PARADISE LOST

Long awaited masterpiece album!

Wow! Lately, I have been bombarded with lot of heavy side of rock music. After our hectic days to present Solucite Metal Concert featuring DragonForce live in Jakarta, May 19, 2007, a lot of progressive metal albums were available in the market. I got Dream Theater "Systematic Chaos" and Symphony X "Paradise Lost" in the forms of MP3 way before the official release dates. I then preordered all of them and now I have the original CDs with me. Later I got Kamelot "Ghost Opera" which I have posted a review at this site. What I like about those albums were that all of them were excellent! As a matter of taste, my order of preference from these three wonderful releases are: 1. Ghost Opera, 2. Paradise Lost, 3. Systematic Chaos. I will need to post my review on Dream Theater "Systematic Chaos" because I got the special edition with "The Making of" DVD.

As far as "Paradise Lost" concern, I really amazed with the beauty of this album especially in delivering a stream of music which mostly in uptempo and heavy riffs fashion. If you relate this album with Dream Theater, this seems like an answer of Dream Theater's "Rain of Thoughts" album by Symphony X. The only difference is that "Paradise Lost" has more symphonic fills than "Train of Thought". I have to agree that these two bands are equivalently excellent. Most of their compositioans are top notch!

In terms of Symphony X, this album is better than the band's previous "Odyssey" album which was released 5 years ago in 2002. It's been quite a long time for the band to come up with this new album, but it's worth the wait because this album is very close to perfection. When I say so, because I can appreciate the heavy side of rock music which is typically demonstrated by guitar riffs and upbeat tempo. This album does not compromise with this even though there are excellent musical breaks which feature keyboard and vocal line. So, if you don't get used to heavy riffs and fast tempo, you'd better stay away from this album as it might not be your cup of tea. But I tell you what, once you like heavy riffs, your horizon wouls be expanded tremendously because there is a lot of excellent music which explores riffs and combine them with catchy solos.

Why this album is a masterpiece?

Composition. Most music was composed by the guitarist, Michael Romeo, which has significant influence of classical music. I think, the name "Symphony X" was originated from him especially on his obsession towards symphonic music. All lyrics were done by Michael Romeo and Russell Allen. Michael Romeo also produce this album. The songwriting is top notch. Not ony song by song composition which seems to me very neat and tight, the song placement in the whole album is well positioned to present an excellent stream of music that flows beautifully from start to end. The opening instrumental track "Oculus Ex Inferni" is a masterpiece orchestration, wonderfully composed by Michael Romeo. The melody sounds complex but the harmonies of sounds produced from this opening track are wonderful. Lumped up together they can jockey up your adrenalin and make you getting "prepared" for the next beautiful blasts of progressive metal music. I'm telling you the truth because what comes next is a beautiful song "Set The World On Fire (The Lie Of Lies)" which has full of heavy riffs in fast tempo. Each song in this album has been crafted in such a way that the combined work of instruments being used produce excellent harmonies in relatively catchy melody line where eerie vocal quality of Russell Allen delivers the storyline of the album - which I think it's a Scientific Fiction story.

Drive and Energy. You will listen to a stream of music which is very dynamic with frequent high and low points demonstrating keyboard and / or guitar solos during the musical breaks. Almost all songs have strong drive and energy which might elevate your emotion in an uplifting mode. The album is quite good to start the day because of its power and energy. Out of all tracks only one that has a bit mellow style, i.e. "Paradise Lost". The rest are music with power.

Performance. Each member of the band provides their virtuosity in playing their own instruments with excellent harmonies. The result is a coherent music that flows beautifully from segment to segement and from song to song which at the end build a masterpiece album. Michael Romeo's riffs are heavy but he plays them in smooth and clean sounds with practically no distortion at all. Michael Pinnella keyboards playing work perfectly in augmenting Romeo's guitar solo as well as performing his own keyboard solo. Russell Allen voice is excellent and when he tones down, his voice is quite close to Kansas' Steve Walsh. In some respect the music of Symphony X is close to Kansas, especially on the parts where keyboard sound like a violin. Try "Accollades" of the band's previous albums and you will get the similarities.

Having done that long review, of course , I will recommend you to own this album. It's really worth collecting especially the CD package has excellent artwork in the CD sleeves. One minor thing is the ending part of "The Walls of Babylon" which I expect the heavy riffs will continue longer and the song does not end in "fading out" way. But that's minor and I expect the band will play this longer in their live concerts. I also expect that the band will not take another long period of time to release the next album. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

After a five year wait, Symphony X delivered their heaviest album to date with the crushing Paradise Lost. Pinella's keyboards sound a lot heavier, and his interplay with Romeo has never been tighter. rullo still has the most groove of any prog metal drummer I know. Allen sounds enraged for about 90% of the album and he seems to spit the lyrics at times. Lepond finally steps out of Thomas Miller's shadow with some killer bass performances. Romeo sets himself up as the king of prog metal riff-makers with his best set of riffs yet.

