Rank your top 5 Symphony X albums (and post your top 3 songs from each album)

[Baroque]

For me it's:

1) V - Evolution, The Death of Balance/Lacrymosa, The Bird-Serpent War/Cataclysm
2) The Odyssey - The Odyssey, Inferno, The Turning
3) Paradise Lost - Oculus Ex Inferni, Domination, Eve of Seduction
4) The Divine Wings of Tragedy - The Divine Wings of Tragedy, Of Sins and Shadows, The Accolade
5) Iconoclast - The End of Innocence, Electric Messiah, Iconoclast

For the first two albums on this list, I really love every song though.

Honorable mention: Twilight in Olympus - In the Dragon's Den, The Relic, Through the Looking Glass

 

[Phanto]

I don't remember.

The song I return to the most is The Odyssey. Second is Lady of the Snow.

I'll probably enter a SX phase again, soon. It's been a long time now.

 

[Detective Clarence Beauregard]

I can't rank the albums in order, because they're constantly changing. The debut is definitely at the bottom, though.

Damnation Game: The Edge of Forever, Dressed to Kill, A Winter's Dream pt. II
The Divine Wings of Tragedy: The Divine Wings of Tragedy, Candlelight Fantasia, The Accolade
Twilight in Olympus: Through the Looking Glass, Church of the Machine, Orion
V: Communion and the Oracle, Rediscovery pt. II, Egypt
The Odyssey: The Odyssey, Accolade II, Awakenings
Paradise Lost: The Walls of Babylon, Revelation, Domination
Iconoclast: Prometheus, Reign in Madness, Heretic

 

[Marwen]

(everything is in order of preference)

V: Communion and the Oracle, Egypt, Fallen (sometimes it's Rediscovery 2)
DWOT: DWOT, The Accolade, Candlelight Fantasia (sometimes it's Eyes of Medusa)
The Odyssey: The Odyssey, Awakenings, Accolade II
Twilight in Olympus: Lady of the Snow, Church Of The Machine, Through The Looking Glass
The Damnation Game: Whispers, The Edge Of Forever, A Winter Dream

 

[donKyle]

In order, as well as the songs:

V: Communion (CHANGING WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVES), Rediscovery 2, Egypt
DWOT: DWOT, Accolade, Candlelight
Paradise Lost: Revelation, Babylon, Oculus+STWOF
Odyssey: Awakenings, Odyssey, King of Terrors
Twilight: Looking Glass, Church, Relic(awwwww yeeeeeeeeeeeeah lol)


I feel like I'm in a weird phase or some shit because I haven't really felt like listening to SX in the past few months.

 

[Marwen]

^me neither. After writing that post I went and listened to some of those songs which I haven't listened to in ages.

 

[JesterIF]

The Damnation Game (TEoF, A Winter's Dream Pt. I&II)
The Divine Wings of Tragedy (The Accolade, TDWoT, Candlelight Fantasia)
Twilight in Olympus (Church of The Machine, Through the Looking Glass, Lady of the Snow)
V (Communion and The Oracle, Egypt, Rediscovery Pt. II)
The Odyssey (Wicked, Awakenings, The Odyssey)

 

[Prismatic Sphere]

The Damnation Game - "The Edge Of Forever", "A Winter's Dream, "The Haunting"(sometimes "Dressed/Whispers")
The Divine Wings Of Tragedy - "The Divine Wings Of Tragedy", "Candlelight Fantasia", "The Accolade"(sometimes "Pharaoh")
Twilight In Olympus - "Lady Of The Snow", "Orion The Hunter", "Sonata/In The Dragon's Den"
The Odyssey - "The Odyssey", "Wicked", "Inferno"
V: The New Mythology Suite - "Communion and the Oracle", "Rediscovery", {tie}"Fallen/Egypt"

Fuck. Typing this out makes me realize how much I miss the old SX.

 

[Postulate]

in order...

