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

[Baroque]

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.

But, do you give up on Beethoven because you don't like his Fugue? or one of his Symphonies?

1 album, 2 albums, if we don't like them, it's fine, they're still brilliant artists based on their early work and have the potential to get back to their roots. Or be even better.

Maybe we just don't understand Iconoclast fully yet. I know I appreciate Paradise Lost now more than ever, and it's 5 years after its release. It takes a few listen throughs to really 'get' this music, and I feel like a lot of us didn't give Iconoclast that much of a chance.

I could be wrong and it's just not as good, but hey, I'm not giving up on them because of it. Just like I didn't give up on them after TiO which wasn't really my cup of coffee.

 

[Baroque]

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.

The Odyssey isn't neoclassical? I challenge you to listen to the first 3 minutes 40 seconds of the song The Odyssey again and see if you still believe that statement. Not to mention the many classical piano/keyboard breaks. Then at 16:44 something awesome happens with orchestration... and lasts until 20:17. This section following it from 20:18 till the end is imo one of the best few minutes of melodic power metal ever written.

 

[Baroque]

Maybe you just don't like metal though, Inferno is awesome. The Turning too.

 

[Baroque]

Your lack of Babylon disturbs me.

Ah, forgot that one. Thanks.

 

[donKyle]

Iconoclast would be drastically better if the lyrics weren't so lame

 

[Detective Clarence Beauregard]

Inferno is awesome. The Turning too.

I'm with you on Inferno, although I think The Turning is one of the band's weakest songs in their entire catalog.

Iconoclast would be drastically better if the lyrics weren't so lame

Even as someone who typically places far less value on lyrics than on actual music, I agree. It sounds like most of them were written with the intellectual prowess of a third grader.

 

[Sauna]

^--- As if the lyrics on Inferno were any "smarter" than anything on Iconoclast. Both the song and the album have the exact same type of aggressive power metal lyrics, which is not quite my favourite cup of tea either, but hey, at least it fits the music.

I really don't feel like ranking anything. Suffice to say I really like SX, both old and new. And by new, I mean the last three albums instead of two, since I feel that's a much more natural division.

 

[Marwen]

I'm with you on Inferno, although I think The Turning is one of the band's weakest songs in their entire catalog.

Agreed. It's in my Symphony X filler album:

1. Shades of Grey (Symphony X)
2. Secrets (Damnation Game)
3. Pharaoh (DWOT)
4. Orion the Hunter (TiO)
5. Absence of Light (V)
6. The Turning (Odyssey)
7. Serpent's Kiss (PL)
8. Heretic (Iconoclast)

Nice to know the worst of Symphony X isn't all that horrible though.

well except shades of grey. lol

 

[Phanto]

Absence of Light is great.

 

[Postulate]

^--- As if the lyrics on Inferno were any "smarter" than anything on Iconoclast. Both the song and the album have the exact same type of aggressive power metal lyrics, which is not quite my favourite cup of tea either, but hey, at least it fits the music.

I really don't feel like ranking anything. Suffice to say I really like SX, both old and new. And by new, I mean the last three albums instead of two, since I feel that's a much more natural division.

I have to say, SX's lyrics have always been quite bad, and IMO have neither improved nor worsened. There are a couple sets of lyrics that are pretty good, and for some unfathomable reason they're mostly confined to the Damnation Game(??).

 

[Postulate]

Absence of Light is great.

Agreed, V has no bad tracks at all, and Evolution is probably the worst.

 

[Marwen]

Absence of Light in itself is a good song. But within the context of V it's the only weak track imo, mostly because of its chorus which gets boring rather quickly. Evolution is a better track with a great chorus. It's more V.

 

[Postulate]

Absence of Light in itself is a good song. But within the context of V it's the only weak track imo, mostly because of its chorus which gets boring rather quickly. Evolution is a better track with a great chorus. It's more V.

Well I love call-and-response choruses.

 

[Isaac_de_Moorea]

Agreed. It's in my Symphony X filler album:

1. Shades of Grey (Symphony X)
2. Secrets (Damnation Game)
3. Pharaoh (DWOT)
4. Orion the Hunter (TiO)
5. Absence of Light (V)
6. The Turning (Odyssey)
7. Serpent's Kiss (PL)
8. Heretic (Iconoclast)

Orion the Hunter a filler? That´s new to me, If there are any fillers in TiO I would name Sonata and Dragon´s Den. Shit, even The Relic isn´t that awesome compared to OtH .

