SYMPHONY X -

SYMPHONY X - V - METAL BLADE
American band Symphony X remains committed to progressive rock as others like Dream Theater and Queensryche drift. Barely of interest to heavy metal listeners, this pomp and prog band is surely a hit with fans of early Dream Theater, Malmsteen and DC Cooper, but the grandiose arrangements and keyboards are simply too much to bear for heavy music fans. Vocalist Russell Allen is the best Graham Bonnet imitator I have heard in years though and this will simply go down a storm with the aforementioned fans. Personally though, I would rather pull out my old Alcatrazz albums any day. - Ali "The Metallian"

SYMPHONY X - PARADISE LOST - INSIDE OUT  
The Xth album from New Jersey’s Symphony X might bear a decidedly unoriginal title, but the music strikes a more aggressive, assertive and hungry note here that is rather new for the group. Adorned with beautiful front and back cover artwork, Paradise Lost is Symphony X’s hardest and most metallic album to date and first new full-length in five years. Singer Russell Allen has brought down his pitch a note or two and sounds mad and heavy. Guitar virtuoso Michael Romeo is right there with him shredding and licking on song after song in addition to a denser rhythm all around.
Fear not wimps for the progressive flourishes, symphonic interludes and keyboard outbursts are still there, yet there is no doubt that Symphony X is not mellowing with age. It is to the band’s credit that it is supplementing its considerable playing capability with a trend towards heaviness. A song like the title track might still be fairly poppy and The Sacrifice could essentially be considered a ballad, but in contrast Set The World On Fire, Domination and album closer Revelation are meaner cuts of music that could even be identified as 'US metal' were the band to untether itself from the keyboards and synthesized sounds for a metal sound. - Ali “The Metallian"

SYMPHONY X - PARADISE LOST - INSIDE OUT  
A promising, suspenseful intro in Oculus Ex Inferni is sure to keep the listener’s interest peaked for Set The World On Fire. A heavier song than most would expect, it is a mix of progressive hard rock and straight forward heavy metal in the vein of ”˜90’s Judas Priest. Domination keeps the tempo going as Russell Allen and Michael Romeo continue to dominate in vocals and guitars respectively. The Serpent’s Kiss slows down the proceedings somewhat. The title track is a ballad. Eve Of Seduction is a competent yet not original hard rock song. Walls Of Babylon with an apt middle eastern type intro is solid and enjoyable even at over eight minutes long, with more than a bit of Rush and early Dream Theatre thrown in. Seven occupies the eighth spot on Paradise Lost and feels like a natural continuation of the song before it. The Sacrifice is a commercially viable power ballad. The nine minute Revelation (Divus Pennae Ex Tragodeia) closes this release and offers plenty to confirm the aforementioned vocals and guitars’ dominance and that both manage to lift this to a solid album. - Anna Tergel