V - Egypt, Rediscovery, Lacrymosa
The Divine Wings of Tragedy - The Divine Wings of Tragedy, Candlelight Fantasia, Accolade
Twilight in Olympus - Church of the Machine, Through the Looking Glass, Lady of the Snow
The Damnation Game - The Edge of Forever, A Winter's Dream Pt. 1, A Winter's Dream Pt. 2
SX(s/t) - A Lesson Before Dying, Premonition, Absinthe and Rue

V > DWoT > TiO > DG > SX > Odyssey > PL > IC

 

[Wander]

Wow, you like the self-titled more than the Odyssey?

 

[Baroque]

in order...

V - Egypt, Rediscovery, Lacrymosa
The Divine Wings of Tragedy - The Divine Wings of Tragedy, Candlelight Fantasia, Accolade
Twilight in Olympus - Church of the Machine, Through the Looking Glass, Lady of the Snow
The Damnation Game - The Edge of Forever, A Winter's Dream Pt. 1, A Winter's Dream Pt. 2
SX(s/t) - A Lesson Before Dying, Premonition, Absinthe and Rue

V > DWoT > TiO > DG > SX > Odyssey > PL > IC

TiO > Odyssey and PL? surprised

 

[donKyle]

TiO > Odyssey and PL? surprised

Twilight is a great album

 

[Postulate]

Wow, you like the self-titled more than the Odyssey?

Yeah. Odyssey has 2 good songs IMO (the last 2) and part of Accolade II is also good. The rest I don't ever feel the need to return to. The debut is a solid album all the way through, and even though it has some technical difficulties (in the production, Rod's voice, and some songwriting hiccups) it has a feel for melody and arrangement that never appears again in SX's catalogue. It has the best vocal harmonies, some of the best vocal melodies (Freddie Mercury influence), and the instrumentals are often really fucking cool - A Lesson Before dying has my favorite SX instrumental. It's definitely not the best SX album, but it's good in a way that post-V SX really isn't, on the whole.

In particular I feel that SX's vocal melodies have gotten consistently worse, with many of them on PL and IC being just plain bad/boring (Set the World on Fire, Domination, Serpent's Kiss...a round of three songs with not a single good melody in sight? Something is wrong.) I also feel that the rhythm guitar has come to dominate the sound so heavily that the instruments no longer play off of one another - the bass and keys have no room to move, and while you can hear the drums they too have been put into a straightjacket because they must always be on set on 10 to keep up with the endless, dominating guitar. Also note that since Miller's departure, bass harmonics and runs are no longer used to punctuate the instrumentals - listen to the bass in the debut and then on IC, it's night and day. So the instrumentals have become heavily geared toward traditional metal, except with prog chops, rather than having the hallmark of a prog instrumental, viz. interesting twists and turns + good arrangements. PL is an album you'd expect from a more mediocre prog metal band, and IC is just fucking boring.

 

[RuRoRul]

The Odyssey - The Odyssey, Accolade II, Inferno (=Frontiers).

V - Rediscovery (Part 2), Communion and the Oracle, Fallen.

Iconoclast - When All Is Lost, Iconoclast, Bastards Of The Machine (= Reign In Madness).

Paradise Lost - Revelation, Paradise Lost, Eve Of Seduction.

The Divine Wings Of Tragedy - The Divine Wings Of Tragedy, The Accolade, Candlelight Fantasia.

Top 4 albums are all pretty close together, and the top one or two songs from each of them make up most of my favourite Symphony X songs.

 

[Wander]

TiO > Odyssey and PL? surprised

My list:

1. Divine Wings
2. Twilight in Olympus
3. V
4. The Odyssey
5. Damnation Game

 

[Marwen]

SX > Odyssey

Insanity.

 

[Baroque]

I feel that each Symphony X album has been a step forward for Progressive METAL (aside from Iconoclast). I feel Paradise Lost as a whole is actually the peak of their work in Progressive Metal to this point. Iconoclast is a great Metal album but loses a bit too much of its Progressive identity to me. I guess you are more interested in purely Progressive music, in which case, yeah I could definitely see V being their peak for that. I also listed V as my favorite, it's the perfect mix of progressive and metal. But I'm okay with more metal too, I enjoy thrash metal bands as well as progressive metal bands.

