The Odyssey Deceives!

[BastrdDrmr]

Hmm... in my honest opinion, Divine Wings of Tragedy is the least proggy album of them all. It starts with 3 very straight forward tracks, then Eyes of Medusa, Pharaoh, Witching Hour, and Candlelight Fantasia, which is nicely orchestrated but doesn't really seem "proggy" to me (just because it's not heavy doesn't mean it's progressive). The only progressive tracks are Accolade and the title track, IMO. The songs feature lots of Mike Romeo solos, particularly Sea of Lies, but it's still a straight forward song structure.

 

[Yngvai X]

This is the perfect example of the people I am talking about. Where Symphony X "wants" to be? I am glad you know what they are thinking! .

Well, considering the Odyssey is their latest effort, and they were all pleased with how it turned out, I think its a safe assumption that the album is where they want to be .

 

[aiwass]

If you ask me, it's all good. I personally want more epics, like The Accolades, The Odyssey, Communion and the Oracle, etc.

I just love the "storytelling" songs.

 

[Platinum Maze]

Yngvai X and the Yngster summed up my feelings perfectly.

 

[Zax666]

Fuck labels, they're all made up by journalists.

 

[Snowmaker]

So, you're complaining because it doesn't sound like that crap that Pain of Salvation or Porcupine Tree play??



If you don't like it, don't listen.

 

[Pharaoh]

"deceives" is a harsh word. Have you considered that the guys wanted to create a more aggressive and metal CD in order to expose their talents to a wider audience? It's working for them, and not through deceptive means. Everybody who owns their entire catalog and who has seen them perform live for several years realize that their extreme and combined talents allow them the versatility to do about anything. So...they can offer something appealing to everybody who recognizes them for what they are and what they're doing. THAT is a talent in itself, and one which sets this band high above most others, in my opinion. I truly believe they know what we want and we will not be disappointed.

P.S. I'm with Zax666......."Fuck labels, they're all made up by journalists."

 

[NegrocK_SyX]

So, you're complaining because it doesn't sound like that crap that Pain of Salvation or Porcupine Tree play??



If you don't like it, don't listen.

Excuse me Do not mess with Pain of Salvation, since I have respect from that band ok? Flaming other bands won't be tolerated, thanx

 

[symphonyXjapan]

Hmm... in my honest opinion, Divine Wings of Tragedy is the least proggy album of them all. It starts with 3 very straight forward tracks, then Eyes of Medusa, Pharaoh, Witching Hour, and Candlelight Fantasia, which is nicely orchestrated but doesn't really seem "proggy" to me (just because it's not heavy doesn't mean it's progressive). The only progressive tracks are Accolade and the title track, IMO. The songs feature lots of Mike Romeo solos, particularly Sea of Lies, but it's still a straight forward song structure.

I think a lot of people here are losing track of what I am saying. I never said Symphony X is purposefully deceiving people, just that people who are new to the band by means of The Odyssey are acting like The Odyssey is all SX is about. They claim they are not prog metal and that the Odyssey sound is where SX plans to stay from here on. And here where BastrdDrmr says that just because a song isn't heavy doesn't mean it's progressive, shows the opposite of what my main point gets at. And that is just because a song is really heavy (The Odyssey), doesn't mean that IT'S not progressive either. I guess what I am really saying is that even though I want SX to accumulate more fans, believe me I try to convert people all the time, I don't like the kinds of people (the majority at least) it has brought in. They are heavy/death/thrash metalheads that don't want to admit they like a progressive metal group and claim that SX is not prog metal. There are just too many who assume music has to sound like the stereotypical prog sound of Dream Theater, Pagan's Mind, or Shadow Gallery, for a few examples, to be considered progressive.

 

[symphonyXjapan]

Excuse me Do not mess with Pain of Salvation, since I have respect from that band ok? Flaming other bands won't be tolerated, thanx

Oh yeah, and me too! PoS rules! Don't diss the Swedes!

Lol............hearing about this band for a while I finally gave them a try some months ago and I love them. Mainly because they are one of those bands where you can't judge them by listening to a few songs, their sound changes not so much from album to album as they do track to track.

