Where does SX go from here?

[irisdivine]

Hey everyone-

though i've read a lot of forums before, i've never really started posting until recently...my name is Navid, and i'm from Reston, Virginia (not too far from the might Jaxx in Springfield VA, where i saw SX on their last tour

Question:
Where does SX go from here? I am definitely a fan of the heavier path they have taken, but i think the Odyssey might be their high point as far as that goes...IMO Paradise Lost was cool but also felt a bit like 'treading water' in spots...

As a comparison, I love the Deadwing and In Absentia albums by Porcupine Tree, but Fear of a Blank Planet also struck me as being perhaps too similar.

In general, i am a fan of the heavier end of the spectrum...in the power/prog type of scene, i gravitate towards older Iced Earth, Into Eternity, Nevermore, etc.

Anyways, glad to be here!!!

 

[Mr. Bungle]

You have good taste my friend, Porcupine Tree is great, but I was disappointed by FOABP also. And Into Eternity is one of the most amazing bands out there, I usually don't like Death Metal, but they are the perfect blend of Death/prog/power styles.

Anyway, I would like for Symphony X's next album to be more symphonic, not a "V" repeat, but along those lines, and I really want another 20 min. epic. One thing I must disagree on, and that's about the Odyssey, it is my least favorite album they have released (with Russell Allen anyway). I do love the title track, but the rest of the album was disappointing to me.

 

[Phanto]

You have good taste my friend

- No
YOU have good taste. Mr Bungle are better than every band mentioned in this thread so far.

OnT: Hopefully Symphony X will do a more classic album now when they have pleased the (what I'd like to call) "shit audience" with Paradise Lost.

 

[Mr. Bungle]

Thanks dude, I like pretty much everything from Mike Patton, there are a few exceptions though, he needs to stick strictly to rock or metal, enough hip-hop. He really needs a solid, full time metal band, did you hear the tracks with Sepultura? He was great, that's what he needs IMO.

 

[Phanto]

I don't like Sepultura but Faith no more, Mr Bungle and Tomahawk are great (King for a day, Angel dust and California especially). There are some songs with Fantômas I really like also.

I don't like his recent stuff except the latest Tomahawk, it was pretty good.

 

[Mr. Bungle]

I don't like Sepultura either, but I listen to anything with Patton, so I checked it out. The latest Tomahawk was great, but didn't have much lasting power IMO. Fantomas is pretty fucking cool, I like to play it with some friends who have never heard it, the reactions are great, same with Mr. Bungle.

On topic: I don't really care what they do for the next album, as long as it doesn't take 5 years to do it.

 

[Force10]

I'd like to see them develop another complex album like V. V was the first SX album I owned, and I still think it is there finest work. But they've since drifted away from "progressive metal" and are much closer to "power metal" (not to start a genre debate). I think that they can still apply their newer, "heavier" sound to a complex "V-like" album and come up with a killer set of tunes.

 

[irisdivine]

I think Force10 is on the mark here...applying the heavier sound to a more complex, progressive sensibility next time around would be sweet. little less 'power', little more 'prog' i guess?

Funny you guys mentioned Patton...i have never really appreciated him or FNM that much in the past, but one of my bandmates recently convinced me to give them another chance, and i am definitely digging Angel Dust and the more recent albums after Jim Martin left.

'Malpractice' is the JAM

 

[Mr. Bungle]

I think Force10 is on the mark here...applying the heavier sound to a more complex, progressive sensibility next time around would be sweet. little less 'power', little more 'prog' i guess?

Funny you guys mentioned Patton...i have never really appreciated him or FNM that much in the past, but one of my bandmates recently convinced me to give them another chance, and i am definitely digging Angel Dust and the more recent albums after Jim Martin left.

'Malpractice' is the JAM

I love Angel Dust, Caffeine, Crack Hitler, Malpractice, Midlife Crisis, Jizzlobber...almost all of the tracks kick ass on that album, the only ones I'm not crazy about are RV and Be Aggressive. KFAD/FFAL is a great album as well, their most underrated.

 

[Phanto]

V was my first album as well and it's everything I like about Symphony X. Sure the Odyssey is still the best song but all the other songs on that album are mediocre at best. V on the other hand doesn't have a single dull moment. Even a song like Absence of Light which I know a lot of people think of as a filler is in my opinion still a better "heavy" Symphony X than what I've heard on any other album.

 

[Wander]

All the other songs on The Odyssey besides The Odyssey ARE NOT medicore. Just take a look at Accolade II for example.

 

[Mr. Bungle]

All the other songs on The Odyssey besides The Odyssey ARE NOT medicore. Just take a look at Accolade II for example.

Meh, it's okay, but The Odyssey is probably my least favorite album, but the title track is my favorite song.

 

[OfSinsAndShred]

All the other songs on The Odyssey besides The Odyssey ARE NOT medicore. Just take a look at Accolade II for example.

Agreed. I listened to that whole album the other day and was reminded how much I dig every song on it. The heavier stuff by SX isn't my favorite thing they do, but it's still really good.

 

[razoredge]

The heavier stuff by SX isn't my favorite thing they do, but it's still really good.

ya know, I agree with that but I could never define why it seems that way. My only critique of PL would be I swear I hear too much rehash in there, some things are way too similiar to what I have heard before. I also dont get where its "more heavier", it seemed to me they covered their full range. I've only been through it 3 or 4 times.

 

[Kenneth R.]

I like the direction they're going in. If they keep going that way, it will be an improvement.

The only two directions I see as detrimental are:
1. Vamp up the progness and pull a Dream Theater. Epic fail.
2. Vamp up the power metal and become Stratovarius.

as long as they don't go down one of those two major highways to metal oblivion, they should be fine.

 

[Phanto]

All the other songs on The Odyssey besides The Odyssey ARE NOT medicore. Just take a look at Accolade II for example.

Yes and then compare it to Accolade I. I mean they're mediocre by Symphony X standards of course. The only general mediocre song I've heard by Symphony X is Domination.

 

[Marwen]

I like the direction they're going in. If they keep going that way, it will be an improvement.

The only two directions I see as detrimental are:
1. Vamp up the progness and pull a Dream Theater. Epic fail.
2. Vamp up the power metal and become Stratovarius.

as long as they don't go down one of those two major highways to metal oblivion, they should be fine.

3. Vamp up the thrashy heaviness and become the new Children of Bodom.
Heaven forbids...

 

[Kenneth R.]

Not possible though. There's no way they'd pretend to be goth-emo.

 

[rockyracoon]

I'm concerned with what direction they'll go production-wise, as well. I find the guitar sound on The Odyssey to be downright awful and over-condensed. Seems like they fixed that problem on PL, but I sure hope they don't go back to whatever they were doing. Aside from the bad material as of late, DT has become unlistenable for me for the very same reason.

 

[irisdivine]

I would actually say that DT has deteriorated considerably...it now feels like they have run out of interesting song ideas, and compensate either by rehashing/reprising old ones, or just putting in shreddy parts for the hell of it. Their lyrics, which were so poetic back in the day, are also much worse now...everything after SFAM has been downhill for me (TOT had some good moments i guess), and i LOVE Awake the most.

SX has still maintained their core strengths IMO, and the good parts of PL (PL, Babylon, etc.) are still pretty sweet!