Symphony X Song Tournament: Vote for the Best

Results.

The Odyssey beats The Accolade 11-10

The Divine Wings of Tragedy beats Rediscovery pt. 2 12-8

Both contests were extremely close, the first more so then the second. I actually had to recount the votes for the Odyssey vs. Accolade contest several times. Also in an unfortunate turn of events, Rediscovery lost. Still, it was to a worthy opponent.

And now for the round you've all been waiting for...

FINAL


Vs.


My Vote:

The Divine Wings of Tragedy, obviously. It's just transcendent. The sheer beauty of the a cappella intro and Russell's vocal section towards the end, the riffs that are powerfully heavy without becoming overbearing, the lengthy instrumental section that is both intensely complex and utterly sublime, I could go on and on. Odyssey is awesome and magical, don't get me wrong, but as was said at some point on this thread, DWOT has the greater kind of magic. It deserves to win this.
 
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Fuck Accolade lost by one vote. I feel like Apollo Creed at the end of Rocky 2.

The Divine Wings Of Tragedy should win. It truly deserves it; even though The Odyssey is easily one of the top songs of all time over 20 minutes.

I guess it was inevitable the final battle would be fought by two giants.
 
It's very fitting that the two epics make it to the end.

While I think Divine Wings is better as a song, I'm actually going to vote for the Odyssey just because it's the one I end up listening to more often.
 
We all knew it would come down to this, didn't we? ;) Despite all the excitement of the knock-outs, I think most of us knew deep down that this was meant to be; A final between The Odyssey and the Divine Wings of Tragedy, the two big epics.....


Well, my vote goes to.......

The Divine Wings of Tragedy


As Halberd (who btw deserves credit for starting and maintaining such a fun and involving thread:saint:) pointed out, it simply has a bit more "magic" than The Odyssey, which while we're at it is freaking awesome as well.

While the two contenders both are 20min+ epics, they are kind of different in some ways, they have kind of a different "mood" if you know what I mean. The Odyssey is more "modern", and doesn't have that dark, neoclassical feel to it as Divine Wings.

And here, I think much of the reason lies, why I prefer it to The Odyssey. Cause I'm a sucker for dark, evil-sounding music with lots of nasty intervals (like the minor second and the crucially underrated tritone) and neo-classical feel. Symphony X of course have many songs that fills that bill, but The Divine Wings of Tragedy is their magnum opus. It's just so mighty, so powerful and evil-sounding. Romeo's awesome riffing (especially the "Prophet's Cry" riff is fucking badass), the staggering chords in the intro, Pinnella's bright-sounding(in timbre) but dark-sounding (in intervals) keys, his haunting synth, his tasty church organs....



Of course it also has softer moments which makes it more balanced, more dimensional, and guess what, I love those parts as well! As I said in my last post, the part after the intro solos, when it goes quiet, that melody is one of my most beloved lines ever; the "call-and-response", how it, in typical SX-style builds up magically and into the lovely "There was a time..." verse. Just awesome. Another thing I said in my previous post that I must reinforce is that I absolutely adore the piano line at 15:30. And of course, who can forget Sir Russell Allen's magical vocals on the "looking down from a blue sky" part....:worship:

Simply put, the whole song is just out of this world. A worthy winner!! (for me,atleast).
 
Man, I am bummed that Rediscovery lost. Easily my favorite song from Symphony X.

With that said, I guess I can't be too salty given the remaining songs. I like them both a whole lot. It is kind of a hard choice but I think I will have to go with The Odyssey. It is pretty much what UnholyCrusada said. I think Divine Wings is a slightly better song from a compositional point of view, but I just would rather find myself wanting to listen to The Odyssey more often. Maybe it's because Divine Wings is older and I guess it has been over played for me over the years. I also think DWOT is a better album than Odyssey overall but oh well. At this point I don't really care which one wins anymore.

Fun thread BTW. Maybe do it again after they release a new album.
 
Masquerade '98 would have kicked some major butt in this tournament if it were here!

