Symphony X

[Detective Beauregard]

Mike Portnoy has this vinyl series of his and couple of days ago Symphony X turned up. I thought he'll say something about this album but he doesn't have it on vinyl. Instead, he praised Russell and also said something peculiar. To him, Symphony X are on the same level of quality as Dream Theater although they are much less popular. In his opinion, it takes 'em more time to do thing, or they are doing thing slower, something between those words made Symphony X less exposed. And then I checked both of the bands discography and noticed he's talking gibberish. Again, digressing, but from my perspective: Dream Theater, unlike Symphony X, had a couple of these radio-friendly singles, whereas Symphony X had none. Even way before, I could stumble on a song or two from Dream Theater whilst this is my first time listening to Symphony X. So, maybe that also has to do with "level of their fame".

I don't think he's talking gibberish at all, and there's several reasons why Dream Theater is a more well-known band than Symphony X...

- Dream Theater knows how to market themselves. They are constantly promoting themselves by touring and releasing albums (on average every two years). Symphony X is either bad at marketing themselves or have little desire to - personally, I think it's a mixture of the two. They tour relatively infrequently and have released albums (since 2002) every four to five years. Also, back before social media was as huge as it is now and websites were more popular, I remember that Symphony X's site was rarely updated. It still rarely is. The guys in Symphony X mostly have day jobs, and personally I think they view the band as more of a hobby than a career. Obviously the opposite is true with Dream Theater.

- Everything Dream Theater does has several layers of polish to it. They are professional in every sense of the word, which is somewhat expected of a progressive band. Their shows are events. I don't think they're as fun as Symphony X shows, but they have a full production and rarely make mistakes. The same cannot be said of Symphony X, who have a tendency to be sloppy. They've gotten much tighter over the years, but that is due in part to playing more of the recent (simpler) heavy material over the more progressive tracks of their early years. The first time I saw Symphony X was at this little club in Aurora, Illinois (yes, from Wayne's World) - March 6th, 2003. This was Michael Romeo's birthday, and based on the bottle of Jack he polished off during the second half of the set, he wasn't shy about celebrating it. The show was far more fun to me than any Dream Theater show I've been to because it was clear that these guys were having a blast while playing difficult stuff and making it look easy, but they weren't flawless. The entire vibe was different. They were playing a gig, whereas Dream Theater plays theatrical events.

- Symphony X got a later start than Dream Theater. The latter was able to ride their '80s-influenced sound through the early '90s when this style was still somewhat popular, but Symphony X didn't start until 1994. At that point, these styles of metal had faded and were being replaced by grunge, alternative, and nu-metal. Man, I hated the '90s. This also brings me to my next point...

- Dream Theater write more traditionally catchy songs. They have a much wider range of styles, too - they can play metal, rock, pop, jazz, classical, alternative - you name it, they've done it. Symphony X is a metal band, through and through. They're progressive at times, but they're always metal. Dream Theater's ballads sound like folk songs or pop songs; Symphony X's ballads sound like metal ballads or classical pieces. That's a huge part of all this.

- Symphony X have suffered from an identity crisis, whereas Dream Theater have always embraced (usually) taking a different direction on each album. Not too long ago, Mike Lepond (bass) said something similar to "I've always hated the comparison to Dream Theater because we sound nothing like them. We're also a metal band, not a progressive band. We may have technical stuff here and there but we're primarily a metal band." While he's certainly right about the first part, there was a lot of frustration from him because he's always been a meat-and-potatoes, straight-up metal, riff kind of guy (I have no idea why Symphony X chose a guy who had never played progressive music to replace Thomas Miller). Around The Odyssey's release, Romeo said something like "I've always thought of us as a metal band. But people have said we're progressive. I mean, you could listen to Wicked and say it's metal, but listen to The Odyssey and say it's progressive. So yeah, I guess we're a progressive metal band." His overall tone was that he didn't really like labels. I understand his point, though, since pigeonholing a band's genre into endless subgenres can often negatively influence their marketability.

