UNDERWORLD discussion thread

[Liampie]

From the other thread:

I've listened to the whole album once now. I was sceptic (didn't like PL and Iconoclast), but I must say this album is a pleasant surprise. I already heard more good moments than on the aforementioned albums, which makes me confident I'll end up liking this album better than those. Like others have said, it's much more varied. When it gets heavy, it gets really heavy. When it gets 'soft', it gets soft and not pesudo-soft like When All Is Lost with that shitty aggressive guitar solo. Everything else falls inbetween, but with slightly more keyboards to 'colour' the songs. There are a couple of mid-lenght songs that might not sound that distinct, but to my surprise I woke up with Charon's chorus in my head this morning. Not the awesome bits of Swansong, To Hell and Back or Legend, but Charon. Almost every song has something good to offer, apparantly. Two more things: there are a lot of clean vocals on this album, and Michael Romeo apparantly remembers to play not only eighth and sixteenth notes.

Tl;dr: more variation. slightly more keys. clean vocals. more restrained romeo. overall a more nuanced album!

I'm happy that the album appears to be decent.

What album are all the people mentioning Pinnella's keys listening to...what, did he do a good job sleeping while everyone else played? Is that the performance we're praising...?

Symphony X's newest album, Underworld. I'll name some of the keyboard highlights. There aren't many compared to the pre-PL Symphony X albums, but there's more than on PL and Iconoclast in my perception.

Underworld: has a lot of keys. The intro is carried by Pinella. He's there during the choruses I think, as well as during the instrumental section and he has a solo.
Without You: has that TDWOT-esque instrumental section where the piano is equal to the guitar.
Charon: keyboard solo
To Hell and Back: the keys in the first few minutes make the song. Has a keyboard solo.
Run with the Devil: keyboard solo
Swan Song: no explanation needed
Legend: soaked with keys, like the THaB intro.

On Iconoclast, Pinella was either on the foreground or absent completely. Moments where the whole band played together were really rare, only When All Is Lost and Reign in Madness did that well. I think Reign in Madness was the only song where the keys played a role during both the verses and choruses, and had the only keyboard solo. Not sure on the solo count, but I know Underworld has more keyboard solos. More solos, more band moments during verses/choruses. I don't see how you can deny that!

 

[AsoTamaki]

I am starting to agree with Underworld needing a little lengthening. But the best part about it is, the song is so good to me that I just don't care!
...
I am also beginning to really enjoy Run With the Devil, EXCEPT the part in the solo that sounds exactly like the beginning of Nevermore's solo. I just don't understand why he would repeat that idea.
...

Disagree with Underworld needing to be longer. I doubt they would add an instrumental section so it would mean just repeating the chorus. One of the best things about that song is that it doesn't repeat three times or more. Agreed about the solo. If you're gonna rip off an old solo twice, why would you choose Serpent's Kiss?! Other than that, all I can say is that I'm glad you enjoy this album so much. I'm jealous.

On Iconoclast, Pinella was either on the foreground or absent completely. Moments where the whole band played together were really rare, only When All Is Lost and Reign in Madness did that well. I think Reign in Madness was the only song where the keys played a role during both the verses and choruses, and had the only keyboard solo. Not sure on the solo count, but I know Underworld has more keyboard solos. More solos, more band moments during verses/choruses. I don't see how you can deny that!

Now that's just totally false. I'm not 100% sure yet whether or not there is more Pinnella on the main parts of the songs (I think it's equal or slightly in Iconoclast's favor), but Iconoclast had keyboard solos on half of the album. The half that didn't either were beyond redemption anyway (Children), had keyboards all over the rest of the song (End of Innocence, When All Is Lost), or simply had excellent guitar solos (Dehumanized, Heretic, Lords) so it was excusable. Most of the solo sections on Underworld are just downright pitiful. Isaac made a very good post about them earlier so I won't bother getting into that myself.

