This is a cd I have been looking forward to review! It is no secret that I am a huge fan of their earlier works but this only means that I am demanding a lot from these guys since I know what they are capable of. Nothing less than a masterpiece will make me bring out the big numbers for the rating.
The thing we have heard from
Symphony X again and again about this album was: "Man, it's heavy!" and that is indeed the first impression you get when you first put on this cd. Actually, I was talking to a friend of mine, who mostly listens to death metal, about how heavy this disc would be. His opinion was that if they wanted to get heavier, Russ would have to start growling.
Rest assured that there is no growling on this cd! But Russ does sing with a much more aggressive voice from time to time. Think "Banish all kings from the land!" from
The Divine Wings of Tragedy or "Riiiiiiiise, my minions!" from
Egypt, both songs from their earlier cds. Even though he sings harder on most songs, he also makes variations from a hard voice to a soft one. This creates a nice contrast, something that we find a lot of on
The Odyssey. After the first few songs that are pretty heavy, we have
The Accolade part II which is one of the softer songs.
It happens from time to time when an otherwise great band put out a new cd that they have decided to write a nice quiet ballad. Unfortunately this often ends up being the one song that makes me look for the next-song button on my remote. Not so with any songs on this disc. Even though I wouldn't categorize
The Accolade part II as a ballad, it's probably what comes closer to being one on this cd. If you listen carefully, you will find small parts in this song that are taken from the original one, maybe changed a bit but unmistakenly from part I of this story.
When a band puts out a cd that I really like, I have the dilemma that I (naturally) want next cd to be just as good which often means "a lot like the last one" but on the other hand I can understand that a band needs to grow musically.
The Odyssey is
not a copy of any of
Symphony X' other cds yet there is still the easily recognizable patterns that come up again. Mr. Romeo's is the mastermind of this band and he writes most of the music. Both his soloing and rythm playing is still very Romeo-ish which is good. This is what stands out most on the cd and he certainly knows how to give the listeners something to listen to.
We still have the heavy rythm guitar from mr. Romeo. Here, they are even more in front than on
V, where I already thought it was a little bit too much. But the rythm guitar work is interresting all the way through the cd so this is not a big complaint. The keyboards are more in the background, something that I really think is too bad. The keyboards on
V made the whole cd sound more symphonic than this one. The first few songs definitely sound more in-your-face and less symphonic. Maybe this is to create a contrast to the title-song, the 24-minute epic song
The Odyssey.
During the intro to this song, you can clearly hear
Symphony X' love for film music. This is a complex composition where you all the time find something new in the countless melodies that are playing at the same time. This is truly an epic song.
We go all the way through the most quiet moments to some other serious heavy ones. There are long instrumental passages with incredibly solos. Other parts have heavy rythm parts with aggressive singing. I am still discovering new great parts in this monster of a song.
One of the things that surprised me most while listening to this cd was the jazz-thing in the middle of
Awakenings. "What,
Symphony X playing jazz???" I can clearly hear you asking, dear reader. Yeah, it's true. There is a 15 second part where mr. Pinella is playing some jazzy sounding things over mr. LePonds walking bass and it actually sounds ok. Maybe because it is such a contrast to the rest of the cd. I certainly didn't expect that.
Conclusion: Overall, I still haven't decided if this cd can match such masterpieces as
The Divine Wings of Tragedy or
V, however it is pretty close. It is still growing on me and I'm finding new things that grab my attention. But still I miss the symphonic touch of
V which they have turned down a notch on
The Odyssey. Also the production is good but still needs a bit more to compete with the best produced recordings out there. These small complaints aside,
Symphony X have created a brilliant cd which comes very close to afore mentioned masterpieces. If you like progressive part of progressive metal, there is something for you here and if you just like your music heavy, this cd will also have something for you.
Written by
Tajs Tuesday, November 05, 2002
Show all reviews by TajsRatingsTajs: 9/10Members: 9/10 - Average of 1 ratings.
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 | Steen (Staff)
Rating: 9/10
Yeah, this is a brilliant album. The ending part of The Odyssey is simply... · Read more · |
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Comments and member reviews
| Comment by Hawk (Anonymous) - Thursday, July 11, 2002 |
Exellent review!
Although I don't agree with your opinion about "The Accolade II", I still give you my compliments.
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| Comment by Hawk (Anonymous) - Wednesday, September 11, 2002 |
This is an exellent review of an album that is destined to become a classic in the metal genre as a whole.
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| Review by Steen (Staff) - Monday, December 02, 2002 |
View Profile
Comments: 473 | | Yeah, this is a brilliant album. The ending part of The Odyssey is simply divine. I love this whole song. Pure magic.
Rating: 9/10
Posted by Steen (Staff)
Monday, December 02, 2002 |
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| Comment by Mr. Shred-ididle (Anonymous) - Saturday, May 17, 2003 |
Great reveiw. I noticed that revelationz doen't have a review for Devine Wings of Tragedy. Is it possible that I could mabey do one. I know alot about prog, guitar and music theory. If possible.
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| Comment by derek (Anonymous) - Thursday, June 05, 2003 |
hell yeah!!!!
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| Comment by SymphonyXThrice (Anonymous) - Friday, August 01, 2003 |
This is my favourite Thrice cd of all time! Even better than Divine Wings of Tragedy (which is a masterpiece). My favourite songs on the album are Inferno, Accolade 2, and King of Terrors.
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| Comment by di (Anonymous) - Sunday, November 02, 2003 |
Although i'm a year late to write this comment, but i've found this band not long ago and i can say only one word... BRILLIANT!!!
the best what you can find if you're looking for progressive and heavy.
P.S. Great review, thanx :)
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| Comment by ? (Anonymous) - Tuesday, December 23, 2003 |
I've just been introduced to Symphony X. After listening to The Odyssey, I realized that no other band really had much of an impact on the way I felt while listening to their works. Yet they are underrated, I find them to be one of the most brilliant bands in the world...pure genuis.
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| Comment by E. G. (Anonymous) - Monday, December 29, 2003 |
The lyrics of 'Accolade II' have no relationship with the story we find at 'Accolade I'. Yes, it's true that small music parts are taken from the first 'Accolade', but I don't think that it's bad. Actually, this song is one of my favorites from this album.
The entire album is a real masterpiece (check my comments under Tommy's review) and one of the best metal works have ever done.
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| Comment by A fan (Anonymous) - Wednesday, January 14, 2004 |
Fantastic album!
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| Comment by zxcv (Anonymous) - Friday, January 23, 2004 |
i´m in love with this band
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| Comment by romeoisgod (Anonymous) - Friday, January 30, 2004 |
This band is simply amazing. I don't think there is another band on this earth that can blend such agressive heaviness( Inferno) with john williams style scoring (odyssey). These guys are gods... Long live SymX and thank the gods for this album. Brilliant
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| Comment by emrejane (Anonymous) - Monday, June 14, 2004 |
i didnt listen yet.(miuhahaha)
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| Comment by thebolt (Anonymous) - Tuesday, January 04, 2005 |
Love this album but Odyssey is absolutely amazing...listen to it just about everyday...
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| Comment by tris (Anonymous) - Friday, January 28, 2005 |
I think the odyssey is one hell of an album, in fact i think they have achieved what they set out to do, make an album with in your face guitars. I think this is easily a 10/10 album, cant wait for there next one.
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| Comment by Chase (Anonymous) - Sunday, January 29, 2006 |
This album is definately amazing and should not be ignored. I give it a 9/10
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