Hey I'm Ben, the new guy.
I got into SX shortly after The Odyssey was released by downloading a few songs from that album and Divine Wings. The first few songs I heard were Inferno, Eyes Of Medusa, King Of Terrors and Of Sins And Shadows. Upon hearing these songs I was hooked and so I went out and bought The Odyssey and Divine Wings and before long I had bought their entire discography and have been a huge fan for a number of years now.
I guess I won't be putting myself in a good light with the criticisms I have for the more recent SX material, but you know what they say about opinions.
Don't take this the wrong way please, I think Paradise Lost is a good album, but I find some of the heavier experimentation to come off as sounding a bit flat, standard and a little uninspired. I think V is a perfect mix of melody and heaviness because of how involved the symphonic parts are but on the other hand it has some of the heaviest riffs in SX's history. Odyssey and Paradise Lost at least to me are a bit of a let down, it sounds like some of the guitar riffs are just to standard heavy metal, and I know the band wanted to go heavier and more 'metal', but some of the riffs on these albums are a dime a dozen to me, 'Domination' and 'Serpents Kiss' are main culprits of this. I do honestly miss the cool melodic technical riffs of old like in the verse of 'Smoke and Mirrors' when I listen to the modern SX albums. For some reason to me, PL seemed a little rushed considering they took so long to make it.
That said, I absolutely loved the second half of PL, Eve of Seduction, Walls Of Babylon and Seven are particular favourites.
I also favor Mikes old style solo's, having more space to breathe, very melodic and using many exotic scales as oposed to his solo's on the new album which seem to be more about flash and with too much use of the 'wah-wah' IMO.
I know alot of people love it Russ's more aggressive vocal stylings but I much prefer his cleaner vocals where the 'gruff' vocals were used sparingly just to pepper some of the songs. V, while not my personal favourite SX album, perfectly encapsulated many of the things I love about SX and I think had Russel's best vocals.
I probably should have mentioned at the top of my post that I am incredibly opinionated about the music I love, and it probably sounds like I am just bitching. But despite these minor gripes I do still love the new material and will most likely continue to love SX material even if they do continue on the heavier path. Even so, I still have all the old albums to listen to even if I don't like the new stuff.
The band have stated that they are satisfied with their new direction and will continue n that path, which is great i still look forward to hearing what they can come up with. But I was a little dissapointed with PL and I hope the can maybe combine the old and new elements and make something amazing.
