Symphony X Song Tournament: Vote for the Best

[Postulate]

The Accolade - easy.

Rediscovery Pt. 1 - great intro, and I've always found Domination very bland, save the opening bass line and that cool middle section (y'all probably know the one).

Of Sins and Shadows - Not my favorite, but still a great energetic track with fun call and response in the vocals & instrumentals.

Egypt - this last one is very hard, because I love both so much. Death of Balance has some awesome drumming. But Egypt is pretty much perfect.

 

[Postulate]

Also, hearing the keyboard timbre at the beginning of Rediscovery Pt. 1 again for the first time in a long while was quite shocking. It may sound somewhat dated now (or maybe even then?) but it's a great choice, and very charming. Certainly sounds nothing like Pinnella's keys now...

 

[Marwen]

What DO Pinnella's keys sound like now? lol

 

[Detective Clarence Beauregard]

Egypt is a great song, but I think its chorus suffers from being pretty unmemorable. Everything else is top notch, though.

that cool middle section (y'all probably know the one).

Some of my favorite heavy Symphony X ever.

Also, hearing the keyboard timbre at the beginning of Rediscovery Pt. 1 again for the first time in a long while was quite shocking. It may sound somewhat dated now (or maybe even then?) but it's a great choice, and very charming. Certainly sounds nothing like Pinnella's keys now...

Love it. So sick of the mechanical synth crap on Iconoclast.

 

[Halberd]

Results time.

The Accolade beats Prometheus 17-0
Rediscovery pt. 1 beats Domination 11-6
Of Sins and Shadows beats Into the Dementia 16-1
Egypt beats Death of Balance/Lacrymosa 15-2

Hey, a unanimous victory! Accolade's second in a row, too. Despite a substantial minority of supporters/interlude haters, Domination is defeated, as it should be. The other contests are pretty pedestrian, but I can see the beginnings of one hell of a Round 4 matchup...

Onwards we go.


Vs.

Vs.



Vs.


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiP3RRkQolY"]Lady of the Snow[/ame]
Vs.


My votes:

A Lesson Before Dying- Paradise Lost is a nice ballad and all, but ALBD is their best song with Tyler, and has some pretty awesome moments.

Divine Wings of Tragedy I almost feel bad for downvoting WAIL, as it is my favorite track off of IC and seems to be undeservedly badmouthed quite a bit on this forums. However, there's just no escaping the fact that DWOT is simply better than it in every way.

Communion and the Oracle- Easy. Eyes of Medusa is kind of blah and generically heavy, and the orchestral interlude doesn't fit at all. Meanwhile, Communion is just jaw-droppingly good and is my second favorite off of V after Rediscovery.

Lady of The Snow- In this wintry contest, I barely prefer Lady of the Snow because it just touches my emotions a bit more, and I enjoy the Eastern textures sprinkled throughout as well.

 

[UnholyCrusada]

1. A Lesson Before Dying (Best song on the debut by a long shot. PL is very good, but not quite as memorable as some other ballads.)

2. Divine Wings (I love both, but you can't really compete with what is, aside from The Odyssey and the entirety of V, the band's finest moment.)

3. Communion and the Oracle (The song that made me stand up and applaud upon my first listen to V. Absolutely fantastic. Medusa is just very unremarkable.)

4. A Winter's Dream pt. II (Just not too big a fan of Lady of the Snow.)

 

[Prismatic Sphere]

A Lesson Before Dying - barely. With Russell on vocals it would be a slayfest. There's just a whole lot more cool stuff going on with this one.
Divine Wings Of Tragedy
Communion And The Oracle
A Winter's Dream Pt. II - goddammit for having to make me vote against lovely Lady Of The Snow. This one was the hardest to vote on yet and it only wins for that goosebump-inducing magical middle section that I alluded to earlier.

 

[Detective Clarence Beauregard]

Paradise Lost
Divine Wings
Communion
Winter's Dream II

1. I've been obsessed with Paradise Lost lately for some reason, even though it's quite pedestrian in the complexity department. A Lesson Before Dying would stand a chance if Russ was singing on it, though.

2. Divine Wings, obviously (it's perfect). When All Is Lost just seems so flat to me; it lacks any kind of magic, save for the middle instrumental section. It's almost as if MJR said "Okay, guys, we need a ballad on this intense album, so let's write one based on a formula!"

3. Communion is the obvious choice. Such a beautiful, multifaceted song. I love the lack of any kind of chorus, too. Very progressive. Awesome keys.

4. Easy choice for me, as I've never been a big fan of Lady of the Snow.

 

[UnholyCrusada]

Divine Wings, obviously (it's perfect).

It's great, definitely, but I don't know about perfect. The crazy guitar/key solo in the intro seems a bit misplaced to me. Everything else is awesome though.