 

[Bździgniew]

All right, after a few listens, here's a track-by-track from me:

Overture - Plain mighty, expected nothing less. Takes you on a mini-adventure of sorts, setting the mood very nicely

Nevermore - Ok, so Nevermore should reform and record a track called "Symphony X" as an act of revenge... pretty thrashy, definitely more in the vein of the last two. Insane guitar under the chorus. Some awesome, emotional vocal work from Russel. Very catchy too - like I said in the other thread, I had no idea pop could sound this awesome. The guitar solo feels kinda rehashed and unfresh, but it doesn't put me off.

Underworld - Again, some mighty vocal work and general thrashiness. I definitely like Russel's harsher side. The thrash parts get old after a very short while, but the guitar/keyboard maelstrom behind the chorus gets me every time. Good solo parts, but I'm not too fond of the song as a whole.

Without You - Here comes the resident ballad single. Kinda reminds me of the "Twilight in Olympus" vibe. Gonna get a lot of airplay on late-night radio, I guess. I like Russel's vocals in the chorus.

Kiss of Fire - Powerful! Love the register shift in the chorus. Too repetitive for my taste, though.

Charon - I like the flow of the song. Decent vocals, love the bass work happening underneath. The soloing reminds me a lot of Marty Friedman's style circa-RiP.

To Hell and Back - The intro reminds me of disco polo, I shit you not. Even when I hear the vocals, I hear something that could very well win Eurovision. Except that it clocks in at over nine minutes. Pretty cool solo, though not in a balls-out, form-over-matter way. Those pauses really make it. Great vocals in the latter half. The second guitar solo could well find itself on a Sigh album.

In My Darkest Hour - Brilliant vocal work over here. Far too short, could use a non-solo instrumental section here and there. Love the solo.

Run With the Devil - Upbeat riff. Not very eventful, but I like it. Wild solo. I don't get all of the hate posted here.

Swan Song - Beautiful piano intro, beautiful song in general. Again, pretty cool vocals. Very nice solo.

Legend - Love the solo trade-offs. Sweet chorus. I think this might be my favorite.

Yeah, it's not a perfect album and they've done better. I'm not enough of a Symphony X nerd to tell if it's their worst offering, but it's certainly not the best. They're playing it too safe in the songwriting department. I've gotten used to the fact that we aren't going to get another 20-minute masterpiece anytime soon, but the bulk of "Underworld" is so schematic and predictable that it gets boring after a while. Not prog-boring; repetitive-boring. The execution, however, is spot-on.

 

[Liampie]

Now that's just totally false. I'm not 100% sure yet whether or not there is more Pinnella on the main parts of the songs (I think it's equal or slightly in Iconoclast's favor), but Iconoclast had keyboard solos on half of the album. The half that didn't either were beyond redemption anyway (Children), had keyboards all over the rest of the song (End of Innocence, When All Is Lost), or simply had excellent guitar solos (Dehumanized, Heretic, Lords) so it was excusable. Most of the solo sections on Underworld are just downright pitiful. Isaac made a very good post about them earlier so I won't bother getting into that myself.

Alright, I got access to all my music now so I can compare the two albums. I must admit my memory failed me on Iconoclast's keyboard solos.

My main argument was that the keys on Iconoclast were either in the foreground (mostly solos) or not there at all, with band moments being very very rare. My gut feeling tells me Underworld is slightly better in this regard.

I'll retreat from the discussion until I've given the album some more spins...

 

[AsoTamaki]

Alright, I got access to all my music now so I can compare the two albums. I must admit my memory failed me on Iconoclast's keyboard solos.

My main argument was that the keys on Iconoclast were either in the foreground (mostly solos) or not there at all, with band moments being very very rare. My gut feeling tells me Underworld is slightly better in this regard.

I'll retreat from the discussion until I've given the album some more spins...

No problem, man. I haven't listened enough to really be doing any in-depth comparisons either. I just think it's certainly not a "Pinnella's back!" situation. The difference between the two albums one way or another is actually very minimal. There's isn't a true equivalent for everything between the two, but if I had to compare a few of the keyboard performances based on the general type of song and the role they play in the album, I'd do it like this:

Swan Song vs When All Is Lost - It's just piano and strings on SS. WAIL has that, but also adds organ which is completely absent on Underworld.