What is immediately noticeable (besides the crushing heaviness) is the lack of any epics. laso, only one song has any ties with John Milton's epic poem, and it's more of a metaphor for life than a synopsis of that wonderful piece of literature. However, Symhony X prove that they can cram all of their progressive traits into shorter tracks. This release marks SX as the true successors of Rush. The drums are technical yet groovy, and the short tracks have more complexity than many epics. The entire album is enjoyable, but highlights include the storming "Set The World On Fire (The Lie Of Lies) ," "Domination" (which opens with a killer bass intro), "The Serpent's Kiss" and the epic "The Walls of Babylon." "Eve of Seduction" and "The Sacrifice" are the weakest tracks of the album; they just fail to ecite me. They're not bad, but they don't stand out.

After the slight misstep of The Odyssey, SX bounce back tremendously with this release. It is the air guitar album of the year and you'll be shredding your tennis racket along with Romeo until you can't lift your arm. It isn't very varied, but it is highly enjoyable an a great album for any fan of prog metal.

Grade: B

Symphony X will soon be playing a first ever gig in my country (Scotland) and needless to say I have been counting the days. Some band called Dream Theater will be supporting them and in an unprecedented move Symphony X will be allowing them to go on last!! Generous or what? Symphony X were the first band this Prog Archive brought to my attention - I had never heard of them previously - and for that alone I will always be grateful. I have to start by saying that this album is not my favourite by the band. That accolade belongs to V. I have persuaded a friend to come to the forthcoming gig. I don't know whether Symphony X will ever return and I want my mate to experience what is sure to be a truly fantastic evening of virtuoso musicianship from TWO premier prog-metal bands. Paradise Lost is however not representative of what Symphony X means to me. Don't get me wrong it is still up there and still excites me - it seems heavier in places and (as some have said) darker at the edges. Saying that, the title track reminded me a little of Kansas ( no bad thing) until it picked up the pace. The Walls of Babylon is a masterpiece and worth the cost of the album alone. What I'm trying to say is that I could let my friend hear at least 10 other Symphony X tracks that I hope they play - these include Of Sins and Shadows,Fallen, Egypt,Pharaoh,Wicked and Incantations of the Apprentice. Short and sweet - its still worth buying - they set standards few can equal.

It seems I'm losing that Prog-Metal gene I once had.

I mean there are some essential releases from the past, that still work on me. But every new one I experience fails to amuse me. Now I long to Prog Metal which is eclectic, somewhat extreme, less cliched, closer to Post-Rock kind of Metal or something...Unfortunately, SYMPHONY X is a Power-Prog band, that kind of music I tend to dislike. There's nothing awful about "Paradise Lost", it's a solid but far too ordinary Power-Prog record. Melodies are forced to be equal to some standard, musicianship is good but amount of notes played makes you feel boring (have they ever heard of "less is more" principle?), and I simply can't get how this can be regarded as a Masterpiece. Tastes differ, and I'm happy to think that "Paradise Lost" filled someone's life with sense or just made it better. Sorry, it just didn't click on me. Recommended for genre's (traditional Power- Prog) fans only.

That's really striking ! After 76 (!) ratings there's an average for this album of exactly 4,00. And that's exactly the rating I had in mind for this one. I waited quite some time with my review because I wanted to do it justice (maybe also because we had to wait a long time for it to come out) and not review too quickly or too soon.

But after a few months I can't say my opinion has really changed. In most cases it is what it is and you feel what you feel about an album and this is also the case here. PL is a heavy album and also a good one but to say that it was worth the wait for 5 years, no I don't think so. What's lacking in my opinion is one or more excellent tracks that give the album more status. On the other hand: most tracks are very good, there is hardly a lesser track on the album and that is worth something too.

If I have to point out the better songs: the title track, Walls of Babylon and my very favourite: Domination. This is maybe the heaviest of them all and it really rocks, what a great metal effort this is. As I said, the others are very worthwhile but it's really missing the masterpiece status I think. So obviously 4 stars !

Symphony X had fans waiting for a long time for this release, and they certainly have branched out. Is this different direction for the better? Some fans obviously find this album exciting and intense, but others find it noisy and oppressive. I regret to say that I'm one of the latter.

Now, to the most important issue (at least in my opinion): Is Russell Allen's voice "destroyed"? Well, from most of the album, you might be inclined to agree, as he sounds very much like a singer who can't belt out the high notes in tune and compensates by growling and remaining in a lower register. On the other hand, you have some moments (on the chorus of Set the World on Fire and parts of Revelation, as well as the mellow title track) where he sounds as good as ever. My take is that Allen stills has great control over his voice--this is exactly how he wants to sound. Why he wants to take one of the best voices out there and make it sound as if he is putting his larynx through a meat grinder is beyond me...Allen is probably the only person who knows for sure. At any rate, this is the first Symphony X album where the vocals are not a highlight, and that is a divine tragedy in itself.

How about the music? Well, after many listens, I am underwhelmed, especially in comparison to the rest of their discography. There is a lot of repetition, such as fast runs in 4/4 time, that get old quickly. Also, after defending against allegations of cloning on their other albums, I unfortunately hear a lot of similarities to Dream Theater here. Pinella's tasteful piano lines are mostly replaced by Rudess-like arpeggio runs (though not completely: see Revelation). I also hope it's just a coincidence that the opening of Set the World on Fire is nearly identical to the part of Dream Theater's In the Presence of Enemies just before the first vocals. Finally, we also have the lyrics. Take the chorus of Revelation: "Oh no, oh no, I've got to find a way. A way, a way, to rise above it all". These are certainly not terrible, but they also pale in comparison to their previous work: more simplistic and repetitive than I've come to expect from them.