 

[Ultimate_Symphony]

I think a lot of people here are losing track of what I am saying. I never said Symphony X is purposefully deceiving people, just that people who are new to the band by means of The Odyssey are acting like The Odyssey is all SX is about. They claim they are not prog metal and that the Odyssey sound is where SX plans to stay from here on. And here where BastrdDrmr says that just because a song isn't heavy doesn't mean it's progressive, shows the opposite of what my main point gets at. And that is just because a song is really heavy (The Odyssey), doesn't mean that IT'S not progressive either. I guess what I am really saying is that even though I want SX to accumulate more fans, believe me I try to convert people all the time, I don't like the kinds of people (the majority at least) it has brought in. They are heavy/death/thrash metalheads that don't want to admit they like a progressive metal group and claim that SX is not prog metal. There are just too many who assume music has to sound like the stereotypical prog sound of Dream Theater, Pagan's Mind, or Shadow Gallery, for a few examples, to be considered progressive.

Pardon me, but that's a bullshit generalization. Do you really think any death/thrash metal fan would say SyX are not a prog metal band and at the same time admit that they like a power metal band? (that band being SyX) I highly doubt it, since the majority of death metal fans hate power metal with a passion. The genre dilemma is really useless. SyX don't need fans that just listen to one album and assume that album is all that SyX is about; whoever wants to listen to the band should check their entire catalogue, if not, they don't need them.

 

[symphonyXjapan]

So, you're complaining because it doesn't sound like that crap that Pain of Salvation or Porcupine Tree play??



If you don't like it, don't listen.

Oh yeah I forgot. I never complained about not like The Odyssey, I love it! It is hard to name my favorite SX albums but if I had to The Odyssey would be second or third probably

 

[symphonyXjapan]

Pardon me, but that's a bullshit generalization. Do you really think any death/thrash metal fan would say SyX are not a prog metal band and at the same time admit that they like a power metal band? (that band being SyX) I highly doubt it, since the majority of death metal fans hate power metal with a passion. The genre dilemma is really useless. SyX don't need fans that just listen to one album and assume that album is all that SyX is about; whoever wants to listen to the band should check their entire catalogue, if not, they don't need them.

I don't know why, but I have seen a HELL of a lot more death/thrash metal fans talking crap about prog metal while never really seeing anyone diss on power metal. And especially things like I have described since I started this topic. I always see them saying that prog is "cheesy wankering", "music from the 80's", and my all time favorite, "instrumental masturbation". I just don't want people saying a band isn't progressive because it is either.......melodic, symphonic, epic, or neoclassical. That is because these are just sub-genres of prog. If music is considered prog only if it sounds like the stereotypical prog like those I mentioned above then it wouldn't be very "progressive" now would it? People talk so in depth about what exactly prog metal is and I will sum it up with three rules.

1. Musicianship (as in good song writing)
2. Technicality
3. Keyboards (probably the biggest factor since it is what makes the music change by using different sounds. What makes prog metal so unique.)

 

[The Metal Chick]

Everytime someone brings up the genre topic, especially in terms of what genre Symphony X is, it gets real ugly in here. It doesn't matter what they are categorized as, it doesn't matter what fans want to label them as...you either like the music as Symphony X, or you don't.

In other words, as many have said so far... WHO CARES

 

[Ultimate_Symphony]

I don't know why, but I have seen a HELL of a lot more death/thrash metal fans talking crap about prog metal while never really seeing anyone diss on power metal. And especially things like I have described since I started this topic. I always see them saying that prog is "cheesy wankering", "music from the 80's", and my all time favorite, "instrumental masturbation". I just don't want people saying a band isn't progressive because it is either.......melodic, symphonic, epic, or neoclassical. That is because these are just sub-genres of prog. If music is considered prog only if it sounds like the stereotypical prog like those I mentioned above then it wouldn't be very "progressive" now would it? People talk so in depth about what exactly prog metal is and I will sum it up with three rules.

1. Musicianship (as in good song writing)
2. Technicality
3. Keyboards (probably the biggest factor since it is what makes the music change by using different sounds. What makes prog metal so unique.)

I know some death fans bashing prog metal, but trust me, i've seen a lot more bashing power metal. I'm going to give my 2 cents on the prog matter:

I consider SyX to be a metal band with prog influences, but considering their song structure is more straightforward than other prog metal bands, I think they fall more on the metal side than on the prog side. SyX tend to make a lot of ''straightforward'' metal songs on their albums, here are some examples:

Out Of The Ashes
Of Sins And Shadows
The Turning
King Of Terrors
Evolution
Sea Of Lies
Inferno
Smoke And Mirrors
The Relic

Hell I think that's enough, now let's go with some songs with a more prog structure:

The Divine Wings Of Tragedy
Rediscovery Part II
Through The Looking Glass
Church Of The Machine
Awakenings
Both Accolade's

I find that their catalogue is filled with much more of verse, chorus, verse, chorus type of metal songs. In my opinion prog and technical metal are two very different things. I consider that a song that's very difficult to play but has the typical metal song structure to be a technical song, but a song that explores other ideas and don't follow the typical song structures (verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solos) is a prog or prog metal song for me. That's why I don't think SyX are 100% prog metal.

