Holy schnikey! That about sums this 1 up. I was never a real big Symphony X fan I'll admit. The only album I owned prior to PPIII was 'V' and it just didn't completely connect with me. But Bear forced me to listen to the new stuff - thanks Bear - and man, this is good. For those of you who haven't yet hear this magnum opus, I've currently got it ranked as the #3 album on my year-end list. To give you a benchmark as to the other albums I have up there, the new ones from Arch Enemy, Dark Tranquillity, Vader & Nile round out my current top 5. The closest album to this in the power/prog genres IMO is Blind Guardian's ANATO, which I have at #10.
I can't say enough good things about this record. I really can't. It's been in my CD player all day and at least 4 of the tracks are 5/5 on my personal scale. I unfortunately can't compare this to their earlier works, but luckily I picked up most of the Russell Allen-fronted stuff at the show. I of course now need to go back and listen much more closely to 'V' because I'm finding it hard to believe that the same band that produced 'The Odyssey' could put out a bad album. Man, I love when I find an album that grabs me like this!
Consider me a newly-minted convert to the Symphony X worship squad!
I can't say enough good things about this record. I really can't. It's been in my CD player all day and at least 4 of the tracks are 5/5 on my personal scale. I unfortunately can't compare this to their earlier works, but luckily I picked up most of the Russell Allen-fronted stuff at the show. I of course now need to go back and listen much more closely to 'V' because I'm finding it hard to believe that the same band that produced 'The Odyssey' could put out a bad album. Man, I love when I find an album that grabs me like this!
Consider me a newly-minted convert to the Symphony X worship squad!