Don't get me wrong--this is a solid metal album: fast, intense, with plenty of virtuosity (especially on Domination and Seven). There's also some defiinite prog: from the opening and closing instrumentals, to the highlight title track, to the extended adrenaline-pumping finale. There's nothing wrong with a band changing direction, but they also risk losing some of their identity in doing so. I need some variety, such as more material like the title track, to balance the oppressive, crushing onslaught of metal. I still look forward to more from Symphony X, but I do hope they choose not to continue in this direction.

5 years on from the hugely disappointing The Odyssey, Symphony X return with an album that took them 4 of those years to produce and one things for certain, it was worth the wait. Two things immediately strike me, the first is that this album now only has much less of a prog feel to it, they're not setting it out quite along the old lines of The Divine Wings of Tragedy and tightening up every aspect of the composition. The result is a very focused album with progressive leanings but mostly in the power metal style and much heavier than previous albums. The second major change is that bass player Michael Le Pond has spent the intervening time finding some serious inspiration (as well as fighting Crohns disease) as he offers up the single biggest improvement in performance from any of the bands members. An impressive turnaround from the lackluster showing he gave on The Odyssey. This isn't quite the album I was hopping from them, my wishes went more along the lines of having branch out into something new rather than improving on what they have already done, and as a result there are a few moments that I don't like that are clear hangovers from their past. Usually, when they bass a song/album of someone else's written work, they completely avoid the problem of cheesy lyrics but they don't seem to have been able to do that here. The worst offender is The Walls of Babylon, which would have made an impressive instrumental anyway. A very strong album, up there with The Divine Wings of Tragedy and V, but not a masterpiece.

3 1/4 stars

A fast, heavy, fist-pumping and anthemic power metal album.

uh, power metal? The problem is that with this release I believe that Symphony X distanced themselves quite a bit from their very classical roots in exchange for more power, heaviness, and uniformity. While still classically structured, I miss the massive male chorals and giant symphonies in their previous works. Luckily the exchange is not a total loss as the production is easily the best in a Symphony X thanks to the beautiful sound of the electric guitar. Nevertheless, this album seems to be an album aimed for a power-metal audience.

Unlike the others, the opening track Oculus Ex Inferni sounds like the Symphony X that we all know and love but even more grandiose and symphonic. An epic classical short piece with electric guitar fitting in perfectly with the orchestra. Once the next song Set the World on Fire starts, you might think you got yet another amazing album, as the brutally heavy intro would floor you but the next thing you know, you'll hear fast-paced metal with memorable choruses like in their previous albums in the following tracks, but with a bit more punch and less orchestral touches. Still, the only thing (besides better sound engineering) that is brought to the table is a bit more commercialized form of their style. For example Damnation has the typically ultra heavy slaying bass and guitar riff that the kids love to \m/ ^_^ \m/ . The riff is excellent, but that a progressive band bases most of a 6+ minute song on one riff is a problem.

It's a generally heavy album but luckily there are places to breathe. Paradise Lost is an elegant and classically-inspired metal ballad that inspires me of Dream Theater. There's another slower paced track later called The Sacrifice and the song after Paradise Lost is also somewhat soft in parts (probably the most commercial-sounding track).

Well, back on heavy tracks, we have next a nice bunch of heavy tracks. Walls of Babylon is a longer and heavier track than average which has massive chorals during the choruses, which are among Paradise Lost's most memorable moments. The next heavy track Seven follows the standard formula of this album but surprises when the guitar solo (which is fantastic) leads way to a frenzied ultra-fast bass riff. That transition is another of the album's best moments, even if the song in itself isn't exactly outstanding. The last and longest song Revelation is nice, but I expected more from Symphony X as their earlier epics are more dynamic and exciting.

If you want energetic and heavy music, you can't go wrong with Paradise Lost, but the uniformity, Russell's raspy vocals (what happened to his voice?), and the lack of creativity in the songwriting department making this album non-essential to progressive enthusiasts.

A very solid 4 stars. THRESHOLD, KAMELOT and SYMPHONY X all released new albums in 2007 and this one is definitely my favourite of the three. This record is perhaps their heaviest album yet, even Russel Allen's vocals sound rougher than usual. Only time will tell where I place this one in their discography as far as favourites go. I still place "V-The New Mythology Suite" at the top of the heap. "Paradise Lost" is based loosely on the poem by John Milton.