 

[Detective Clarence Beauregard]

1. Shades of Grey (Symphony X)
2. Secrets (Damnation Game)
3. Pharaoh (DWOT)
4. Orion the Hunter (TiO)
5. Absence of Light (V)
6. The Turning (Odyssey)
7. Serpent's Kiss (PL)
8. Heretic (Iconoclast)

Ah, the beauty of subjectivity. Heretic is one of my favorite tracks from Iconoclast, not because it sounds much like Symphony X should sound, but because it is a great song on its own. As for the rest, I agree, except for Orion, which is outstanding minus the drawn-out solo section, and Absence, which is a pretty solid song on its own, but one of the weaker (but not weakest) from V.

And Pharaoh > Witching, but other than that, dead on.

Orion the Hunter a filler? That´s new to me, If there are any fillers in TiO I would name Sonata and Dragon´s Den. Shit, even The Relic isn´t that awesome compared to OtH

I love Relic, but Sonata is definitely the weakest link from the album. Other than that? Lady of the Snow. Yep, to me it just doesn't have the drive and the lasting potential of the rest of the album. Even if they HAD written an amazingly epic 20-minute + title track, Lady would have diminished its effect. Its almost as if they tried to recreate Candlelight with the "subtle ending" effect, but failed miserably.

 

[AsoTamaki]

Divine Wings - The Divine Wings of Tragedy, Eyes of Medusa, The Accolade
V - Egypt, Communion and the Oracle, Rediscovery
Odyssey - Awakenings, Accolade II, The Odyssey
Damnation Game - The Edge of Forever, The Haunting, A Winter's Dream
Twilight - Lady of the Snow, Church of the Machine, Orion - The Hunter

 

[Postulate]

Divine Wings - The Divine Wings of Tragedy, Eyes of Medusa, The Accolade
V - Egypt, Communion and the Oracle, Rediscovery
Odyssey - Awakenings, Accolade II, The Odyssey
Damnation Game - The Edge of Forever, The Haunting, A Winter's Dream
Twilight - Lady of the Snow, Church of the Machine, Orion - The Hunter

Nice avatar. I wonder how recognizable that image is now that no one buys physical CDs?

 

[donKyle]

I do!

 

[UnholyCrusada]

Absence of Light is a fantastic song, incredibly underrated. The only reason it feels like filler I think is because up to that point all of V had flowed together so well, and then after The Death of Balance ends so abruptly it comes in with the groovy riff which sounds very different from the rest of how the album does. It's more a matter of placement within the concept rather than the song itself, if that makes any sense.

Honestly, if there's any filler to be had on V, I'd say it's Bird-Serpent War, just because it feels somewhat incomplete in comparison to the rest of the songs (even then, it does work if you merely think of it as a heavy interlude leading from Communion).

Also, I've never liked Orion, honestly. The proggy elements and solo are quite good, but the song just plods along too much for me to really get into it.

While we're at it, here are my picks:

1. V: Rediscovery, Communion and the Oracle, Egypt
2. Odyssey: Odyssey, Awakenings, Accolade II
3. Divine Wings: Divine Wings, The Accolade, Sea of Lies
4. Paradise Lost: Revelation, The Walls of Babylon, Seven
5. Iconoclast: Iconoclast, When All Is Lost, Heretic

 

[Detective Clarence Beauregard]

[Absence is] more a matter of placement within the concept rather than the song itself, if that makes any sense.

Honestly, if there's any filler to be had on V, I'd say it's Bird-Serpent War, just because it feels somewhat incomplete in comparison to the rest of the songs (even then, it does work if you merely think of it as a heavy interlude leading from Communion).

Also, I've never liked Orion, honestly. The proggy elements and solo are quite good, but the song just plods along too much for me to really get into it.

Agreed about V. Bird-Serpent War definitely works if you view the album as a whole, but individually is one of the weaker tracks. Absence is better, but individually I still feel it is weaker than most of the others.

The only part of Orion that I think drags on is the solo section, where the band, if I recall, never changes key signatures. It's just a bit too dull and Dream Theater-ish for me.