- Symphony X's philosophy just doesn't make much sense to me. Just last year, Lepond said that as soon as the pandemic was over, the band was going to get together to write their next album. Why?! They have all this time during the pandemic to write stuff! Get on Zoom, start putting ideas together remotely, and make a damn album! These guys just don't have the drive that Dream Theater does. Those guys used to practice their instruments for six hours a day in their early years. I'm honestly shocked that any of them got married because I thought they were more attracted to their instruments than they were to women. Can you really see anyone in Symphony X practicing for six hours daily? Maybe Romeo did back in the day, but definitely not anymore. I don't see much ambition from them.

- Finally, while I don't want to get into a vocal battle (Russell Allen could wipe the floor with James LaBrie ten times over in my book), I've had numerous friends who prefer more mainstream music tell me that they'd much rather listen to Dream Theater than Symphony X because the latter's singer is "too much" for them. And I didn't play them balls-to-the-wall Domination or Iconoclast Symphony X, but rather their middle-era proggier melodic stuff. I guess some people don't like grit and soul in their voices.

What Mike Portnoy said was very classy. I know the bands first played together on Gigantour in 2005, and they probably all met then. Russell has been all around the metal world and is one of the friendliest musicians I've had the pleasure of meeting, so along with his amazing voice it's no surprise that Portnoy praised him. The rest of the band (outside of Lepond occasionally) are more reserved.

Wow this was a long post. I'll have to post my thoughts about the next two songs in a bit. I'm tired now.

 

[Diesel 11]

Russell Allen could wipe the floor with James LaBrie ten times over in my book

Five hundred times in mine. The literal only qualm I sometimes have about Russell is that he sounds like Dio, which is also a pro, so like... eh? Overall I’d say he’s one of my four favorite vocalists at this point.

Also, great post and an excellent read.

 

[Mosh]

When Dream Theater got their first record deal (not the Atlantic deal, a much smaller one before that), they collectively made the decision to drop out of college and pursue that full time. It was a risk and they completely failed several times before they were able to be the sustainable machine that they are now. I haven’t seen SX take those kinds of risks and their slow growth in popularity speaks to that.

EDIT: come to think of it, I think they dropped out before they even had a deal, furthering my point. My memory is fuzzy though.

 

[Detective Beauregard]

Oh boy. Shades of Grey. The song I'd often yell at the band to play at numerous shows (after too many refreshments). After one of the high points of the album in the relatively excellent Absinthe and Rue, we arrive at... this. Let's jump in!

• The intro is beautiful. This is where I think Pinnella excels. The strings really bring out the flavor, especially with that little chromatic classical part.
• Rod does sound decent on the first verse. He really does. This reminds me of Dream Theater, although I can't place the particular song. Something from Images?
• Oh man, that chorus. I remember the first time I heard it I thought Rod was singing "I have my reasons to keep from calling," and I thought this was a song about a stupid breakup or something. With all these grandiose Casio sounds, on top of it. It's even worse because you have the bass and drums entering here, accentuating the shittiness. Awww, wittle Womeo's sensitive side, isn't that just precious? Needless to say, this section brings the entire song down faster than the Hindenburg.
• The groove after the chorus is really cool. This might be the first time we hear Romeo's funky Kansas chords in a polymeter over the rhythm section (this makes a return many times in future compositions). Pinnella is playing a spacey Dream Theater-ish patch in the background, too.
• The second verse is different enough from the first to keep things interesting. Same melody, but there's rhythm now. It's at this point that I noticed that the overall melody is kind of following the string part in the intro. The guitar plays that chromatic part. Cool.
• I'm not sure I understand the point of the pre-chorus. It's one of those five-second bits that really doesn't need to be there, much like many pre-choruses on this album.
• This solo is obviously Romeo's tribute to his ex-girlfriend, who he pushed away because he didn't want her to stay because he's grey. He's a shady guy. It's actually a very tasteful and well-crafted solo for him, with several "hooks" that trigger human emotions in the listener. Even the noodling near the end (which isn't that harsh because it's mostly legato) is necessary for the "release."
• The third verse here is the same as the second but now Romeo's laying on the chunk. This song is so beautifully progressive, but man, that chorus. I just can't get past it.

