album closers:

The Odyssey
Rediscovery
Candlelight Fantasia
Revelation
Legend
A Winter's Dream
A Lesson Before Dying
Lady of the Snow
Reign in Madness