That said, a lot of how things worked out was simply luck of the draw. Some songs, if given another chance, would go much further than they did i.e. Absence of Light, The Relic

As for my vote, sure, Divine Wings, why not. I am actually more emotionally attached to The Odyssey, but deep down, I know that Divine Wings is a better piece of music. No shame in Odyssey nabbing the runner up place. Although, I wonder, if only Rediscovery had ended up on that side of the draw! Or if Accolade got knocked out of the final 5 instead of Looking Glass (semi final match-ups would have been different)!
 
Candlelight Fantasia and The Edge Of Forever should have gone farther than they did. Also combining the two volume songs into one piece for next time would be a good idea. That way the full versions of A Winter's Dream and Rediscovery would stand on their own.
 
My vote goes to The Odyssey.


Divine wings highlights: "there was a time..." (~2 mins) + finale (~2mins). Total "highlight" time: ~4 mins.

Odyssey highlights: "seems like forever, my eyes have been denied" intro stuff (first 6 mins) + "we sit adrift on the open sea" (~40secs) + finale (last 5 mins). Total "highlight" time: ~12 mins.

And, in general, I find the Odyssey to be a better song. It has more "song unique" moments, compared to Divine wings which borrows a lot from songs found on the same album.
The "heavy" stuff in both songs sound quite similar.
 
An unfortunate finale, as I believe the Odyssey should have been eliminated long ago, so there's no real decision to make.

Divine Wings it is. Though I think that A Winter's Dream may compete with it for best SX song.
 
Divine Wings of Tragedy

- Both are great but DWOT is a more of a classic and has more magic to it.
- I'm a purist. I love both Gustav Holst and John Williams but I value Holst more. Classical music > All music. Transcendental introspective spiritual journey with a classical music vibe > Epic Greek mythology adventure with a film score vibe.
- For some reason I'm not a big fan of Greek mythology, especially epic poems. Nothing about The Odyssey as a story interests me intellectually or sentimentally. On the other hand I love shit like William Blake's Marriage of Heaven and Hell. DWOT lyrics > Odyssey lyrics.
- DWOT has a superior intro and outro IMHO.
- I simply find myself listening to DWOT much more than The Odyssey.
etc.

This has been fun. I'm sure The Odyssey will win this, no surprises there. Too bad the winner won't be from any of my favorite 2 albums (V and DWOT) though, but I'm glad at least Accolade and DWOT put up such a strong fight.

All these voting threads should say a lot about how almost everybody still prefers the older material. If only the band stopped listening to their facebook generation of fans and started referring to us the smarter ones instead. :p
 
The Divine Wings of Tragedy

Both of these are Symphony X's magnum opuses (is it possible to have two?), but I find that the earlier work just has more passion and drive to it. Islandstone touched on a lot of the reasons why I love this song (evil intervals, neoclassical feel, use of organs, etc.)

That said, I actually think The Odyssey is better written as a song. But it lacks that classic feel; it's more "modern" in some way, although I can't really figure out why. And I heard The Odyssey long before I heard Divine Wings, so nostalgia isn't a factor.

Phanto said:
Man, The Odyssey is such a shitty song. - no-one ever.
Click to expand...

Very true. I think it's hard to say that these two songs are not Symphony X's finest. But The Odyssey, aside from a few stunning moments, lacks the same type of magic that Divine Wings packs.
 
When I listen to The Odyssey, I'm sure that The Odyssey is the best Symphony X song. When I listen to The Divine Wings, I'm sure The Divine Wings is the best Symphony X song. In other words, both songs are incredibly immersive and I don't care much which one wins.

Currently I'm in a Divine Wings mood, so Divine Wings it is. :)

I remember a dream where I was listening to the Divine Wings. In the dream I noticed that iTunes said 16:45 at track lenght. I was gutted because I wanted the song to last as long as possible. Later that day (after waking up), I found out that Divine Wings lasts for 21 minutes. I can hardly describe how happy and relieved I was at that moment.

If I could select ten songs and could only listen to those songs for the rest of my life, Divine Wings would be among those songs. Without a single doubt. Same for Odyssey. :p
 
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