In my previous post I mentioned that Symphony X has never really written anything "mainstream," but this chorus may come the closest. It's as if they realized that this path would be futile and instead wrote The Damnation Game to rebel against the system.

Shades of Grey's Russell Factor: Not even He could polish this turd.

The intro (once again) is very reminiscent of a future song. Is it Winter's Dream? Paradise Lost? I can't tell.

I get Candlelight Fantasia vibes, but maybe I need to check my Symphony X-o-meter again.

 

[Spambot]

OK, I watched the video again to see what he meant. He was talking about The Odyssey and Paradise Lost (thinking those two were their last albums) and he said they were gaining a lot momentum but "work at slower pace than other bands." And it does make sense if you look at second part of their career. I went couple of months ago on their web page and yes, it is old and you can rarely see any activity. Also, I don't know was it here or somewhere else said that one of the members wanted/wants to take pause on touring because of some personal tragedy that happened to his friend.

However, my point was that, counting from their debut album, they've put 6 LP in 8 years (Symphony X 1994 - The Odyssey 2002). Dream Theater's sixth album was Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence and that was 13 years after their debut album. So, if we're talking about slower pace in the beginning, that definitely wasn't it. But the touring, yeah, it took 'em 4 years to take the stage for the first time and fourth album was already out. But since than until late '00 I've seen they've been on tour a lot. However, even than, IDK 2009-2010, I haven't listened to Dream Theater but I've known Pull Me Under or Spirit Carries On while I probably never even heard about Symphony X.

@Detective Beauregard makes some interesting points about marketing themselves. For example, having a guy like Mike Portnoy in a band did not benefit them solely on musician level. MP is a music fanatic with a great nose for business. I believe Dream Theater also wouldn't be this big as they are today if he, alone, hadn't a made couple of moves and maneuvers in their career. I can't speak for their live performance since I've seen neither of them. And of course, a couple of years head start also makes a change, and the fact that Symphony X is almost invisible on social media while Dream Theater is all over the place (for example, yesterday I saw a Tweet that they have a collaboration with DC comics - Linky link ). DT members are also much more driven (and I also think they've dropped out even before they had their first record deal, I think they've talked about it on Score documentary). Genre hair-splitting is also a futile discussion - saying the artist they're something while they identify as something else. And I also agree with his next point - Dream Theater do write more traditionally catchy songs. What I like about them is that, even if they changed directions many times while still keeping some integrity (Falling Into Infinity being an exception) each one of those LP has at least one "radio-friendly" song. All in all Det B. made some great points. (and while I'm at it - great read!)

So now I'm talking from an outsider point of view. I'm not informed about Symphony X like the rest of you lot, I still have to dive deep into their discography (there's a lot potential from what I've heard) but - they do miss hit singles. Now, now! That doesn't mean that the songs or albums or their discography is bad. It's just that I haven't stumbled upon on something that would have commercial appeal. I'll give an example from a band that I've been following for a while - Mastodon. Leviathan (2002) is considered their best, Blood Mountain (2006) is full of fan favorites and Crack the Skye (2009) was considered, at the time, as one of the best albums of the year. They were quite famous in the "metal circles" but mainstream fame and higher slots on festivals still weren't theirs (I remember one of their afternoon slot at not-that-big-of-a-festival thinking "These guys should be higher.") But! Since than, they've been putting singles on albums that had much more mainstream appeal - Curl of the Burl (2011), The Motherload/High Road (2014) and FFS they've played Show Yourself (2017) on Jimmy Kimmel live! If you played Leviathan to somebody in 2002 and say: These guys will play on talk shows and headline festivals in 15 years. - didn't seem like it.

My point being - give a hundred people a 20-minute epic and maybe you get a couple of them hooked. Give them a catchy single first - you get a lot more of them hooked and, most of times, they'll eventually get hooked on that 20-minute epic. The world didn't care much about Pink Floyd until Time came out, same as Rush with Tom Sawyer, same as numerous other bands which decided to play it safe at certain point while still maintaining their style. And this is where it gets tricky. The "sell-out" term. And I hate that one.