"Oculus Ex Inferni" is typical SYMPHONY X with the choirs and orchestration. Drums are also evident in this 2 1/2 minute instrumental. "Set The World On Fire" maybe should have been called "Here come the riffs !". Because that's what we get to start with as punishing drums pound it out and guitars rip it up. Vocals a minute in. An instrumental workout 4 minutes in. It becomes sinister-sounding a minute later. Suitable of course as this is about satan being cast out of heaven to earth. Hence the title "Set The World On Fire". The next track "Domination" opens with some fantastic bass as drums and a full sound come in quickly. It gets heavier. Allen spits out the venom after a minute. A ripping guitar solo 3 1/2 minutes in. A great heavy sound 5 minutes in. The title of this track is fitting as the music is so dominating, like getting hit with a two by four for 6 1/2 minutes. "Serpent's Kiss" is one of my top three songs on this album. It opens with the metal flying everywhere. Romeo must have had a blast doing this album. This track is very much guitar led, driven and overwhelmed ! Killer tune man.

"Paradise Lost" opens with piano as synths and reserved vocals come in. It gets fuller sounding. Nice guitar solo 2 1/2 minutes and after 4 minutes. I really like the chorus. "Eve Of Seduction" is extremely fast paced, although the tempo does shift throughout. The guitar is excellent 3 1/2 minutes in. Not one of my favourites for some reason. "The Walls Of Babylon" is though, and one of my top three tracks. Some atmosphere to open before all hell breaks loose before a minute. Great sound before 2 minutes. Vocals 3 1/2 minutes in. Perhaps Russell's best vocal performance on the album. "Seven" like "Eve Of Seduction" is more in the Power-Metal realm, very fast paced with a stampede of drums. It slows down after 4 1/2 minutes but gets heavier. The guitar solo after 5 minutes is killer ! The thunder is back. "The Sacrifice" is ok but more of a power ballad. "Revelation" is another top three for me. Heavy with guitar to open with some galloping rhythms. Great sound a minute in as things get intense. Vocals follow. It settles 2 1/2 minutes in. Synths are prominant 4 minutes in. Piano after 5 minutes. The guitar starts to dominate a minute later. It calms down again (I love this part). Kicks back in 7 minutes.

An excellent return for this band with lots crushing passages to rock out to. This is probably closer to Prog-Metal than Power-Metal.

Paradise Lost is the seventh studio album from progressive neo classical US power metal band Symphony X. Their previous album The Odyssey is one of my favorite progressive metal albums and without a doubt my favorite from the band. So it´s understandable that I was awaiting the release of Paradise Lost with some expectations. My expectations were unfortunately only partially met.

The music on Paradise Lost continues the more heavy and dark path that was started on The Odyssey. This is a positive thing in my opinion and songs like Set the World on Fire and Domination are great examples of Symphony X when they are most heavy. The Serpent´s Kiss is also a good song and with the title track we have a beautiful power ballad. Maybe the most well composed power ballad ever written by the band ( Micheal Romeo). It´s very much in the vein of former power ballads written by the band but I enjoy it. Of the last five songs I´m most fond of Revelation (Divus Pennae Ex Tragoedia) allthough the quality is high throughout the album.

The musicianship is as always excellent and the production is probably the best Symphony X has had up until now.

I said that my expectations were only partially met with Paradise Lost and I have to mention why. First of all the music is very similar to what Symphony X have made in the past. We have the sharp edgy riffing, neo classical and power metal elements and we have the symphonic epic approach to writing music that has always been one of the trademarks in Symphony X music. It´s done well on Paradise Lost and Symphony X is maybe the best band in their particular sub-genre. They are definitely much heavier than most other bands in the genre which is something I greatly enjoy. The problem is that I´ve heard it all before and if you ask me it´s time for a change of sound for Symphony X. They´ve simply used all the water in the well. Despite my growing concern regarding Symphony X stagnated sound I still think Paradise Lost is an excellent album and it fully deserves 4 stars. But next time I want to hear something new or I´ll probably not be so kind again.

If this was the only Symphony X album ever, it would get a very solid five stars. It's a great album, total fun with wild vocals and crazy instruments.

Only problem is, I think I've heard all of it somewhere before.

And the answer is, of course, that I have, and that it was on other Symphony X releases. Not that the band is a self-plagiaristic act like Iron Maiden, but that they don't really try to hard to grow and try different things. Every album since The Divine Wings of Tragedy has been a form of progressive power metal, and this release is pretty much no different. In truth, this isn't even a first time for them to tackle this story (The Divine Wings of Tragedy's title track happens to be about the exact same epic poem). The only real points of interest that set this album apart from their others is the height and depth of Sir Russel Allen's increasingly growly vocals (no longer the 80s hair metal feel) and the breadth of the intriguing noodling of the rest of the band.

Yes, that is one of the differences here between Paradise Lost and its predecessors: somehow, the boys managed to make their solos and instrumental bits much more interesting this time around. The truth is, though, that this cannot make up for the fact that there is truly very little of progression to be found here. This is just another album made for listeners to headbang to and try not to read too much into it. It's an illusion the band creates by playing off classical and scholarly themes, but the truth is, their music is best enjoyed at face value and for the kicks in adrenaline it provides.

That said, the title track is absolutely beautiful, and can be enjoyed individually as a quality song. The rest are hit or miss (hit as far as fun goes, miss as far as creativity goes).

I'm not recommending against this. Just pointing out that it isn't very progressive at all, especially not from the angle of looking at the band and its history. I really do like this release. But I have trouble rating prog albums highly when they feel like they've got absolutely nothing new to offer other than speed and Russel Allen tearing it up. Enjoyable, but average.