Underworld vs The End of Innocence - The two songs share an extremely similar structure and usage of keys in the intro and verses. Underworld does get a solo where EOI doesn't, but it's the same type of lead tone used on the entire song. I'd say Pinnella's work is a little more varied and interesting overall on EOI because of what he does on the bridge/instrumental section.

Kiss of Fire vs Heretic - There's the orchestration in the outro, but other than that just some choir hits for Kiss of Fire. Can't really even call that keyboards. Heretic, on the other hand...there's the dirty, heavy synth in the intro, you have your choir and your usual strings/pad throughout, and then another unique tone during the instrumental section before the solo. No comparison really.

Legend vs Reign in Madness - Lots of keys on both. But again, the usage throughout Reign in Madness is much more varied.

Charon vs Prometheus - Nothing going on in the Charon intro. A wide variety of things going on in Prometheus. Similar roles in the other sections, but the Prometheus solo isn't doubled by guitar so it definitely wins overall.

Since those are my favorites from Underworld so far, I've listened to them a few more times and can compare. Aside from "To Hell and Back", I don't think the other songs had much in the way of prominent keyboards.

To me, there are only two improvements this album made over Iconoclast: the vocal performances and the fact that there's a bit more diversity song-wise. Okay, maybe the lyrics have improved as well (to a lesser extent).

 

[anonym115]

What do you guys think about guitar solo quality per album?

The only solo I REALLY like on Iconoclast is Bastards of the Machine (the others are fine, though). Maybe I kind of like the Lords of Chaos solo too, but the song just isn't good.

On Underworld, I can name probably 5 solos I REALLY like. (Underworld, Kiss of Fire, Swan Song, In My Darkest Hour, both To Hell and Back solos..).

On V I don't like any of the solos except Fool's Paradise.

Odyssey takes the cake here, though. KoT, Masquerade, the second Odyssey solo, and Awakenings are godly solos.

Paradise Lost really has...Domination and Sacrifice for good solos? Set the World is ok I guess.

DWOT has Of Sins and Shadows, Sea of Lies, and Out of the Ashes for me. Don't really like the DWOT solos.

 

[TrapsMaster]

Very, very short review: this album is a letdown.

I mean from the beginning to the end of Charon I was like "Oh my God, this is amazing!" There were few things that I didn`t like, but overall great 5 songs + sick intro, as good as PL and Ic ones. As a person who listened to 100 random progressive metal bands searching for "The One", this CD sounded like their music (typical structures of noname`s power/progressive), but done much, much better. It wasn`t a journey or adventure, it was just another album. Great, but it`s just music. Good songs, no movie-like experiences (DWoT, Iconoclast, Church of the Machine). The first half is 8/10.

Ehh... But then they thought "You think that was similiar to typical music in this genre? Just listen to those worst possible cliches" and created the second half, which is boring, ballad-like, slow, without catchy choruses, medicore and not interesting, I wanted to skip most of the songs. Sorry, with the exception of "In my Darkest Hour" for this cool, simple Judas Priest feel to it. "DESACRATOR, DEVASTATOR - SET MY WORLD ABLAZE" with this rhytm and melody... So much JP in it . Also compare "Legend", the last epic song to the other last epic songs - "Revelation" and "Reign in Madness". I hoped that the outro will save it, but it didn`t.
I mean this half isn`t horrible, it`s just full of things I hate in metal bands. Even though it still has few nice moments.

And by the way: not enough instrumental for me and this album seems to be stuck in what I like to call "verse-chorus-verse-chorus trap". I think you know what I`m talking about.

Final vote: 6/10

 

[Progbass]

What do you guys think about guitar solo quality per album?

On Underworld, I can name probably 5 solos I REALLY like. (Underworld, Kiss of Fire, Swan Song, In My Darkest Hour, both To Hell and Back solos..).

On V I don't like any of the solos except Fool's Paradise.