I'm circling back to Dream Theater, Black Clouds and Silver Linings for Example. Count of Tuscany - yay, Nightmare to Remember - yay (from fans point of view). But, what were the singles? Rite of Passage and Wither. And I bet my ass there were this "new fanbase in the making" who first heard about DT through those singles which led them to appreciate other songs on the album and later - rest of their discography. So, it is possible to still keep your style while occasionally taking a step out to recruit new fans. I believe Symphony X has a strong core fan base, but outside of them, I don't see any horde of people gaining interest in them. Something like "Firefly" community. You can sign petitions all you want but the best you can get is a movie. Another season? Forget about it.

Phew, this also took longer than I planned.
IDK what my point was really... Maybe something between the lines - yes, they take things slower for the last 10 years but pace isn't the solely reason they're not as popular as Dream Theater and a lot of it has with what Det. B said. This pure speculation of course, but in my opinion, even if they toured every year and published albums every 2-3 years, they still wouldn't reach that level of fame as Dream Theater has/had (if they stuck to the same formula).

And I must say at the end - this was a post about popularity of a bands, not the quality of their music. Just so we're clear.

 

[Diesel 11]

My point being - give a hundred people a 20-minute epic and maybe you get a couple of them hooked. Give them a catchy single first - you get a lot more of them hooked and, most of times, they'll eventually get hooked on that 20-minute epic.

Symphony X slowly build up to that in their discography with their album openers. “Of Sins and Shadows” is the first great example of a simpler but immensely effective, catchy prog rocker. “Inferno” takes that torch on The Odyssey and adds in a lot more fire, and then when Paradise Lost came out, “Set the World on Fire” was pretty much THE Symphony X single — very proggy, but grippingly heavy with a melodic and catchy chorus. And then Iconoclast decided to just be almost nothing but catchy songs, and Underworld carried that forward particularly in its opening track “Nevermore”, probably the most commercial feeling track by them to date.

 

[Mosh]

Incorruptible

?

 

[Mosh]

So with this discussion I'm thinking specifically about the Odyssey/Paradise Lost era. The band had just come off two huge tours (Gigantour with Megadeth and Progressive Nation with Dream Theater), their albums were becoming more widely available (around this time there was a reissue campaign for the older albums), and they were finally starting to get really good production value in their music, not to mention Odyssey and Paradise Lost were pretty widely acclaimed. At that point they should've beefed up their online presence, put some live videos out on YouTube, and gone straight to another album and tour. Instead, they took 3 years off, put out a much less popular album, and then took about 3 years off again (I know they played gigs during these times but they didn't do much in the way of large scale touring). All of this with pretty mediocre promotion. I think they have the material to be more popular, maybe not DT level but certainly on the level of a band like Opeth or Between the Buried and Me, even Haken seems to be eclipsing them in the prog world at least. The only thing these bands have in common that SX doesn't is consistent touring and album releases + an online presence.

As far as Dream Theater goes, Images & Words had a hit but DT had virtually no momentum in the 90s. Awake was a disappointment and Falling Into Infinity was the textbook definition of a failure. Critically, commercially, what have you. The album that got DT to what they are now is Scenes From A Memory. That album saved them, and they capitalized on the success by sticking consistently to an album every other year and constant touring in between, with pretty much no breaks until COVID. Not dissimilar from the formula Maiden has, by the way, and I would argue the same thing has put Maiden where they are now. Symphony X has the audience, but they do nothing to maintain it.

By the way, I don't think the Dream Theater comparisons do Symphony X any favors either. In terms of prog credentials and production value, Dream Theater has a lot more to offer. Symphony X has an appeal to metal and neo-classical fans that Dream Theater doesn't have though. They would probably get more fans by marketing to that niche rather than going for the "Dream Theater with a better singer" angle.

 

[Diesel 11]

?

My bad, I meant Iconoclast. Edited the post accordingly.