As a long time fan of Symphony X, and considers "The Odyssey" an absolute gem, I had high expectations for this album. I was not disappointed! "Paradise Lost" is another Symphony X classic and is right up there with "The Odyssey" and Divine Wings. This is one of the rare albums where I like every song, not one lets me down. This does not surprise me, since I feel Symphony X is one of the most talented bands out there. The vocals, guitar, bass, drums, and keyboard all are perfect on this album and work together splendidly.

Oculus Ex Inferni: A short song with some simple, yet heavy, guitar work, wonderful keyboard ambiance, instruments out the wazoo and an epic orchestra.

Set the World on Fire: A cool, building intro then into a heavy riff. Like any good Symphony X song the riff is followed with keyboard. This song has all the classics. Fast riffs, lots of keyboard, some mind blowing guitar work, and Russel Allen yet again shows off his excellent vocals. However, it should be noted Allen adopts a slightly harsher sound on this album, though it is still clean overall.

Domination: Begins with an awesome bass intro then a wild riff and even wilder drumming. Of course this wouldn't be a Symphony X song with Romeo's classic frantic slide down the fretboard. A good song which has some of my favorite vocals on the album. When Allen yells "I" the second time in this song, it just gives me chills. Some wonderful guitar and keyboard solo's as well! Finally, the part that kicks in at 4:10 is just awesome!

The Serpent's Kiss: A slow, groovy riff that goes for a bit. This is actually a bit of a slower song with some great sounding riffs. Really nice sounding song.

Paradise Lost: An even slower song. Starts with a beautiful keyboard, (then later guitar) melody and Russel Allen lays down the perfect vocals over it. This song also has some my favorite drumming on the album. There are some spectacular guitar and keyboard harmonies throughout this song, and it is all complemented by Allen's vocals.

Eve of Seduction: A faster song, this is a traditional Symphony X work. Tempo and style shifts, heavy guitar, perhaps the weakest song on the album. However, it is by no means a bad track. I like it very much. Also, the solo is just sweet.

The Walls of Babylon: Starts with a chilling musical intro with building guitar. I LOVE the guitar riff personally, just so odd sounding and heavy! This is a slow song, but very heavy! Also, this is another great example of Rullo's drumming. There is technical, as well as blistering double bass. Not to mention a cool bass breakdown and there are some epic choruses on this song. It has it all. GREAT work!

Seven: The 8th song....seven has a crazy guitar intro, which is followed by a crazy riff. This might be one of the more metal songs, with LOTS of tremolo picking. At 4:38 is my favorite part, and is followed by a classic Romeo shred solo.

The Sacrifice: Actually, I stand corrected. This is the weakest song on the album. A very slow song, this is pretty much a power ballad. Do not get me wrong it sounds beautiful and has some great guitar and powerful drums, but is a bit cheesy in my opinion.

Revelation: A moderate paced beginning with some wonderful guitar work. The part at :45 is amazing as well as at 3:50. Overall, a good song with a long instrumental middle section that takes you through several places. Not to mention the standard keyboard/guitar dueling solos. This maybe the most progressive song on the album, it is always changing!

I will admit, I am slightly biased. This is one of my favorite bands, period. However, there is no denying this is a masterpiece. Some could say this work is not terribly different from their others, is not their MOST progressive, but I rate each album on their own, not compared to their mates. Every song is good, great work from every member. Wonderful album!

5 stars

This album starts as a rock-opera and after this quite challenging (and pompous) opening, I was expecting some more novelty from the band. But there are hardly no surprise to expect from their latest release to date.

The usual characteristics of a ''Symphonic X'' album are all here: the frenetic beat, the heavy metal lines, a superb fast guitar play, keyboards hardly noticeable and some deep and shouting vocals (even growling at times). Not much prog in here, I'm afraid.

This album is full of metal clichés, and to listen to ''Domination'' is really not a great experience at all. I guess that band wanted to appear in the Guinness book of records to be one of the fastest out there. I guess that there might be a lot of competition though...

This album sounds very much the same to my old prog ears. It seems that the musicians do compete very well amongst themselves to ensure that he is the most technical of all. But technical aspects and skills don't make necessary a good album. ''Serpent's Kiss'' is a good illustration of this.

The second good moment of this album (after the opener) is the rock ballad and title track. At least, there are some theme variations in here, vocals are pleasant, piano work is more in the front line, and guitar is as usual excellent.

At times (briefly), one gets a very good feeling (''Eve Of Seduction''), but it is rapidly submerged by a wall of sound that has been already heard a zillion times (''Walls...'', ''Seven''). So, what's the use?

At last, another rock ballad is breaking the dull mood: ''The Sacrifice'' is another enjoyable track. Not brilliant and slightly AOR-oriented, but at least I can cope with this. Four out of ten. This is the number of good songs I could identify on this album (the keyboards are more present on the long closing number which is also a fine piece of music).

I guess that I share more ''Prog Jester'' 's point of view than many other reviewers. Two stars.