Odyssey takes the cake here, though. KoT, Masquerade, the second Odyssey solo, and Awakenings are godly solos.

I agree that Kiss of Fire and Swansong solos are quite good. The other tracks you mention..I cant really recall the solos, have to take another listen.

I can name many solos on V what are superior to any solo on Underworld, Fallen and Communion and Oracle solos come to mind.

My favorite solo on Odyssey album is Accolade II, its interesting, fits the song good and is full of emotion.

 

[TitoC]

Hi SX friends,

With the fantastic artwork within the booklet, I find it a bit surprising that there isn't a special edition CD. Even in Japan, the CD is just your basic run of the mill packaging (and no bonus track!!). There is the different color wax for the LP but that's largely a gimmick.

Has anyone heard of a possible special edition? The CD I have is the US one and it does have an embossed slip sleeve, but that's tame compared to the last couple of releases. Is there any difference to the European CD; or just the slip sleeve? Even 'The Odyssey,' which only had a slip sleeve, at least also had a bonus track.

Just wondering. I find the CD to be excellent as is the artwork - which is why I posed the question at all.

Thanks all!

T

 

[RuRoRul]

After listening to the album several more times here are my thoughts on each song

Overture
This is the perfect type of intro for this album. Not a lot of orchestration, mainly choirs and the band. Works well because there's not a lot of orchestration on the album in general, so it's not out of place at all.

Nevermore
I really like this song, it's a great energetic way to follow up Overture (even though I think Underworld would do an excellent job in this spot). The chorus is one of the best on the album, in my opinion. Insane guitar-work and in 7/4! A hint of the neo-classical in the end of the solo.

Underworld
I really like this song, I only wish it were longer. Great keyboard work, another killer chorus. It really deserves some sort of orchestrated bridge after the "I long to see the sun" part. It heads into a bit of choir work, but man, if that continued into a longer instrumental section like we get on Revelation, and then follow it up with the excellent solo section, we'd have a killer 8 minute title track. Then it could easily follow Overture, it's an easy key change to make in order to transition into the epic intro of this track (You'd probably have to swap Without You and Kiss of Fire though).

Without You
I like all the parts of this song, except I'm not keen on the chorus. It's very bland, very radio hard rock. Sure, it can get stuck in your head, but there's nothing interesting going on in it. No interesting chord choices/changes, no intriguing melody, just a straight 6/8 rhythm and generic chord progression. I love the verse, pre-chorus, solo, and bridge a lot though. It's at the perfect spot in the album in order to take a breather, would be too early as the 2nd song, too late as the 4th.

Kiss of Fire
In my opinion this is the best heavy track the band has done to date. I didn't care for Domination or Heretic from the previous two albums, but this one nails it. Compact and to the point, no Metallica posturing, a concise interesting chorus. The blast-beats are perfectly placed, the outro is great with the gothic horns.

Charon
A great track that reminds of older albums, like something from The Odyssey, Twilight, or Divine Wings. I love the groove, love the vocals, love the keyboard work. Another great chorus. My only complaint is there really needs to be a bridge between the solo and final chorus. It should totally break-down into an acoustic and middle eastern keyboard instrumental groove bit, like something from Egypt. I was 100% expecting this on the first listen and it would have been just perfect, make it another 7 minute track, really stretch those prog legs. Still a great track. The fact that the two tracks I would add more to are still some of my favorites from the album says something.

To Hell and Back
This one is really interesting; I still don't have a fully formed opinion on it yet. Best intro on the album, and then Russ comes in with "I have led the lamb to the slaughter" and I had to do a double take to see if Jorn Lande was providing some guest vocals. Then we get to the chorus, the first of Russ's blues melody choruses on the album. Something that would fit in right on Atomic Soul. Nice melodic solo and vocals, and then we switch into the second act of the song, something akin to Reign in Madness from Iconoclast. This song definitely takes me on a journey, it just wasn't the journey I was expecting, so I haven't fully digested it yet.