 

[Diesel 11]

An interesting but noodly intro opens "Taunting the Notorious", and then it's BAM! right into the verse. God and Jesus united as one, this has got to be Rod's worst performance yet. Like, it's not that it truly bothers me generally but when you focus on his singing it's just terrible. He's all over the place. He does manage to hold the end notes in every chorus, though, I'll give him that.

It's a fairly straight-forward song overall, very much a rocker that's kinda angry about the state of the world. I dig the instrumental section; the bass / guitar duel kinda reminds me of proggy Death, and the way that solo peaks is fantastic. But this song is just in-and-out so quick it barely leaves a memory. Probably the most unmemorable chorus yet. And the production on this song especially is trash and very, very water-logged. The pointless outro doesn't really bother me as much here as it did previously, I will say.

I think this song is solid enough and an enjoyable listen, but it clearly isn't one of the memorable ones. Filler.

EDIT: Oh, and I’d love to hear Russell take on this song especially. I think his more powerful voice could work wonders at transforming it into a real monster (although I doubt it would become much more than just a “better with Russell” song, to be fair).

 

[MrKnickerbocker]

EDIT: Oh, and I’d love to hear Russell take on this song especially. I think his more powerful voice could work wonders at transforming it into a real monster (although I doubt it would become much more than just a “better with Russell” song, to be fair).

I think that goes for the majority of this album, honestly. Sure, they'd all be "better with Russell", but still not worth it. The songwriting just isn't there yet.

 

[Mosh]

What was the song they remade for Odyssey, Masquerade? It's enjoyable but even with the production, playing, and quality of Russell's voice it still doesn't touch anything that's actually on The Odyssey. It's a cool one-off though.

 

[Diesel 11]

I think that goes for the majority of this album, honestly. Sure, they'd all be "better with Russell", but still not worth it. The songwriting just isn't there yet.

Yeah, that’s why I only brought it up for this song, because I think what Rod is trying to pull off Russell actually could. With the others it is what it is, but with this song in particular I’d actually like to see a version with him as vocalist.

 

[MrKnickerbocker]

Rapture or Pain

LYRICS:

Spoiler

A tearless stare
Encased by fear
Like a thread my heart is torn
And ripped right from my soul
With no control

Suits in disguise then fades to red
Brings a blackened sky to fall
And make you very cold
While you grow old

PRE-CHORUS:
Gone without a trace (gone)
It's left me chained and bound
My heart you thrust a dagger
My life and dreams are shattered
And left in tyranny

CHORUS:
Rapture or pain
You spill my blood and take my life away
Rapture or pain
All aversions still remain

You've realized
You're not alone
They've took your breath of life
And left your mind to unfold
Lifeless and cold

Your thoughts erased
It's death you taste
Your searing face
It hides the scars of love

PRE-CHORUS
CHORUS x2

[Solos]

CHORUS x2

• The intro here is really nice and dramatic, and *GASP* kinda reminds me of Dream Theater. The brief arpeggio section before the heavy verse riff, however, feels pointless. The heavy riffs are nice throughout and super proggy.
• Musically, this song feels both more subdued and more refined. I like the five line verses. I like the second half of the second verse where it gets really dramatic (although the lyrics and melodies are incredibly forced and clunky here).
• The double pre-chorus is weird, but probably the best melody here. The chorus is once again fine, but not very good or memorable.
• Holy shit Pinnella is in full on Casio-mode on this song. His patches are terrible in the bridge.
• The wheels kinda fall off during the solos, unfortunately. The ending of the song is the least effective. Rod really tries to be soulful in the last chorus (this would be much better with Russell) but fails so hard.
• I have no idea why the ending is half-cut into the beginning of the next song?

 

[Diesel 11]

I straight-up forgot about "Rapture or Pain" until it came up. That's about how memorable I think it is. To be clear, this isn't actually a bad song, but it makes some poor decisions during its five minutes that make it less outstanding than others here, and kinda puts it alongside "Taunting the Notorious" in the 'filler' category.

