Symphony X Song Tournament: Vote for the Best

1. Revelation. The best song on Paradise Lost, along with the title track. Great chorus and interlude. Walls is far from the worst PL track, with especially the beginning being pretty good. But Revelation is better.


2. Evolution. I sense an unanimous victory here. Nothing against Transcendence, which is a great interlude, but it stands little chance against a full song. Evolution is a great opener with a catchy chorus, not spectacular but still quite solid.


3. Church of the Machine. Even though I always listen to the live version, it still beats King of Terrors. Church is just a great tune with lots of energy, good melodies and a classic chorus. Top 10 song for me.

King is good, it has a decent chorus and some cool parts, like the piano part at 3:47. But Church is a clear winner here.


4. Through the Looking Glass. Easy. Inferno is a good and solid song, I’ve always liked the chorus and the vocal part which follows (“Time will come when all will see”). But….

Looking Glass is on a completely another level. It’s simply a masterpiece, and is on my top 5 of SX songs. Especially the first half of it is pure magic, with the “Run,Alice,run…” part as kind of a climax (another great example of Symphony X’s ability to express mystery…). The chorus gets repeated quite a lot in the end, but it’s not really a big deal, not for me anyway. This song is WORLD-CLASS. (And yes, I always listen to the live version of this one as well).
 
Revelation
Evolution
King of Terrors
Inferno

Great round from a metalhead's point of view. Some of their best work. Revelation could have gone either way for me, I like both tracks. Walls is probably the better song from a creative/progressive point of view. Revelation has one of SX's best choruses ever though.

"Welcome to the Anarchy!" awesome opening line for a metal album (Inferno)
 
Revelation - Strongest song off of PL.
Transcendence - Evolution just never did it for me. Transcendence on the other hand is simply beautiful.
Church Of The Machine - good thing about this round will simply be putting KoT to rest.
Inferno - The superior studio song imo. I know and am fine with the fact that TTLG is going to win. However, the live version of TTLG would easily win out here.
 
The Walls of Babylon - I like Revelation but I've never been a big fan of it. Walls kicks some serious ass. Creative song with an awesome "battle" atmosphere to it.

Evolution - Because, unlike Transcendence, it's an actual song.

Church of the Machine - I like both but Church wins easily. Ironically, I consider it better than 95% of the material on IC.

Through the Looking Glass - Same as the above. I like both and I don't dislike Inferno. Like Romeo, I grew up listening to stuff like Pantera and I don't mind the aggressive riff and don't consider it "nu-metalish" or anything like that. It's a kick ass progressive song and I like Russell's performance in it. No match for Looking Glass though IMO.
 
Walls of Babylon - Th two tracks here are definitely my favorites on PL (honorable mention to the title track)

Evolution - Easy choice

Church of the Machine - As others have said the live version is worlds better. Still beats out KoT in my book though.

Inferno - An iconic opening and the first Symphony X song I ever heard. Nothing against Looking Glass at all though here as it is among the bands finest songs.
 
Revelation
Evolution
Church of the Machine - This is one of THE best songs in Symphony X's catalogue
Through the Looking Glass - I do like Inferno though.
 
Revelation - my favorite 2 off of PL. This is a pretty tough choice but I guess Revelation wins by a hair.
Evolution - LOL a full song vs what might as well be the last 30 seconds of Fallen
Church of the Machine - KOT is a good track but Church is too epic
Through the Looking Glass - this is a really easy one. Inferno is average for Symphony X, TTLG is among their best

(by the way I think some of the youtube videos you posted in the thread are incorrect, or at least they are titled wrong. I didnt click them cuz I'm at work)
 
Revelation
Evolution
Church of the Machine (I like KoT though)
Through the Looking Glass (I love Inferno though)
Easy round.
 
Revelation - one of my sx's faves. Plus, never been fond of Walls
Evolution - one of my sx's faves.
King of Terrors - easy win, one of my faves off the Odyssey against a good song I've never been fond of
Inferno - tough choice, I do like through the looking glass, and I got annoyed by Inferno because of the overplaying. But I do remember how I felt the first time I heard it! The way the drums kick in blew me away!
 