In My Darkest Hour
This brings me to my least favorite track on the album. After the journey that was To Hell and Back, I'm expecting (needing) something fast and energetic, Nevermore would actually be perfect to follow To Hell and Back. Instead I get the (mostly) mid-tempo In My Darkest Hour. The intro, verse, pre-chorus, bridge and solo sound straight off of Paradise Lost (the solo is actually really great). Then we have another rather bland hard-rock chorus, that they decided to repeat 4 times, taking up 2 minutes of the 4:22 running time! That's almost half the song! Just not enough good ideas here. Maybe would feel more in place between two energetic tracks like Nevermore and the next track...

Run with the Devil
Screw the haters, this song owns. I love the instrumental work here, I love the energy, straight Atomic Soul vocals from Russ (this is not Adrenaline Mob Russ). The positive, up-beat vibe is perfect to follow the darker gothic vibe that's been on the previous tracks. We're finally making our way back out of the Underworld and things are looking up. Some really great bridge vocals leading into one of my favorite solos on the album. There's a fluttery tapping bit that's so over-the-top Romeo it's almost tongue-in-cheek. Just a fun track, without sacrificing any of the musicianship.

Swansong
The second of the only two tracks that remind me of early SymX, this song would feel right at home on Damnation Game. Reminds me of Whispers, A Winter's Dream, or Lady in the Snow from Twilight. Great keyboard work, maybe could have used just a solo piano intro before the electric guitars kick in. Really interesting chorus, that unexpected chord choice on "carry on" and "can it breath" caught me off guard. It's a great introspective track reminiscing on the hardships that have come previous on the album. Another great solo section.

Legend
This this this. More of this please. This is easily my favorite track on the album and has rocketed into my list of favorite Symphony X songs ever along side Rediscovery, Communion, Fallen, Revelation, Awakenings and Frontiers. It starts off with Symphony X doing Rush. And it's incredible. A great verse leads into the best chorus on the album. I love the whole up-beat positive vibe of this song, again like Run with the Devil, but without the blues rock feeling, this is just pure prog metal. We get the best bridge on the album leading into a solo section that leads with Pinella as a surprise. The next chorus comes in and you think the song is over, it drops out to an acoustic reprise of the bridge, but no! The band slams back in for an exceptional outro that literally leaves you wanting more (Russ won't give us that final Dies!). The general vibe of the song reminds me of Frontiers, which is something I never thought we'd get again from these guys. If they can explore this style more in the future I would be fully on board.

Overall Impression
I can easily say that I like this album more than the past two albums (I didn't hate either of those, Paradise Lost just lacked stand out tracks for me other than Oculus and Revelation; and Iconoclast should have dropped about 4 songs). It is also easy to say this is not better than V or the Odyssey. It is easily better than Damnation Game and the self-titled. Where it falls in relation to Divine Wings and Twilight is tough to say right now.

I think that I am one of the few people that prefers the modern Jens Bogren production to the older production. I don't dislike the older production in any way, this just seems fuller to me (The Odyssey is an odd one out that has an incredible non-typical production). There's a proper way to do loud production, and I think Jens really nailed it on Iconoclast. Everything is crisp and there is no audio clipping. On Paradise Lost the guitars were a bit too loud, this album is a bit louder than Iconoclast, but it's mixed just as well. I've heard a lot of brickwalled masters that make me angry, and these are not brickwalled at all. Jens does a great job, in my opinion.

The thing that bugs me the most is that Underworld is really close to being right up there with V and Odyssey, if it just let a few tracks breath a little more (Underworld, Charon), maybe move Nevermore to come after To Hell and Back in order to help out In My Darkest Hour. The choruses of Without You and In My Darkest Hour don't help much, but the rest of the choruses make up for those in general. Plus, if you add ~2 minutes to Underworld, ~1 minute to Charon, the running time could come out to exactly 66:66, which would be badass.

Great post and review. I agree with a lot of your thoughts here as well, especially a couple particular quotes I underlined which were pretty much exactly what I felt.

Not sure if they will remain my favourites after more listens but Legend, Swansong, To Hell And Back and Charon are the ones that stand out most to me after my first few listens.

