TWILIGHT IN OLYMPUS

This is Symphony X's 4th album and another great one on the career of this great band. The first thing I thought when I heard this was 'this IS dark !', well, this is by far the darkest record this band has ever released, even sometimes giving a terrific atmosphere, believe me ! As expected, we've got great playing by all members, specially of course Michael Romeo and Pinnela, giving lots of great solos. The drummer here is not Jason Rullo, but he's respectable, as bassist Thomas Miller too. Rusell Allen sings like always, one of the best voices of the last years. On this record we've an interesting mix of Metal (most of it is Prog) and Neo Prog, specially on the epic "Through the Looking Glass", with lots of atmospheres and keyboards. Now I'll describe each track:

One of the first songs I heard from this band was "Smoke And Mirrors", what a powerful beggining to this album ! If every song was like this one, I surely'd give it five stars and well deserved. On the beginning I can hear nice 'Malmsteenesque' arpeggios, and a dark, very dark atmosphere carried by the keys. The remarkable moment is the solos, a TREMENDOUS guitar - keyboard duel backed by noisy drums, and some pauses at 200 km/h speed, that gives me chills ! Is incredible how music can 'drive' you, IMO this is a great example. GREAT beginning !

"Church Of The Machine" is next and other of the first songs I heard from this band. The thing that really makes me enjoy it is the chorus, creative and very catchy, and of course the solos. Very good song.

The previous track finishes abruptly, and we've a 're-make' of Beethoven's Sonata 8 in C Minor, with and special sad and classical climax, and the dark guitar solo is a nice ingredient to this calm moment, which is short (1:25).

"In The Dragon's Den" is very similar in structure to "The Relic", which are more straigt Power Metal song, with a proggy ingredient: tasteful solos and instrumental passages, going away from the typical Power Metal virtuoso solo, which is IMO, very boring at a point. Again we've nice choruses. Maybe this will appeal more to Metal fans (but with an open mind, of course).

The epic on this album is "Through The Looking Glass", which lasts 13:05. I was a bit disappointed with the first listens I gave to this song, but after many listens more, I concluded this is a decent song, very far of being like "The Divine Wings Of Tragedy", which is one of the more beautiful pieces of music of the last years. Well, goig back to the music, this song is a lot more Symphonic, with much more importance of the keyboards doing spacey atmospheres, even being like Neo Prog, well, let's say it, this song IS Neo Prog ! Now I can hear more the bass, doing nice bases and grooves. The song itself is very proggy, actually it may be very difficult to play, not just because of the technique required to play this, the fact that here are a LOT of parts is another factor too ! This mid - tempo epic is nice to sit back and relax listening to this, a RELAXED song, that will appeal more to fans of the old Prog. Good epic !

"Orion - The Hunter" is the other remarkable piece. It starts with a cool Heavy Metal riff. The climax on this song brings me to the old days of Symphony X (with the self titled album). There is a coincidence: the chorus again, is very catchy, and maybe the only really rocker moment on the band; the soloing moment is very enjoyable, going throug different tempos, and modal song, AND one of the parts during the solos is the ONLY happy moment on the band history, listening to that solos give me a big smile. GREAT song !

To close "Twilight In Olympus" is the ballad, "Lady Of The Snow", as expected. This song has a lot of feeling specially on both guitar solos, to give a dramatic climax, as the (cheesy) chorus. The song finishes with the sound of snow to close the darkest album of Symphony X.

Overall, this is not good but non-essential, this is GREAT but non-essential, a very enjoyable dark Prog Metal album. I highly recommend this to anyone !!

Rating: 3.4/5