Suddenly, everyone was talking about Symphony X... so one friend of mine gave me this album and said "You'll like this... is better than Dream Theater..." I didn't believe it, as DT is my favorite band and seeing the subject I really had my doubts about it... One thing is to make an epic masterpiece and something way different to take on one of the best poems of the literature history and try to make justice to a masterpiece of poetry... seems too pretentious to me... so I prepared myself to check it out...

Well, I stopped it at the 2nd track... as I thought, it was just an excuse to the singer to take the roll of the devil and get screaming about how much the devil hates the mankind between some though power symphonic metal... and forget about the album.. months later, I discover and fell in love with the "New Mithology" album and really didn't believe how they where so good and creative and sound so great... so I give it a second chance to the famous Paradise Lost... God... how wrong was I... it sounds like an almost perfect album... but first, I point at the highlights... that are too many....!!!

First, the theme was something so ambicious, I doubt another band could make the honor to this greatest poem -One of my favorites books also...- the musical thematics while some could say are already use in other albums and by other bands, I really feel the emotion through the whole piece and been coherent with it's own goal... you know... you kinda feel the hate through the devils speach, and then I almost cry in the "Paradise Lost" song with that beautiful piano and the suffer of Adam when he discover the sin of Eve... you know... "Love is a tragedy..." and all of it... just great... the heaviness maybe is too much for the soft prog fans... but I really love the power of this album... I mean... this is how heavy an album can be without been annoying... at list, for me... and then, the quality of the players is just tip-top... they truly are on the level of the DT guys... and the vocals seems to fit well in this more heavy music... Allen become one of my favorite singers with a lot of range and texture, but this album is not his best... while the music is really demanding and heavy...

Then, why is an "almost" perfect album... well, I know many do not care about the lyrics, is fair to say that if you are talking about the origin of the world and the suffering of the mankind and you only takes the roles of the demons and the men, don't you think there's something a little miss there...??? like GOD... I mean... I don't say they have to take a religious way... but who send the devil to hell...??? and, who said to Adam to avoid eating the forbiden fruit...??? It's silly that the band avoid to put the role of God somewhere... Not even in an instrumental song or something... so I really feel that it could be more respectable for a rock band to take the risk and break another "cliché" of avoiding talk about God... I mean, they alone pick up the subject... so why don't to take the whole risk...??? but well... now that you're aware... really, dont' aloud yourself to loose this oportunity to really enjoy a real masterpiece of symphonic rock... one of my favorites albums in the last years... Symphony X is on the level of the greatest... sure is for the delight of my generation...!!! cheers...

The band took a 5 year long leave of absence from the studio which might not be a big deal unless its put in the perspective of the previous 6 years were Symphony X recorded a whooping total of 4 studio albums! This 2007-release from Symphony X was originally hailed by the majority of fans as a great release, but after just a couple of month most of the hype faded away and what we had left was a very different kind of Symphony X album.

On Paradise Lost the band has lost most of their neo-classical elements trading them off for a more power metal-approach. A rumor has it that the band had outdone themselves on The Odyssey and they felt that a change of phase was in order. Well we can't blame them for that but now that I think about my joking remarks in The Odyssey-review I kind of hope that they would have taken them under consideration.

I remember seeing their live performance during Dream Theater's Chaos in Motion tour and thinking to myself that this can't really be the same band I enjoyed so much in my teens! This remark might have been slightly unfair considering that their performance lacked in the technical sound department. What is it with Dream Theater and their supporting acts anyway (read my review of Unexpect)? Sometimes the amplifiers made it almost impossible to distinguish the number they were performing and I had to rely entirely on Russell Allen's vocal intonations to figure it out.

I really hope that Symphony X will return to their neo-classical roots because that's what makes their music work for me. Until then I'll probably have to restrain myself from purchasing any new material.

**** star songs: Set The World On Fire (The Lie Of Lies) (5:55) Eve Of Seduction (5:04) The Sacrifice (4:49) Revelation (Divus Pennae Ex Tragoedia) (9:17)

*** star songs: Oculus Ex Inferni (2:34) Domination (6:29) The Serpent's Kiss (5:03) Paradise Lost (6:32) The Walls Of Babylon (8:16) Seven (7:01)

"Paradise Lost" is a heavy powerhouse of prog metal.

"Paradise Lost" is the latest Symphony X from 2008. The album is as heavy as the band get featuring a much more aggressive approach. Gone are the heavy reliance on big bombastic orchestras from "The Odyssey" and gone are the pretentious conceptual themes of "Twilight In Olympus", this is just solid power metal with killer riffs, and it's awesome. Russel Allen is angry and darker on these tracks, The concept is present though it is more based on john Milton's epic poem rather than retelling it.

It begins with the instrumental 'Oculus Ex Inferni' that features mass choirs and orchestra, but it stands alone in this regard.

'Set The World On Fire' is a riff heavy guitar dominated thrasher. The lead break is incredible trading off between Romeo's guitar and Pinella's keys.

My favourite track on the album is 'Domination' that riffs along at a blistering speed. There is a scorching lead solo that tears the fabric of time apart itself.

'Serpent's Kiss' is another very good track with a strong melody. Romeo goes ballistic on guitar with time sig changes to die for.

'Paradise Lost' slows things down a little with a nice piano interlude and sustained synth pads. It builds up to an infectious chorus with catchy lyrics.