Walls of Babylon
Evolution
Church of the Machine
Through the Looking Glass

1. This is the toughest one yet for me. These are easily the two strongest tracks from PL, and even though Revelation is more melodic, in the end I have to give it to Babylon. It's just a monster of a song, and there's so many great riffs in there. The intro in particular is amazing; you can really picture massive armies moving across the desert while listening to this.

2. The full song beats the brief segue simply on principle. I'm not a huge fan of Evolution, though, which I consider (like Sins, Smoke, and Sea) to be one of the band's most overrated tracks.

3. Another tough one, although I suspect King's syncopated staccato heaviness isn't for everyone (although I love it). I have to give it to Church simply due to the fact that it is a more multifaceted song that takes the listener through several mood changes, whereas King is pretty much just brutal dissonance throughout. Both amazing tracks. Love the lyrical themes in both, too.

4. This one is a no-brainer, although I suspect the metal crowd will prefer Inferno. Looking Glass is probably a top five for me; many moods and progressions beat the more shred-happy Inferno any day of the week in my book. The live version is even better. I had the fortune of hearing them play it in 2008 and it was probably the best I've ever heard the band sound.

EyeballKid said:
I'm bummed that Awakenings is gone.
Click to expand...

Me too, but it was inevitable going up against the beast of Rediscovery. A better match-up in my opinion would have been Awakenings vs. Accolade II.
 
Results:

Revelation beats Walls of Babylon 12-6
Evolution beats Transcendence 17-1
Church of the Machine beats King of Terrors 14-4
Through the Looking Glass beats Inferno 14-4

Well, that was a solid end to the second round. Strange how two contests in a row have a progressive TiO song beating a heavy Odyssey one by the exact same margin. Anyway, on to...

Round 3


Vs.



Vs.



Vs.




My votes:

Candlelight Fantasia- Hard decision. Fool's Paradise is fast, technical, and awesome, but CF just has some spine-chillingly gorgeous moments.

The Odyssey- And this song continues to obliterate all in its path. Sea of Lies just can't compare.

The Accolade- Probably my fifth favorite SX song of all time- the polyrhythm part just contains enormous amounts of pure genius and the vocals are amazing as well. Also, Rediscovery pt.1 is only one minute.

Egypt- I'm not as in love with this song as some people here are, but it's still superior to Sins, which I feel needs to be put to rest right about now.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Halberd said:
Candlelight Fantasia- Hard decision. Fool's Paradise is fast, technical, and awesome, but CF just has some spine-chillingly gorgeous moments.

The Odyssey- And this song continues to obliterate all in its path. Sea of Lies just can't compare.

The Accolade- Probably my fifth favorite SX song of all time- the polyrhythm part just contains enormous amounts of pure genius and the vocals are amazing as well. Also, Rediscovery pt.1 is only one minute.

Egypt- I'm not as in love with this song as some people here are, but it's still superior to Sins, which I feel needs to be put to rest right about now.
Click to expand...

^+1

Agreed with all you just said. Same votes. Too lazy to add anything more.
 
A Fool's Paradise - listening to them one after another, this is the clear winner. Candlelight is nice, but this I love the energy and forward momentum of Fool's. Chorus is cool too.
The Odyssey - no competition.
The Accolade - how that segue made it so far i'll never know
Of Sins and Shadows - you all know how I feel about Egypt.

Idea - after this tournament, we could have a tournament for the runners-up, which would rank all of SX's songs from 1 to however many there are
 
A Fool's Paradise - Candlelight Fantasia is a fantastic song and I have always loved it and still do, but A Fool's Paradise is one of my all time favorite Symphony X songs. Top 3 off my favorite album.

The Odyssey - LOL! Sea of Lies is average at best and I agree with a lot of people that it is pretty overrated (I also prefer the live version). The Odyssey is just too godlike.

Accolade - Even though Rediscovery is my favorite Symphony X song, most of the song is part 2, so there really isn't a reason to keep part 1 going this long, and the Accolade is an amazing piece.

Of Sins and Shadows - Nothing against Egypt but it has always been kind of an average song to me, at least when compared to the rest of V. Of Sins and Shadows is one of the songs that really got me into the band and I still love it to this day.
 
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