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Symphony X: Iconoclast
17/08/11 || Altmer
Wow. Symphony X’s new album is out. And here I’ve been sitting thinking it was gonna take them fucking forever again. Ok, so it did. But not as forever as last time (there was a 5 year gap between “Odyssey” and “Paradise Lost”). 4 years. Watch out, the next album may actually be on time. Or not. But anyway, during these four years they managed to write a double CD (so that’s what they do during all this time? Write too much music?) and they called it (solid, but unspectacularly) “Iconoclast”. Very metal title, but quite pretentious.
And sadly, despite the prog tag always thrown on the band, not very apt. There’s not much change here at all. It sounds like “Paradise Lost” with one or two new tricks thrown in and then that’s it. There’s a mechanical sound here, some Dream Theater-ish long freakouts there. But overall, progress? More like regress here, guys. Stick to the sound, play it as safe as it’s humanly possible to play. Damn, I thought this band was capable of evolving? They did so in the past, so why not now? I’m not hearing the difference, and that’s on a stereo (not just mp3 quality being crap).
Since we already all know what Symphony X sound like (shred solos, groovy riffs, syncopation and odd time sigs, coupled with Russell Allen’s fantastic vocals), the only question left unanswered is quality control. Do they keep the level of music and intensity up for 85 minutes? Sad to say, nope. This double album should have been a single album just like almost any double album ever released. 50 minutes of this suffices, maybe 60 if you have tolerance for wank like I do. There are plenty good bits in the songs, but they need some condensing and trimming of the fat and there are one or two tunes nobody cares about on the second disc.
What it boils down to: if you like this band and particularly the previous album they did, there’s no way you won’t enjoy what they have to offer here. For everyone else – tread with some caution. The quality control radar isn’t as fine-tuned as you’d like for them, and some of the parts love Dream Theater way too much. It’s clearly music for musicians by musicians (apart from the vocals, Russ is still in a league all his own), but apart from maybe “Heretic” there’s no standout tunes and it’s just not as good as “Divine wings” is.
Good record, but I expect better next time.
- Information
- Released: 2011
- Label: Nuclear Blast
- Website: www.symphonyx.com
- Band
- Russell Allen: vocals
- Michael Romeo: guitars
- Michael Lepond: bass
- Michael Pinnella: keyboards
- Jason Rullo: drums
- Tracklist
- Disc 1
- 01. Iconoclast
- 02. The End of Innocence
- 03. Dehumanized
- 04. Bastards of the Machine
- 05. Heretic
- 06. Children of a Faceless God
- 07. When All is Lost
- Disc 2
- 01. Electric Messiah
- 02. Prometheus (I Am Alive)
- 03. Light Up The Night
- 04. The Lords of Chaos
- 05. Reign in Madness