'Eve Of Seduction' is a quick tempo speed metal blaster, with very significant time shifts in tempo and feel.

'The Walls Of Babylon' is a wonderful metal triumph. Russell tears it up on this with dynamic expression.

'Seven' is a fast metal bltzkrieg that has on onslaught of drums and bass. Romeo is incredible on guitar throughout and the lead sol is a fireball onslaught.

'The Sacrifice' is like an 80s power ballad that is interesting to compare with the rest of the power metal and makes a nice break form the blistering riffs, showcasing Allen's vocals.

'Revelation' is ultra heavy and violent with chunky distortion and crunching riffs like machine gun blasts. There are synth passages and piano to break the mayhem and then it locks into an infectious riff after 7 minutes.

"Paradise Lost" is the best thing Symphony X have done; creative, powerful, intense and a strong melodic approach are the main points. I am not into the concept, which is way too dark for my tastes; demonic and overbearing in places, however credit where credit is due; this is a monster riffng metal powerhouse. 4 blazing stars.

Deadly flying angels from a distant paradise, lands covered in fire and ice, and a world coming to an end are all well suitable in the themes of this excellent album.

Paradise Lost is the seventh studio album by Neo Classical/Progressive Metal band Symphony X, and it definitely shows that the band is starting to achieve a new sound, that already started to develop in heir previous opus "The Odyssey" and is developing even more with this release.

Heavier and faster riffs, that are evidently closer to Power Metal than Progressive, strong and powerful vocals like never before, heavily distorted guitars, and a very supportive rhythm section. The songs show a maturity that had yet to be reached by the band, even though the album can't be put into comparison with their masterpiece "The Divine Wings Of Tragedy", the ultimate, theatrical expression of life, or "The Odyssey", the epic and dark journey described with mystique and violence at the same time.

Some of the best songs I can think of are "Set The World On Fire" (truly a masterpiece, one of the band's best compositions), the hopeful title track, or the epic "Revelation". Not to forget "The Walls Of Babylon", with it's amazing arrangements, or the heaviness of "Seven".

An excellent album, no doubt in that, with memorable, haunting moments that make this album unique compared to the other albums of the band.

Before listening to Paradise Lost my only exposure to Symphony X was with their Divine Wings of Tragedy album, which I enjoyed but wasn't blown away by-- but they absolutely nail this one. Paradise Lost is prog/power-metal par excellance, crushingly heavy, dynamic, exciting, and engaging. Even if Dream Theatre was still going strong-- this album would probably top anything they could put out... and since that band has been in its death throes for 3 years or so, Symphony X's work comes as a hurricane of heavy-metal fresh air. Time for a changing of the guard!

The opening orchestration sets a powerful and dynamic tone, doing a great job of building anticipation for the blistering, aggressive, and genuinely powerful metal to follow. "Set the World on Fire" gets things going with savage riffing and galloping tempo, showing off the group's songwriting and instrumental chops nicely, especially Romeo's guitars, which crunch, grind, wail, and penetrate with an especially effective energy. Allen's vocals in "Domination" show of a striking rawness that matches the gruff persona of Dio in his prime-- and the singer shows of the first of many appealing vocal hooks in this tune. An inventive guitar solo top things off, and just when I thought things couldn't get much better "Serpent's Kiss" starts up, which pretty much got me addicted to this album. It has killer melodies, lyrics, time signature changes, dynamics-- you name it. These guys seriously on their game.

The group's playing is quite tight throughout, with lots of classic prog-metal interplay between keys and guitar. Romeo's guitars are pretty much the dominating element of Paradise Lost, but the rhythm section may be more important to the bottom-heavy tone of these songs. This is one dark album, but never oppressive or filled with bathos (like any Riverside album). My only critical observation is the overal sameness of the songs. The group easily has the songwriting chops to experiment and give us some more variety, but with head-banging awesomeness of this quality I am not compaining.

Paradise Lost embraces the best of traditional heavy metal energy, prog-metal virtuousity, and power-metal dramaticism to create a wholly enjoyable package. You'll be hard pressed to find something within the genre better than this; it's easily deserves 4 stars, but I wouldn't be surprised if I bump this one up to 5 after a few years of listening.

Songwriting: 4 Instrumental Performances: 4 Lyrics/Vocals: 4 Style/Emotion/Replay: 5

|B| Probably the band's most underrated and misunderstood work, and probably always will be.

Many Symphony X fans were held in anticipation for quite some time for this album's release, and I'm sure the band wanted very much to give them something that would top their previous works and progress the band's sound even further. In some ways I think they were successful in this endeavor. I think the band might have "sold out" a bit to the metal community with this work, but remarkably enough they managed this without surrendering really any their artistic credibility, which might be less obvious the casual symphonic prog-snob.

It's safe to say that this album was their least cheesy release. The band themselves believed this to be their best work to date, and I think it would be more appreciated in the prog community if people were less concerned about their obsession with keyboard-driven composition and asymmetric-time-signatures and more concerned with musical expression, artistic craft, and a band being genuine about creating good music they love.