 

[Phanto]

Paradise Lost
Divine Wings
Communion
Lady of the Snow

These are all beautiful songs. All of them are better than the songs they were up against, too.
The toughest choice was between Lady of the Snow vs Winter's Dream pII.

 

[EyeballKid]

Paradise Lost
DWoT
Communion and the Oracle
Winter's Dream, pt II

 

[Baroque]

Paradise Lost - Anything off PL > anything off that album
Divine Wings of Tragedy - duh
Communion and the Oracle - since you all killed off possibly the best track on V in favor of the worst, I have to keep the other good V tracks alive.

Last one - don't care

 

[Marwen]

Paradise Lost - I like both songs about the same. PL sounds much better production wise.

The Divine Wings of Tragedy - WAIL is the second best song on Iconoclast (after Iconoclast). Absolutely no match for DWOT however.

Communion and the Oracle - Love both songs, but the obscure little gem from DWOT is no match for one of SX's best songs ever made.

Lady of the Snow - Not a very obvious choice but I didn't hesitate too much as I've always loved Lady. Pretty unique song. I love the mythical ethereal feel to it and its Asian (Mongolian) theme.

 

[LavagesOfTime]

Paradise Lost
Divine Wings
Communion
Winter's Dream II

 

[Wander]

Ya'll are crazy. Listen to Lacrymosa from 2:20 till the end. That alone beats all of Egypt which is run of the mill stuff for SX, and cheesy at times.. You're kinda saying an average prog metal tune is better than perhaps Mozart's greatest masterpiece

Late comment on this, but anyway:

There is simply nothing that special about Symphony X's interpretation of Mozart's Lacrimosa. It's not even the full movement. Hearing it performed by an orchestra is not even comparable.

Also, regardless of how you think they fared, Evanescence actually does something with the piece. In Symphony X's case it's just an another Mozart cameo in their catalogue.

Egypt on the other hand is a fan favourite from V. One of Russell's most diverse vocal performances. Rhythmically interesting, memorable chorus, and the piano solo at the very end that leads to Death of Balance is just perfect. In fact more powerful than their version of Lacrimosa for me.

 

[UnholyCrusada]

I have to agree with Wander overall.

That said, there is literally not a single lackluster portion of V. The whole album is just absolutely kickass. But the issue is that to achieve the proper "effect" if you will, the album has to be listened to from start to finish. Many of the tracks just don't function as individual songs, which is why they're ultimately unsuited for this kind of competition.

 

[Prismatic Sphere]

Agreed with the last two posts. And Communion is the band's most complete song off of V. I predict that this song lasts the longest in the tourney from the V record.

 

[Baroque]

I like Death of Balance better than Egypt too (not just Lacrymosa). Really interesting tension and rhythmic complexity. And then the way it crescendos into that beautiful Mozart with standard rhythm, it's just a perfect moment after all that tension. It's like life man, work hard and get through all the drama all day, then moments of happiness when you get home to the family..

To people giving me Mozart lessons... I know. I know it's not the full movement, I know it sounds better with a symphony and choir and I know he died around the time of writing it, etc. To the guy calling me a kid? really? Who do you think you are?

I think SX's interpretation fits wonderfully into that song. If they did something like Evanescence did at that point in the music, it would seem out of place. And I never said anything bad about their version, I like that too.

Alright, and Egypt. The 'Egyptness' of it seems very forced to me. I know they need to go to Egypt for the lore of the album, but I dunno, man. The vocals seem cheesier than usual, the weird rhythm kills any kind of groove or tension for me. It doesn't really have a moment that stands out to me for the majority of the song. I usually skip over that track when listening to the V album.

That's the last I'll say on last round, since it doesn't matter. Though I'm sure 10 more people will quote me and tell me how I'm wrong after the fact, and Egypt is better because it's popular (wasn't there a fallacy about this?).

 

[UnholyCrusada]

Alright, and Egypt. The 'Egyptness' of it seems very forced to me. I know they need to go to Egypt for the lore of the album, but I dunno, man. The vocals seem cheesier than usual, the weird rhythm kills any kind of groove or tension for me. It doesn't really have a moment that stands out to me for the majority of the song. I usually skip over that track when listening to the V album.

I won't lie, I thought that way too when I first heard V. To me, it was originally the weakest track on the album (I still thought it was good though!). It's one of those songs that grows on you after a few listens. Nowadays, I would certainly say it's one of my favorites (though to be fair, every song on V may as well be my favorite ).

 

[Liampie]

A Lesson Before Dying - quite close. Rough great song versus smooth mediocre song.
Divine Wings - no contest.
Communion - no contest.
Lady of the Snow - close