As far as not having a single good melody in those songs you mentioned, what about the climax of Set the World of Fire? I love that build up. Listen to it from 3:30 on. Great solo and vocal melody.

Domination from 3:25 on. His vocals are more raspy, but still have melody. Granted this is more of a rhythmic groove song.

Serpent's Kiss I'll agree with you on, song was great the first couple times I heard it but didn't have lasting value.

Eve of Seduction, Oculus, Seven, Sacrifice, Revelation, all great melodic songs from PL.

The Odyssey the song alone is enough to put it over most of their work for me. Possibly the best SX song and it's 24 minutes..

 

[Prismatic Sphere]

Serpent's Kiss tries to be a Wicked Pt. II and it fails miserably.

The Odyssey and Divine Wings are constantly dueling for the top spot as the best SX song; but I still gotta give the edge to Divine.

The Progressive Era for SX had its climax with The Odyssey and has gone downhill ever since(with Twilight being their MOST progressive to date imo).

Russell can still produce melody; but it has nowhere near the melodic depth that it did in their progressive heyday(with a few exceptions).

I don't post much here anymore because, while they are still my favorite band, I fear the end of what I(and other older fans/prog fans) love about them has probably come to an end. I give them one more album to prove me different, though my doubts remain grave.

 

[Postulate]

The Progressive Era for SX had its climax with The Odyssey and has gone downhill ever since(with Twilight being their MOST progressive to date imo).

I can already hear the cogs creaking in that album - Inferno, Sorcerer's Apprentice, The Turning, King of Terrors, and most parts of Accolade II and Wicked are bleh. Compared to V it's like they fell flat on their face.

I'd also like to point out that V was the end of SX's "neoclassical" leanings. The Odyssey, including the epic, doesn't have them anymore, and the Dream Theater influence becomes much more prominent. Also, in their more "straightforward" songs, the melodies became choppier and more disconnected during the Odyssey. Take Fool's Paradise vs. Inferno - both are structurally simple and meant for headbanging. But Fool's Paradise really builds up that fantastic melody all the way through the versus and choruses for a huge payoff. Inferno is this, then that - first the nu metal verse, then the abrupt shift to the bridge, then the power metal chorus. Bleh.

 

[Detective Clarence Beauregard]

I feel Paradise Lost as a whole is actually the peak of their work in Progressive Metal to this point. Iconoclast is a great Metal album but loses a bit too much of its Progressive identity to me.

I think it may be their peak in straight-up metal, but not progressive metal. I mean, which songs were really that progressive from Paradise Lost? I'd say Revelation, Oculus, Serpent's Kiss, and the intro to Babylon, and that's it. It's a great metal album, but it was also responsible for their loss of many progressive elements.

As for Iconoclast, I agree. Fundamentally, the album actually sounds more like classic Symphony X than Paradise Lost, but lacking the passion and melody. I know the album had the whole cybernetic robotic theme and all, but I think it's just too much for an 84-minute record. When All Is Lost is the only song with any real consistent melody at all, and even most of that song is pretty filler for Symphony X.

Eve of Seduction, Oculus, Seven, Sacrifice, Revelation, all great melodic songs from PL.

Your lack of Babylon disturbs me.

Serpent's Kiss tries to be a Wicked Pt. II and it fails miserably.

How do you figure? I don't really see much of a similarity between the two. Serpent's Kiss is completely different structurally, whereas Wicked is more of a typical verse-chorus thing with a start-stop main riff. But other than a few cool groovy riffs in SK, I definitely think Wicked is the stronger song, especially from a vocal standpoint.

I'd also like to point out that V was the end of SX's "neoclassical" leanings. The Odyssey, including the epic, doesn't have them anymore, and the Dream Theater influence becomes much more prominent.

Agreed. I can really hear some of the Dream Theater influence on the last few albums, particularly Iconoclast (the title track, Heretic, Lords, Reign, and Prometheus in particular). The Odyssey didn't have much in the way of a neoclassical sound, but I still felt that vibe in a few sections. The last two albums have some neoclassical stuff, though, like Seven and LUTN. The problem is that neither of them are nearly as solid as the older stuff.