THE ODYSSEY

While progressive metal is my favorite genre, I also enjoy power, trash and death metal quite a bit. So for me, Symphony X is just perfect and this is my favorite album from them. This cd just has everything, but of course it means that overall, it's sort of a compromise and that's why many "pure" prog fans aren't entirely happy with this album. I understand that. But to me, this release is the perfect combination of progressive and power metal, with a little bit of trash.

1, 2, 3: The first 3 songs aren't very progressive or symphonic, more straight forward metal songs, but of course perfectly played and Russel Alans rough singing sounds just as awesome as his softer singing. 4: Then comes Accolade II, what a great song! The chorus is catchy, but still doesn't annoy me after hearing it I don't know how many times. Great Piano, perfect singing, beautiful melody. 5, 6: 2 heavy and fast songs with a comparable style. King of Terrors is clearly the better song of the 2 with a fantastic chorus. I can see how quite a few people would get annoyed with the heavy and dominant drumming, but I like it. King of Terrors has some great dark guitar parts, especially in the last 2 minutes. 7: Awakenings is one of my favorite Symphony X songs, I love how the different phases of the song are perfectly put together. Again, a great chorus and several short but fantastic guitar and piano solos that couldn't hamonize any better with the overall song. Love it. 8: The Odyssey: Wow. I'm definately not the guy who loves just any song thats over 15 minutes long, but this "song/story" is probably the best I know. Even after listening to it dozens of times, the 25 minutes feel like 10 minutes to me, not a single part of this song is stretched out or useless. It's just perfect.

I'm actually glad about the direction Symphony X is going, this Album is their best work and the one afterwards, Paradise Lost isn't much worse in my mind. I would rank their albums like this: The Odyssey, V, Paradise Lost, The divine wings of tragedy, Twilight in Olympus, The damnation game, Symphony X.