The intro is really cool, it's grooving, it's melodic, and the sound is quite cavernous. Then the distortionless guitar comes in and it's gorgeous, kinda reminds me of Death again, or even Alice In Chains (more on that in a moment). The riffing that follows is forgettable though, and the verse... goddamn Rod what are you doing?? The notes are so low that they make him sound constipated, Jesus Christ. I do like the switch-up into higher notes during the pre-chorus, but what Romeo really needs here isn't a Russell, it's a Layne Staley. That's who Rod seems like he's emulating - poorly.

The chorus is fun and I like the way they repeated it twice the second time through, but with the second repetition in a different key, quite cool. Then the instrumental comes, and the keyboards just don't really fit? They actually sound clearer than the guitar, surprisingly, but it's off-kilter somehow. And then it's... back into the chorus? Really? That's all we get for an instrumental? On an album where the instrumental sections are typically the highlights of their respective songs, I'm left feeling disappointed. I'd have love to see this one end on an extended instrumental, especially since the chorus was already reprised twice last time. But instead we just get Rod going off in the stupidest way possible, and an abrupt cut off into the next song. That ending does work effectively but there could've been so much more here. I feel ripped off.

It's got the bare bones to be quite good, but unfortunately the band misstep quite a lot during this one. It had all the potential, but it only managed to slip into the 'filler' zone instead. A disappointment.

 

[MrKnickerbocker]

The chorus is fun and I like the way they repeated it twice the second time through, but with the second repetition in a different key, quite cool. Then the instrumental comes, and the keyboards just don't really fit? They actually sound clearer than the guitar, surprisingly, but it's off-kilter somehow. And then it's... back into the chorus? Really? That's all we get for an instrumental? On an album where the instrumental sections are typically the highlights of their respective songs, I'm left feeling disappointed. I'd have love to see this one end on an extended instrumental, especially since the chorus was already reprised twice last time. But instead we just get Rod going off in the stupidest way possible, and an abrupt cut off into the next song. That ending does work effectively but there could've been so much more here. I feel ripped off.

Couldn't agree more. The instrumental bridge feels so...trivial? It's interesting and well-played, but it's so short and goes absolutely nowhere. I truly don't understand. This song definitely did not need more choruses.

 

[Detective Beauregard]

Taunting the Notorious is one of the tracks on this album that I could never remember anything about over the years, but revisiting it makes me realize that it's better than I initially thought. It's not good, mind you - but I hear what they were going for and it does work in some areas.

• I think it's made pretty clear by the intro that this song is going to be nothing but ridiculous noodling. It's technically impressive, but soulless.
• I'm not a fan of songs that jump right into a (weak) verse like this. Either start the song with a verse or write a proper intro. Anyway, we get a sample of tuf guy Rod here (shivers), and generic chugga-chugga riffing with a noodle tail.
• The pre-chorus is better, including better chugga-chuggas (at least there's dynamics here). Rod is also slightly better here.
• We get to hear Rod's (poor) Dio impression in the chorus, even though he's clearly singing his ass off. It's honestly not a horrible chorus, but it's not good, either.
• I don't really see the point of the random solo after the first chorus. It ends with a bass/guitar descending lick that they use in the future, on Orion (I believe). I'm starting to hear how this album was seen by Romeo as a demo, and since Twilight in Olympus was thrown together rather quickly, it makes sense that they'd dip back into their "debut" for ideas.
• The instrumental section is predictable and uninspired, even if it oddly features a guitar-bass tradeoff instead of the typical guitar-keyboard one. Man, Miller is the highlight of this album for me. I wish he played more like this on the next three albums! While I love Lepond's tasteful playing on their later albums, this is a whole different level right here.
• It's cool to hear Rullo grab the spotlight before the song ends, but again - what's with the outro? It's just a few clean notes that fade way too quickly, thrown onto the end of a blistering rocker, to boot. It makes zero sense. I think Romeo did this a lot on The Dark Chapter, too... I want to kick him for this.

Taunting the Notorious' Russell Factor: Sure, but is it even worth it?

It's obvious that this was a song written clearly to show off, and I always dislike it when bands do that. Symphony X rarely does this, though, so I think it's odd. But given that it's their first album, I somewhat understand the need for this considering the genre. Still, this is the definition of filler. Thankfully, the album's quality trends upward after this.

