Symphony X Song Tournament: Vote for the Best

Candlelight Fantasia - "Winds of change bring songs upon my memory, An empty heart and soul intoxicates me, This darkened page orchestrates my final destiny, Not knowing what, what tomorrow will bring." <- this verse makes the song. The arpeggios.

The Odyssey - Widely regarded as their Magnum Opus, by all rights.

The Accolade - Lyrically their best song. Kid playing knight with dreams of glory grows up to be a templar and dies. "The sword he once held tight, falls forever from his hand."

Egypt - One of their most interesting arrangements ever. So many fantastic moments woven together in 7 minutes, with a catchy refrain to boot. I've said before this is my personal winner of the entire contest.

These songs are pretty much their 4 best songs. Only missing some V tracks and a few others, and you got all the SX I'll ever need.
 
I'm quite disheartened that Babylon has been eliminated.

Anyway, this is the easiest round yet.

Candlelight
Odyssey
Accolade
Egypt

1. A Fool's Paradise is a solid song, but a bit too thrashy/power metalish for me. I really like the neoclassical interlude and when the chorus goes into a gallop, though. Candlelight is one of the band's most heartfelt songs and easily wins this by a mile (or 1.6 km for you non-Americans) for me.

2. This is a joke. I've always thought Sea was overrated, anyway. Love the verses, though.

3. I love Rediscovery pt. 1, although I wish it was combined with pt. 2 for the purposes of this poll. Regardless, it is an interlude going up against a full song (and a great full song at that), so Accolade wins.

4. When it comes to a more progressive track pitted against a heavier, more compact one, the progressive tune is generally going to win in my book. This is no exception. And that bass solo...
 
a Fools Paradise, a solid kick ass song and I really don't like Candlelight...

The Odyssey, No Contest, even though I do like Sea of Lies...

Accolade, One of the best... When I read Phanto's comment about "The sword he once held tight, falls forever from his hand" I actually got goosebumbs just thinking about that part..

Egypt, One of my all time favourites..
 
1. A Fool's Paradise (Fantastic track, I'd definitely take it over Candlelight any day. Power-metal mastery FTW.)

2. Odyssey (This one is a given.)

3. The Accolade (Again, given.)

4. Egypt (It's sad to see Sins go, but this is the better song overall.)
 
Candlelight Fantasia - Seriously hardest choice ever. These two songs are so so great for very different reasons. I had to listen to them both back to back several times to decide and even now I'm writing this I am conflicted. Ultimately I decided to go with Candlelight for it's ridiculously awesome mood changes and uniqueness. Not to mention one of my favorite outros of all time. Some of my top MJR solos are on both of these pieces also.

Odyssey - yeah, I really do enjoy Sea of Lies but the Odyssey is the freaking Odyssey man. No contest.

The Accolade - beautiful song versus my favorite of the intro pieces in the tourney. Still a very easy choice. No contest.

Egypt - Also sad to see sins go but Egypt has so much more depth to it. No contest.
 
Candlelight Fantasia - I absolutely love Fool's Paradise and consider it underrated, but Candlelight is like top 5 or at least top 10 material.
Odyssey - of course. Don't like Sea of Lies anyway.
Accolade - of course.
Egypt - Of Sins and Shadows is good, Egypt is better.
 
1. Candlelight Fantasia. Rather tough choice, definitely the toughest on this round (the other 3 are fairly obvious,though). Candlelight is just so unique and, as Detective puts it, heartfelt. It's also one of the songs with the best lyrics.



2. This is going to be unanimous. The Odyssey. One of their utmost pieces easily wins against Lies, which by all means is a good solid song, but far from a masterpiece like the Odyssey.



3. The Accolade. I love the Rediscovery segue, but against a full song, and especially a song like this, it stands little chance I'm afraid. The Accolade is one of my top 10 SX songs. The intro, the verses, the chorus, Russ' choir vocals, and who on this forum honestly doesn't love that polyrhytmic masterclass?



4. Egypt. One of the best songs from V. As others have said, it simply has more depth than Sins, which is a good, though rather standard tune.
 
A Fool's Paradise
The Odyssey
The Accolade
Egypt

The only hard decision was picking against Candlelight. The other three winners are all in my top 10 Symphony X songs.
 
Candlelight Fantasia beats A Fool's Paradise 9-8
The Odyssey beats Sea of Lies 17-0
The Accolade beats Rediscovery pt.1 17-0
Egypt beats Of Sins and Shadows 14-3

Dear lord, Candlelight vs. Fool's Paradise was close. The others were decisive as expected, with Accolade taking its third unanimous victory.

There are six more matchups in this round, so I'll post them three at a time.


Vs.



Vs.




My votes:
The Divine Wings of Tragedy- If I can vote for A Lesson before Dying over the meh ballad of Paradise Lost, I can certainly vote for the masterpiece that is DWOT. No contest.
Communion and the Oracle- While Winter's Dream has some nice parts, Communion is my second favorite song off of V, especially with that utterly beautiful intro.
Rediscovery pt. II- I sense a close contest here- these songs are both extraordinary. Still, Rediscovery is my favorite SX song of all time, and I remain a loyal supporter.
 
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Divine Wings - Both good song, but one is significantly better.
Communion - Both good song, but one is significantly better (again).
Rediscovery pt 2 - Edge of Forever is a good song, but one of the weaker epics of SX. Rediscovery is longer, more versatile, and has that V magic ;)