 

[Bździgniew]

Opinions be opinions, but the fact that this album is so divisive seems to make it a good one, no?

 

[symphonyXjapan]

My only real gripe with the album, besides the fact it isn't a truly experimental work of progpower art like V (which we all should have accepted it wouldn't be once they announced the first album details), is that I find In My Darkest Hour and Run With The Devil bog the album down for me. It makes it even worse that they are placed back to back.

I have now pinpointed what I think my reasoning for not liking them is, and that would be Russ's bluesy vocals on them. I like having varied vocals; however, that vocal style just doesn't fit with SyX at all to me. It really is no different to put that style of vocals on a SyX album than to put R&B or country vocals on one. I get the feeling that Russell had everything to do with those two songs existing in their current state. The music on them has some okay elements in some spots but just fall short, but overall I feel the music was tweaked to sound off from the rest of the vibe of the album in order to make that bluesy style of vocals fit better. Also, do people really like that nasal Avenged Sevenfold crap he pulls at the beginning of RWtD?

For an album that Romeo was saying would be the kind that carry's you through as an "album kind of album", it sure did well up until those two tracks ruined it. I have noticed that every time I listen to the album from start to finish I really get into the flow of the album, but as I approach those two tracks I start dreading the thought of being taken out of the atmosphere that the album sets for itself up until that point. I just really think those two songs sounded totally different than they do now at some point. Instead of making Atomic Soul II Russell pushed to get some of that blues stuff forced into a SyX album...

 

[Xiphos68]

Overall: I think this a bloody good album.

It enhances classic, modern and I believe also provides new things from Symphony X.
To me "Kiss of Fire" is something completely new.

I will go further in detail later.

I just want to highlight that Jason Rullo (Drummer) kicked incredible air on this album! Glad to see he recovered and playing incredibly well.

"SwanSong" & "Legend" brought tears to my eyes.

 

[symphonyXjapan]

On the not of Pinnella and the keyboard on this album I feel that they were more prominent overall. Maybe you could argue they were there as much on the last two albums; however, there were not really any defining moments of them and what WAS there seemed to be easy to not notice due to the loudness of the guitar drowning them out. I am not saying the keys in Underworld are "Awakenings" level or anything, but to me they are at least more noticeable and get a few moments to shine.

I do still wish they would let Pinnella do more of his thing. These newer SyX albums are missing more diverse soundscapes. When is the last time we heard that proggy hammond organ sound? Or maybe more of a dark gothic organ sound like in Church of the Machine? Due to these kinds of things and what has been done on SyX albums pre PL, I can understand some still complaining "Pinnella is dead"; however, I find this longing for him to have more influence (which I have just stated I want too) blinding them from the fact that he DOES indeed come back on Underworld in a small way. Those that said he "makes a return" or "comes back in a big way" are going a bit over the top though, so I can see why some may have been quite let down when hearing the album after those statements.

I do like some of the simpler nuanced things Pinnella brought to Underworld though. Some of the gothic almost black metal sounding patches in tracks such as Underworld and Kiss of Fire went a long way.

 

[Postulate]

At least half the tracks on this album could have been played without Michael Pinnella. Please stop lying bout his presence on this album, really. (And a couple are, for all intents and purpose, played without him). Imagine a track on this album with no guitar, no drums, or no bass, or where its presence was negligible.

The bottom line is besides his few short solos, the keys here have the role they play in bands without full-member keyboardists, e.g. Helloween.

 

[anonym115]

Sorry, Progbass, the Communion solos are just pure ultra boring to me. Fallen is actually decent, but the tone is just dreadful.

 

[Alien Mantis]

I have noticed that every time I listen to the album from start to finish I really get into the flow of the album, but as I approach those two tracks I start dreading the thought of being taken out of the atmosphere that the album sets for itself up until that point. I just really think those two songs sounded totally different than they do now at some point. Instead of making Atomic Soul II Russell pushed to get some of that blues stuff forced into a SyX album...

