My first dedicated voyage into progressive metal (I didn't really know what to make of Opeth), Symphony X impressed me with approachable neoclassical flourishes, double-digit, multi-part songs and pompous mythology storytime that was right up my street, but a fairly limited range meant they wouldn't have the staying power of a Dream Theater.
Nostalgic as hades though. Here are my The Top IX Symphony X Opi.
As my own taste mellowed, Symphony X unhelpfully followed the inverse direction, coming out more like Fear Factory with precocious keyboards. I blame the crowd they've been hanging around with. Russell calls me a son of a bitch and a bastard of the machine at various points. The last song's a bit of a comeback, shame there wasn't more of that.
Fave: When All Is Lost
They had their style sussed from the off, but in a recurring unavoidable Dream Theater comparison, a temporary singer, unpolished production and stifled songwriting make this destined to be overlooked. These aren't really issues for me, but I was disappointed that not a lot stood out from the general pleasantry. Cool cover though.
Fave: Absinthe and Rue
VII. Paradise Lost (2007)
Long awaited in real time, even more so when I learned it would be an academic tie-in concept album, it failed to live up to my own hype and I only ever really liked a few songs. It's good blistering power metal, but they elected to lose themselves in evolution, feeling more like an Iced Earth substitute at times following their decline. Where's the symphony?
Fave: Revelation (Divus Pennae ex Tragoedia)
Their '90s base level is set, but this always felt half-baked and restrained compared to subsequent efforts. You're playing neoclassical metal with a virtuoso guitarist, why are you holding back? With Russell Allen even being oddly annoying at times in his debut, I'd rather separate the better ones than listen through the whole thing.
Fave: The Edge of Forever
V. Underworld (2015)
I didn't give this much of a chance before, but it's a promising return. We're still weighed down in the thematically appropriate dark, but it's less rambling and the old spirit's there, even when it's being channelled through Nevermore.
Fave: To Hell and Back
IV. The Odyssey (2002)
Rightly associated with the frivolous title suite (which presumably didn't stretch to a whole album, shame), the rest kicks off a heavier, riff-oriented direction for the new millennium that started to lose me even at the time, with a couple of sentimental exceptions.
Fave: The Odyssey, obviously
III. Twilight in Olympus (1998)
Continuing to parallel Dream Theater, the loss of the epic title suite used to be as enigmatic as the original 'Metropolis, Part 2,' but even without a demo release, it's been confirmed that it largely ended up on V. Even with the fitting sense of lost marvels, I was always very fond of this more melodic respite in the catalogue, which pretends the previous album didn't happen and is basically a better Damnation Game.
Fave: Lady of the Snow
II. V: The New Mythology Suite (2000)
It only took a couple of decades (not that I likely listened to it at all in the second), but the inevitable symphonic concept album that I formerly found a bit of an uneven slog has finally clicked. To the point that I now see it's probably their best work, and I could listen to it again right now, but there's no arguing with nostalgia. We're due an X.
Fave: A Fool's Paradise
My first encounter, and historically one of my favourite metal albums (to the point that I associate its title with a self-evident pinnacle of quality), there was a sense this time that I may have been exaggerating how colossally its plinth overshadows the others, but I still have a good time. It's aggressive without being overbearing, even the "filler's" fun, and the title suite doesn't even feel long any more.
Fave: Candlelight Fantasia