 

[Yngvai X]

First of all, I like the fact that SyX is attracting metal fans from all varieties of metal, it shows how broad of an appeal they have. Plus, being a fan of some thrash and black metal, I like being able to come here and see the occasional topic discussing a band like Dimmu Borgir or Children of Bodom. Sorry if I'm misinterpreting you, SyXjapan, but it sounds to me like you wish SyX fans to be nothing but prog fans.

Perhaps a lot of death/black/thrash/power fans don't like prog because if its inability to rock out? I know thats the one thing I dislike about it. I don't hate prog because of it, but it sort of takes away one of the biggest aspects of metal, which is the groove, mostly cause most prog bands are more concerened with being technical and having lots of odd time signatures. Which is cool, that has its place, and I dig *unique* prog bands like Pain of Salvation, but Im saying a lot of fans of more "straightfoward" kind of metal might not dig prog for that reason.

Just to add, I think besides Rush, SyX is the *only* progmetal band I've ever heard who can make odd time signatures have a real groove, hence one of the reaosns why a lot of non prog fans can get into them.


Edit: also, if you wonder what I call SyX, since reading in the FAQ that both Pinella and Romeo would describe their sound as progressive metal, I'll call em progressive metal. If a band describes their music a certain way, Im more than happy to call them that. Its their band so they should know what they should be called (note: only time this is not valid is with Rhapsody. I refuse to call any music "epic hollywood metal" )

 

[Hyoukinmono]

People talk so in depth about what exactly prog metal is and I will sum it up with three rules.

1. Musicianship (as in good song writing)
2. Technicality
3. Keyboards (probably the biggest factor since it is what makes the music change by using different sounds. What makes prog metal so unique.)

Sounds like most of the "non-prog" metal bands that I listen to, unless the keyboards requirement includes having the keyboards be up front all the time. But then, that requirement would exclude Symphony X from the prog metal definition, of course.

It could be argued that bands like Children of Bodom would be prog metal bands under that definition. Or even older bands like UFO, Rainbow, and Iron Maiden.

Like I wrote before, I think that metal is progressive by definition, so "prog metal" is redundant.

 

[rockmanxpr]

My only peeve is hearing the Newbie fans saying "oh this album is heavy as shit, are their other albums just as heavy?" Look I like my heavy music but if that's all you're gonna play, it will wear thin real shortly. SX shines in both Melodic, slow music just as much as the Heavy stuff.

 

[Luis]

The BIG problem here, is that many of you havent listened to "old" progressive band such as ELP, Yes, King Crimson, Pink Floyd etc. Before i discovered Symphonyx (1997) i had had already listened to those groups, and i can tell you that i hear a lot of influences by those bands on SymphonyX music.

SymphonyX is progressive because all the band members have amazing musicianship.

SymphonyX id progressive because they have mixed classical music and jazz with metal

SymphonyX is progressive because they have made long songs.

SymphonyX is progressive becouse they use differents tempos and changes of key in every song.

SymphonyX is progressive because Romeo,Pinella,Lepond,Allen and Rullo admire "old" progressive bands.

SymphonyX is PROGRESSIVE METAL period

 

[Yngvai X]

The BIG problem here, is that many of you havent listened to "old" progressive band such as ELP, Yes, King Crimson, Pink Floyd etc. Before i discovered Symphonyx (1997) i had had already listened to those groups, and i can tell you that i hear a lot of influences by those bands on SymphonyX music.

SymphonyX is progressive because all the band members have amazing musicianship.

SymphonyX id progressive because they have mixed classical music and jazz with metal

SymphonyX is progressive because they have made long songs.

SymphonyX is progressive becouse they use differents tempos and changes of key in every song.

SymphonyX is progressive because Romeo,Pinella,Lepond,Allen and Rullo admire "old" progressive bands.

SymphonyX is PROGRESSIVE METAL period

I agree with all those besides that they have mixed jazz with metal. THeres only one part of one SyX song that sounded remotely, and thats Awakenings.