So use your computer to rip .mp3's to your hard drive, then remove the two songs you don't like, then burn an audio CD with the remaining songs you do like.

I've done that many times with albums over the years, but I don't do it with my Symphony X albums! LoL

I don't mind the bluesey-sounding stuff, Russ does it so well. Russ does a mean DIO as well!
Russ's vocals were so gruff on Iconoclast, it's refreshing to hear him doing different stuff on Underworld.
I like hardcore chunky power metal too, so I loved the heavier stuff on Iconoclast. The title track being my favorite from that album.

KISS OF FIRE could have easily been on Iconoclast. That song sounds like it was taken from Iconoclast.

 

[proulxski]

Well it's been a good while. But the time to chime in has come. I've given the album a few back to back listens by this point, as well as some broken up listens on shuffle.

My standards where at an all time low, so that may effect my judgement. BUT, Underworld I do seem to enjoy more than both Iconoclast, and Paradise Lost. There are alot of things going for this album, however they are quickly shot down.

Personally, the most uninspiring thing about Underworld is Romeo. There are more solo's on this album, than there are actual songs. When he isin't taking you down a rollecoaster of never changing, recycled riffage, he is throwing shred solo's at you not just once, but twice a song. Sometimes they fit, sometimes they don't, the playing is always fantastic, but what the heck is the point of throwing a shred fest in the middle of everysong, when it doesn't require it?

As for the ups. I actually really dig Allen's vocals on this album. He does alot of new things (not new musically... But things we have never heard him do with Symphony X). And I think alot of it really works well, from his DIO full voice screams, to his harshest vocals yet. It all fits. I never had a problem with his bluesy beats, or his rough Iconoclast vocals. Just that, the later, was over used... Greatly when having Paradise Lost, following Iconoclast!

I think all the band mates really shine on this album, which is a first since The Odyssey IMO. (Minus my Romeo complaints.)

Overall, I've been reading everyone's comments. And I agree with most of them, so I'm not going to post a review of every song.

I hear some new interesting things, that I think could work nicely for the band. I hear even more recycled chords from Paradise Lost. I hear even less classic Symphony X in there. But there is some. My least favorite song, would have to be Charon. Untill the end, where it actually sounds like a blast to the past.

Overall, it's not a bad album. But its still way to streamlined. Perhaps a step in the right direction after Paradise Lost, and Iconoclast. And they did alot of new, interesting things. (If you can use the word interesting when things have become some simplified.) But it's hard to believe the same band who did V, DWOT, or even The Odyssey, released this album. The sound is great, the musicianship is great, some rocking grooves, head bang worthy, but it is lacking it complexity, and creativity IMO.

 

[symphonyXjapan]

It is indeed the best of their "mainstream" albums. I feel like it is the album they chose to bring back some of their older elements for the older fans, yet not stray too far from what they have been doing since PL so they don't lose out on the bigger crowds they get at shows. Basically they need to keep their crowds so they can keep living comfortably on their music. They are afraid to do something more experimental because now they know they can live well off of what they have recently been doing.

I am happy to take this "compromise" that they gave us with Underworld. As long as we have to wait for a new SyX album I can just be blissful that they finally gave us SOMETHING that is not pure loudness balls to the wall non unique metal.

 

[proulxski]

I can agree with that, I'm still holding out that they will take the golden oppurtunity for their tenth studio album to be X: The New New Mythology Suite!

I dig the new album, I really do. But, part of me is still let down, and probably will, and for ever be let down!

I understand the whole buisness aspect of it. But Symphony X is big enough at the point, that they could release a completely fresh prog album, to replace V, and fans would love it. I personally have yet to meet a fan, who says they can only listen to Iconoclast, and hate all three of the big three. (DWOT, V, The Odyssey).

That being said, I also understant that there are alot of tools, who think Iconoclast and Paradise Lost are the second comming of christ. Which perhaps, when compared to the mainstream, is the creme de la crop! But as far as Symphony X goes, its not. I also wouldn't be against them rerecording Self titled.