Symphony X - Paradise Lost (2007)^{Release ID: 2570}

Heavy: 1. of great weight; difficult to lift. 2. of great density. 3. 'Paradise Lost' by Symphony X.

Symphony X's seventh studio album, 'Paradise Lost', is, simply put, heavy. The majestic sounds of their earlier releases are gone, and the more orchestral feel of their previous two albums have dwindled. Now, in their place, is an all-out assault of the heaviest, beefiest, and arguably some of the most aggressive music you'll ever hear.

The song structures, while still maintaining progressive characteristics, are nowhere near as complex as past efforts, and the keyboards don't have as prominent a role in the songwriting. Much of the music is based around guitarist Michael Romeo's massive riffs and vocalist Russell Allen's intense yet melodic voice, both fitting together so perfectly that it's easy to forget the bands more classically-inspired days.

'Set the World on Fire', 'Serpent's Kiss', 'Paradise Lost' and 'Revelation' are all fantastic-enough reasons to get this album, but then there's what I consider one of the heaviest songs of all time; 'Domination'. The sheer weight of its huge riffs is insane, amazingly produced to really give it the thickness it needs. You really don't know what "heavy" means until you've cranked this song out at full blast!

Overall, this is certainly not Symphony X's best album, but it's a natural change of direction for the band, and one which should help them appeal to a broader metal audience. And you'd sure-as-hell better be a metal fan if you're going to listen to this!

I only recently became a big fan of Symphony X.  By this point, I've heard almost all of their albums and I'm been finding myself going back to the albums I've already heard more often than most prog bands I've heard, even my ex-favorite Dream Theater.  This is progginess at a very creative level, and they keep being creative even by today's standards.  And one of those shining gems is ironically their most accessible, Paradise Lost, which sacrifices some of their signature neoclassical sound (the genre they perfected) for more straightforward prog.

The album starts out with the band's best "intro" song, "Oculus Ex Inferni," which boasts the band's strongest symphonic sounds yet.  Honestly, the intro is so magical that you'd have to wonder if James Horner wrote it.  Then "Set the World On Fire" comes up, and it's probably Symphony X's heaviest song so far.  There are significantly less neoclassical elements as a result, leading the organ the band loves so much to be an occasional element of instrumental focus.

Obviously, Paradise Lost was an attempt in making their most "metal" album, and while I willingly promote the progression and right to change a signature sound, the album did come off as a little samey at the end.  But these guys have not lost any of their identity; they just cranked the power of their prog and power metal up a notch.  In "Domination," it's more of the same but with a little more groove.  Nevertheless, Russell Allen is wailing like he's got something to gain, and as a result there's a lot of spirit and power in the songs, and he keeps itself from being "too much," even though the extra power could potentially be considered too much when compared with past albums.  There is more of this kind of vibe with the edge factor cranked up until we reach its first ballad, the title track.

That title track is fucking addicting.  The instrumentation of the 6-6-6-7 timing of the intro is one of the most beautiful opining melodies I've heard, and the rest of the song progresses along with that beauty.  True, the lyrics to the verses are damn typical, but the chorus is so beautifully worded that it almost doesn't matter (besides, the lyrics are still better than the damn catchy Huntik theme).  And once we reach the guitar solo, it manages to be a metal solo but still carry that melodic beauty of the intro well with its very high pitch.  I just wrote a full paragraph for the once song.

Immediately afterwards, we get the heavy metal riffage of "Eve of Seduction," which carries an attitude only seen in 80's-90's hard rock and grunge for most of it, so the song itself ends up being a real jam, despite the fact that it's still susceptible to the progressive nature of the album.  Afterwards is the second-to-longest track, "The Walls of Babylon," which begins with a surreal Babylonian instrumentation... but then tricks you and goes right back to the heavy metal.  Still, the way the international influences are mingled in rings heavily of the best works of Therion.  It's also their most progressive song on this album, as the metal, symphony and progginess switches around for three-and-a-half minutes until we get our lyrics.

Afterwards is "Seven," which is the most blatantly power-based and neoclassical, ringing some memories of "The Divine Wings of Tragedy," despite the fact that its cheesy power metal lyrics ring of past heavy-power acts like Grave Digger.  Next is "The Sacrifice," and I don't have much to say about this one except that it's yet another great ballad, but nowhere near as good as the title track because it's more melodramatic, and once again our friend Russell feels the need to wail like a lion.  And finally, we hit the big grand finale, the epic "Revelation," which carries a tone, structure and vibe very reminiscent of "Evolution" from their previous album V: The New Mythology Suite, carrying a very strong heavy prog presence, and vocals by Russell which aren't as loud or over-the-top.

Diehard prog fans may be turned off by the newfound accessibility of Symphony X, but this is not to say that they sold out.  The musicianship is still at peak level, even though it's more straight-up prog than neoclassical.  Honestly, if you like your metal heavy, the this is definitely the Symphony X album for you.  It's not a worse Symphony X, just a more traditional form of prog metal (and I separate "traditional" from "generic" in this instance).  I give this my highest recommendation, as it is a perfect entryway into Symphony X and prog metal.