What do you think about Iconoclast?

I think I just might be weird. I enjoy all SymX's stuff, aside from the first album which I've never heard. I loved Iconoclast, PL, and everything before it. Also, the live show was brilliant. Although I'll admit, Bastards of the Machine was cheesy.
 
I think I just might be weird. I enjoy all SymX's stuff, aside from the first album which I've never heard. I loved Iconoclast, PL, and everything before it. Also, the live show was brilliant. Although I'll admit, Bastards of the Machine was cheesy.

Well ... You're ... Just ... Wrong! Just kidding :). Seriously, good for you that you really like PL and Iconoclast! Wish i did, too, but they seem to be going in a direction that's just not for me. As my wife's uncle used to say, 'that's why they make chocolate and vanilla'!
 
Babylon?! O.O

That has to be one of my favorite Symphony X songs. Easily the highest point of the album for me. Every time I hear it, I picture an enormous army charging across an open battlefield. I really think they nailed the atmosphere of that song.

But everyone has different tastes, that's cool.

That's almost exactly how I feel about Iconoclast, title track. Different tastes indeedy ;) Babylon is great too though.


They're probably playing Serpent's Kiss and STWOF because those two songs had videos and the general public is more familiar with them than the others. Eve of Seduction is a shorter, catchy, semi-commercial sounding song, which fits with the non-prog metal crowd they're going after.

They should scrap all three of them. Playing Serpent's Kiss and Children of a Faceless God during the same set is pointless, since they're essentially the same song. The same could be said for End of Innocence and STWOF, but not as much. And depending on how you look at it, one could say that Electric Messiah would be the same kind of song as Eve of Seduction (except without emotion). So yeah.

Babylon would be awesome, since nothing on Iconoclast even touches its level of awesomeness. The title track and Prometheus come close, but they're a bit different in feel.


Honestly, I completely disagree that STWOF isn't great music, expecially for a live show. In fact, I was hoping that they would play Oculus Ex Inferni (why doesn't anybody ever mention that track BTW, its so awesome) and fade into STWOF. STWOF has to be one of the most epic things I've ever heard. One of my friends that I went to the show with a couple of weeks ago wanted to hear it soooo bad. I knew the setlist in advance but never said anything, expecially that it would be their last song. We were all lovin it, but I think he crapped himself when that came on. He has got awesome taste in music, Opeth, Meshuggah...and is an amazing drummer.

Here is my point, and I'll use another one of my favorite bands as an example. I am yet to see Dream Theater live, but when I do, I hope they play mostly new stuff. And that's not just because I like it more, but it is new, fresh and IMO, their best work. For instance, I hear Take the Time or Metropolis (One of the best songs ever made, 4 the record) off of Images, and I am blown away. Then I hear The Count of Tuscany and Bridges In the Sky, and the same thing. But almost on another level. That's because of my theory of Progressive Metal overall; Musicians in these bands typically become better at what they do and produce a better quality of work as their careers progress (no pun intended).

I am all about getting better at things as they move on. That is a big reason why I got into Prog, because I like to see things improve, and not just a random hit album every once in a while. And maybe they will put out an album showing how much they have improved in one aspect, for which I have another example.

Opeth's Heritage is amazing. But it is all clean, jazzy and kind of funky. Amazing though when listened to thoroughly and appreciated, it is the near the best of its kind. The show for this tour was amazing too, not to mention. Even without Akerfelts beastly growls :devil: Did I mention my favorite album is MAYH? One of their heaviest... I can't wait to hear their next heavy album though...Watershed was so sweet...

Dream Theater's A Draumatic Turn of Events supposetly sounds a lot like Images and Words. I understand, and have compared the two. But honestly, play anything off of ADTOE live before you play anything off of Images (except for Metropolis maybe) and I'd be one happy metal head.


I'm so picky with my bands, especially metal because it is my favorite genre. Once I start digging them, I love them for who they are and what they create. It may not always be my favorite, but I learn to appreciate it a lot, and sometimes that evens turns into a new way of liking it.
 
one of the things I noticed that has Iconoclast is Mike Pinnella soloing having just one cold keyboard sound, which is way too similiar to the guitar - I sometimes have to listen carefully to tell if it's guitar or keyboards! In the previous albums there was more variety - think of the keyboard solo on Fool's Paradise, for example.
 
one of the things I noticed that has Iconoclast is Mike Pinnella soloing having just one cold keyboard sound, which is way too similiar to the guitar - I sometimes have to listen carefully to tell if it's guitar or keyboards! In the previous albums there was more variety - think of the keyboard solo on Fool's Paradise, for example.

He most likely used a more "cold" keyboard sound to fit the album's theme. If the keyboard parts in songs like Bastards or Heretic, for example, used harpsichord or piano sounds, it wouldn't sound as synthetic.
 
I will say this: When I first listened to Divine Wings, I couldn't get into it because I couldn't take the keyboard sound seriously! Obviously the album grew, and the title track is my favorite SX song.
 
I just picked it up last night, and am enthralled. I think it's my favorite of theirs yet. Love the riffing, the pounding drums, the production. Thank the fates there are still bands that know how to rock.
 
Yes, I too thank the Fates for showing SX how to rock.

John, Jim, Joe, Frank, and Mark - we thank you
 
I just picked it up last night, and am enthralled. I think it's my favorite of theirs yet. Love the riffing, the pounding drums, the production. Thank the fates there are still bands that know how to rock.

Yes. Another great album by a band that never fails to deliver.
 
Yes, I too thank the Fates for showing SX how to rock.

John, Jim, Joe, Frank, and Mark - we thank you

You've puzzled me with your choice of names.

John, Jim, (Victor), Joe and Steve - Pre No Exit-Fates
Ray, Jim, Joe, Frank and Mark - Classic Fates
John, Jim, Joey, Frank and Bobby - Arch/Matheos

Any of these I could abide. John and Mark were never even in at the same time, right? Stop confusing me.
 
You've puzzled me with your choice of names.

John, Jim, (Victor), Joe and Steve - Pre No Exit-Fates
Ray, Jim, Joe, Frank and Mark - Classic Fates
John, Jim, Joey, Frank and Bobby - Arch/Matheos

Any of these I could abide. John and Mark were never even in at the same time, right? Stop confusing me.

I was just listing random members. Not really fair to Ray, Joey, and Victor - I should have put them, too.
 
The more I listen the more it's further cemented in the mind: Jason's the real star of the album. The production makes the drums a stand out presence at all times, and the drumming is obviously top notch.
 
The drumming is too metal for my tastes. The drum solo-like section of Iconoclast is fantastic, and I'm not saying that the overall drum performance is bad by any means; it's not.
V is Rullo's masterpiece.