 

[Detective Beauregard]

Rapture or Pain is honestly a pretty solid song. Like everything on this album, not all of it works - but the high points are good. The album needed a heavy, mid-tempo tune like this after the relative crapfest that preceded it.

• The intro is pure Metropolis worship, for sure. I love it, though. The snare march is atypical for the band, and the way Romeo arpeggiates the chords gives life to the section. It's different and vibrant. Rullo and Romeo really highlight this section.
• I like the next section, too, although it is eerily similar to the post-chorus from Orion from Twilight in Olympus (I'm starting to think that that entire song was rehashed from bits and pieces of the debut). When the metal starts we have our traditional Symphony X four-note syncopated groove, and while the section is a little disjointed, it's not bad.
• However, the first verse is bad. This melody is too low for Rod and he sounds horrible. Constipated is about right. I like the solos after each line, though. Very Megadethy.
• The pre-chorus is strange but interesting. The overall progression is the same, but most of the band changes things up on the repeat. That includes Rod, who sounds okay on the higher lines. We get Romeo funk and a shred run, too, and Miller's bass in the first half has a great groove.
• I actually like this chorus. It's catchy, and Romeo's little lick is very hooky. The section has a nice drive to it, amplified by the galloping rhythm section. This is one of the better choruses on the album, which I realize isn't exactly saying much.
• The post-chorus is, again, what Orion would become. It's sort of a wind-down, and while I like it, the transition into the next verse isn't great.
• The second half of the second verse is definitely... something. I like the transition into a triplet feel, although I'm not sure it works as well as it could here. The vocal lines are a bit rushed, too.
• I like the modulation of the chorus on the repeat, although I think it should have been saved for the end of the song. The song has one chorus too many.
• Pinnella's "solos" are very scalar and not particularly interesting, but the cheesy harpsichord at least gives the song some variety. Remember that this is the first thing he's done in the song that stands out. This section is far too brief, though - it needed to be a solid minute with some groove switch-ups in there. It would have made the final choruses more effective.
• I give Rod credit for trying what he did on the final chorus, although like with everything, it's not his thing.
• The only reason I can think of as to why the song ends so abruptly is that it was meant to segue directly into the next track, as if the songs are thematically related. They could be. It also explains the poor editing job, with the song's final two notes appearing at the beginning of Thorns of Sorrow.

Rapture or Pain's Russell Factor: I mean he's gonna fit these like a glove from here on out...

It's obviously not the popular opinion, but I like much of this song. It could just be that I've acclimated to Rod's voice at this point, or that the previous two tracks were filled with more cheese than Wisconsin, but there's something decent here. Anyway, onward and upward.

What was the song they remade for Odyssey, Masquerade? It's enjoyable but even with the production, playing, and quality of Russell's voice it still doesn't touch anything that's actually on The Odyssey. It's a cool one-off though.

This was actually recorded in 1998 for a greatest "hits" compilation called Prelude to the Millennium. I also believe it has Thomas Miller on bass, not Mike Lepond. It was thrown onto the special edition of The Odyssey as a bonus track, along with Frontiers - a song that was recorded during The Odyssey sessions.

 

[Diesel 11]

It's obviously not the popular opinion, but I like much of this song. It could just be that I've acclimated to Rod's voice at this point, or that the previous two tracks were filled with more cheese than Wisconsin, but there's something decent here. Anyway, onward and upward.

Literally the only thing that makes me call it a disappointment is the insignificant and ultimately pointless instrumental. The rest is quite good and has the makings of a great song. And I agree with you — it’s easily one of the best choruses on this album! I’d just like it so much more if some more effort was put into it, like much of this album.

Overall I’ve been discovering that Symphony X is both a much better album than I thought at first... and also more frustrating at the same token.

 

[Deleted member 7164]

Symphony X has the audience, but they do nothing to maintain it.

I don't know as anyone as lazy as them. They have a guitar hero in their ranks and 0 live releases. Also there are no special releases, covers, instumental mixes, etc.