With this composition the band presents us with possibly the most drastic change of sound in their career. Paradise Lost is significantly darker and heavier than previous works. There are many more tracks in a minor key, and the guitar riffs have taken an even more central part in importance, much to the sacrifice to the orchestration and keyboard parts, save a few tracks on the album (especially the album title track, which is far more characteristic of their earlier work). Even in the production of the guitar takes a central forefront role and the keyboard pads and patterns are turned down to prevent an overly thick sound. However, being that the guitar work is as good as it is, the tone, the near flawless and quite expressive/inspired performance, this is little to complain about, especially given the band's aim to further their appeal with the heavy metal crowd. It's safe to say Michael Romeo and his talents have taken an even further central role in the band's sound. My main complaint with this is that sometimes the guitar covers up the added classical sonorities that pop up their heads every so often in heavier songs, such as the guitar entrance on the repeat of the string/choral section of Serpent's Kiss.

The band also brings us a concept album, with the theme of every track having a relation with something Biblical or that references Bible-influenced works, such as Paradise Lost, the written work. In fact having an understanding in Biblical history and the specific work Paradise Lost greatly increases one's appreciation for the lyrical themes and how they're musically and vocally expressed. There is an especially influence on Satan, which makes sense with "heavy metal brutality" and is displayed, ironically, with much elegance and thoughtfulness.

As far as the tracks themselves, each is very central to its own sound and theme. Each track has its own lyrical theme, and there is a strong relation of the lyrics to their expression from the vocalist and general composition, which scores big points in my book as I'd consider that the highest form of musicality. the introduction piece Oculus Ex Inferni is probably my favorite, molding modern film-score composition (which involves some medieval influences, always a treat!) with metal sonorities. Very impressive composition from a classical point of view. The following three tracks are all of the same vain, very prevalent guitar work, good displays of technical musicianship, broad chord progressions encompassing the ever prevalent guitar riffing. There's a lot of compositional creativity with all three. Russel Alan gets a little carried away with his growling sort of vocals, especially in Domination. Paradise Lost is among the band's best work of their career for certain, beautiful piano and string composition, very convincing and authentic composition. The rest of the album has a far balance between the heavy riffing and classical nuances of previous tracks, though the quality level of the work being generally slightly less inspired (especially Seven), but commendable high-quality work nonetheless. The Sacrifice is must like the album title track, yet with its own uniqueness and some really awesome harmonic language and modulations. Again I think Russel Alan gets carried away with being overly growly and emotional with his singing. I absolutely love the way the entire album is wrapped up at the end of Revelation, the sections of previous works, the choir, the pizzicato strings, it's all so tastefully executed.

I can't see any true fan of prog-metal having much to complain about this album, and I'd say it's essential to anyone who's a part of that listening community, and a solid album for those who are not. The production is spectacular, and the composition avoids the disgusting stereotypes of power-prog (and what stereotypes there are are fulfilled with convincing dignity to the composition). Paradise Lost should seriously be as hailed as highly as The Divine Wings of Tragedy and V: The New Mythology Suite, and if anything considered less cheesy than either, though. My only main complaint is that the album is a bit too long for the variation in timbres that it offers (which is greater than most metal out there.

This was my second taste of Symphony X, and while not as good as the preceding album, "The Odyssey", it does have a lot to offer.

The opening track, Oculus Ex Inferni is a promising start. It's an instrumental, with the type of orchestration that owes more than a little to the soundtrack from "The Exorcist". But after that, the album settles in to a more traditional hard prog metal sound. It's good, especially Michael Romeo's guitaring, but not really my preference of styles. It's almost as though the band listened to some of the complaints about the last album not being metal enough.

The album almost comes to a halt near the end, with the almost maudlin The Sacrifice. But luckily, Symphony X knows how to end an album. Revelation (Divus Pennae Ex Tragoedia) is easily the best song on the album, almost topping anything from the previous album.

Another very good piece of prog metal. Just makes it to four stars from me.

On Paradise Lost Symphony X hit on a fabulous new sound, a darker and grimmer variation on their progressive power metal approach which dials back the cheesier aspects of power metal substantially, even more so than on V. Substantially heavier than their preceding work, the album stands on a par with The New Mythology Suite in opening up new sonic possibilities in the band's music and expands their horizons, even at points bringing them close to the threshold of more extreme metal styles. For a band who previously often left me a little cold with their indulgence of the cheesier, lighter side of power metal, this is a welcoming broadening of their vocabulary, though at parts it still struggles to keep my attention.

Symphony X needed five years to offer us the continuation of their acclaimed The Odyssey!

And in my opinion, they did it with a superior album in every way, offering perhaps the best sound of the band to date, and with a collection of songs where none is filler, and that offer us a somewhat more aggressive and less symphonic compositions.

This may seem heresy to the staunchest fans of the group, but for me this more direct and less baroque orientation suits this Paradise Lost very well, which in general terms is an excellent album and which knew how to keep the great status of the band.

Best Tracks: Domination (pure strength, and a great chorus), Serpent's Kiss (I like the Savatage touch it has in the riffs and guitar solos), Paradise Lost (an enigmatic halftime, with a hypnotic piano melody, wonderful vocal lines and another absolutely memorable chorus, almost as good as Egypt's one) and Revelation (another compelling epic!)

My Rating: ****