Symphony X - First Half or Second Half?

[RuRoRul]

With 8 albums out, Symphony X has exactly two halves of their discography, the former consisting of Symphony X, The Damnation Game, The Divine Wings Of Tragedy and Twilight In Olympus, with the latter half made up of V: The New Mythology Suite, The Odyssey, Paradise Lost and now Iconoclast. So which is better?

(And no, before people come in with "I'd take Divine Wings and V", you don't get to do that).

So which do you prefer? Old or new? 90s or 00s (and 10s)? Obviously the first half has the massive drag factor of the debut, while the second half is blighted with PL and Iconoclast and the hatedom they have garnered, but each half has one of the two albums that are most often lauded as their best on this forum.

Curious to see whether their "later" years are preferred over their early ones.

 

[maestro41]

With 8 albums out, Symphony X has exactly two halves of their discography, the former consisting of Symphony X, The Damnation Game, The Divine Wings Of Tragedy and Twilight In Olympus, with the latter half made up of V: The New Mythology Suite, The Odyssey, Paradise Lost and now Iconoclast. So which is better?

(And no, before people come in with "I'd take Divine Wings and V", you don't get to do that).

So which do you prefer? Old or new? 90s or 00s (and 10s)? Obviously the first half has the massive drag factor of the debut, while the second half is blighted with PL and Iconoclast and the hatedom they have garnered, but each half has one of the two albums that are most often lauded as their best on this forum.

Curious to see whether their "later" years are preferred over their early ones.

tough, very tough,
but I guess I would have to go with the latter because they have more songs per album that I enjoy.

 

[Marwen]

Wherever V is.

 

[Prog is King]

I have to go with the second half as V is my all time favorite album ever. The Odyssey is great too.
And personally I don't think PL and Iconoclast are blights whatsoever. If it was a case of losing either
set I think I could deal with losing the first half easier than the second although I love Divine Wings.
Where does their live album fit into this discussion? Or does it?

 

[metalxmetalx]

Hard question. I like all their releases, even the debut!

But if I had to, I'd choose the second half because of The Odyssey.

 

[RuRoRul]

I generally consider V as their best because every song is so good and it comes together as an album so well. And PL and Iconoclast definitely aren't blights to me, PL is roughly tied with V for my favourite album and I thoroughly enjoy the new one (although I don't know how I'd rank it next to their other albums until it's had time to sink in).

So their later years have their perfect concept album, their number one song (The Odyssey) and two albums I find very consistent and that include a couple more of my absolute favourite SX (Revelation, When All Is Lost). It's an easy choice - these four albums are probably my top four Sympgony X albums.

I'm not a fan of the debut, and The Damnation Game is the only Russel Allen album that I don't like every song on, and it doesn't have that Symphony X magic for me (obvious exception being The Edge Of Forever which is among my absolute favourites), Twilight In Olympus is good and Church Of The Machine and Through The Looking Glass are in the upper tier of my favourite SX songs but it's lacking something to make it feel like it's as great as most of their other albums (probably because the title track didn't make it and ended up as V). And DWOT, although it obviously has some of their best songs on it and is a great SX album, just never quite seemed as good as a whole as V, PL or The Odyssey.

 

[Detective Clarence Beauregard]

This is extremely difficult, as each half has two albums that I consider to be among their four best (Divine Wings through Odyssey). I guess I'll pick the second half, since the first half really was all in the same style. The Odyssey and V were the albums that got me into them, too.

I should add that I'm picking the second half solely for V and The Odyssey; the other two albums have no bearing on it whatsoever.

 

[Vamos]

Second half.

 

[DeanWarBird]

This is a crazy poll...
I like all of their albums, but their later albums obviously sound better production wise.
Iconoclast is my favourite album ever (out of everything). It's absolutely amazing, I LOVE EVERY SONG.

 

[_Gentleman of_the Snow_]

Middle Half

 

[Pamonha]

I'll take the second half because of V and Odyssey. Along with DWOT, they're the top 3 for me.

But when I read the "middle half", this one would be better, because has the three of them togheter!

 

[Detective Clarence Beauregard]

Middle Half

DWOT + TIO + V + Odyssey is easily the best choice! It sucks that it's not an option!

 

[gnsks2006]

Tough one but... Accolade + DWOT + Candlelight Fantasia = first half for me.

 

[ElvenShadow]

Yea... its a bit difficult the way its split... middle half would be the best choice. I like all of their albums except the debut (though there are some songs that I really like on it that im sure if they re-recorded now would sound fantastic) but V is my favorite so I picked 2nd half.

 

[chriscc]

Without hesitation, second half. The last quarter (PL and Iconoclast) are great if you like the metal side of things, and they have outstanding production quality. V and Odyssey (listening to it right now) are their best in general.

 

[bigmachine22]

Great question. I imagined this as a "if you could NEVER listen to the first half or second half of their discography again, which half would you choose?"

Though DWOT is the best imo, losing V and The Odyssey probably isn't worth it. So...2nd half.

 

[PrgrsveMetalnChains]

Second Half minus TiO for me. V+Odyssey+PL+IC = Perfection.

 

[Phanto]

Even though V is their best album I chose the first half. The music is more neoclassical and interesting.

 

[KevinMoore]

I like "V" a lot but i choose first half without any doubt. Symphony X showed all his best creativity and magic there. Now they have better tools in the record process and better productions but songs like "The Edge of Forever", "Candlelight Fantasia", "Through the Looking Glass"... All was already there, i think, except you prefer the modern metal side of the band.

 

[-kNuCkleS-]

First half, more neoclassical.