1.
Paradise Lost. Easy choice. PL was the song which really got me into SX, and so, it has always been one of my favourites. Awesome chorus, lots of nice work from Pinnella, and Allen shines as always. Never cared too much about Sonata.
2.
A Lesson Before Dying. The intro is beautiful, and it has some decent parts here and there. And I would rather pick their first epic though an average one, before a modern metal song like Heretic.
NB: Am I the only one who thinks the part at 9:44 reminds about the intro to Iconoclast??
3.
Divine Wings. A Neo-classical masterpiece from start to finish. Just supreme. So many awesome parts throughout the song
.
Fallen is great though, one of my favourites from V. That intro is SO badass
in fact, the whole song is badass; I love Romeos crunchy guitar playing in the verses
and the solo section is great. Kind of a shame this came up against Divine Wings
4.
When All is Lost: Oculus is not a bad opener, but WAIL gets this. True, the lyrics are sometimes a bit cheesy, and the intro seems a bit traditional, but this tune is one of the best from Iconoclast. I love the pedaling piano-line at 1:27, typical Pinnella playing such awesome melodies
Like Reign in Madness I find this also to have a quite strong chorus, and a great interlude; the Hammond organ-part at 4:40 is really cool, and the part afterwards (5:20) shows that they still are capable of making magic; beautiful interaction between the guitar and the piano, and I love the synth which comes in with the bass and the drums.
Then there is a beautiful solo by Romeo, before
.well, Ive got to agree about the second solo, and I have felt this since the first time I heard the song; it doesnt fit, I feels like kind of an anti-climax, like Romeo just wanted to throw in some more shredding just for the sake of it. But otherwise, its a really good song.
