THE DIVINE WINGS OF TRAGEDY

Prog-Metal. Haha. I have so much fun holding it by the nose and kicking it in the ass around the forums. It does have a 'kick me' sign attached to it for many whose last bout of acne was when Genesis was showing their true talents and tearing up the pop music charts. It is a interesting point of discussion within prog circles. While prog fans are eager to embrace and call their own music which expands the boundaries of rock music and bring a sense of art and culture to rock music's traditional mundane subject matter, prog metal is one of the great, and rare, dividers of the otherwise tight prog rock community. One could devote an entire essay as to why prog-metal divides the community so and an album review is definitely not the place for that so what I will do is relate my experiences and thoughts with a traditional prog-metal album that hit home where none that I had listened to before had. As I have not reviewed an album in 5 or 6 years, and have been a vicious critic (though often tongue in cheek) of the genre, I thought this album an appropriate one to review.

It should be natural for listeners like me to love prog-metal. I enjoy prog, and love metal. Yet for some reason the mixture of the two just never really connected. I had long thought I had simply been missing a group or album that connected with me. I think a large part of it was continually having Dream Theater pushed upon me as the 'gateway' band and finding that group was for myself, and likely many others, exhibit A why prog-metal inspires such negative feelings. While the musicianship was stellar, the songwriting was not on par with the abilities of the musicians. The sum of the parts can often exceed the sum of the groups work. The vocalist was also a HUGE turn-off for me. Some years ago I reviewed their 'masterpiece' and, while I hated the album, I still rated it quite highly as it was regarded a masterpiece of the genre - and who am I to disagree. I did often long to hear a consensus masterpiece of the genre that I really enjoyed. Well? I finally found one? this album.

Why does this album connect to me whereas others have not? That begins with the incredible vocalist of Symphony X, Russell Allen. Allen's singing is powerful, clearly inspired by one of the greatest of all metal vocalists, the late great Ronnie James Dio. Vocals pleasing to the ears and so full of color, and nuance. In this band I found a vocalist who is a vital component of a group's sound, not a distraction to that sound, or a mere deliverer of lyrics. Musically this album is prog-metal, but what does that really mean? As it is a metal album, you want to hear great riffage, and it is the riffs themselves that often separate great metal from the not so great. The riffs are driving and brutal in their intensity and often drive me to fits of insane headbanging. It is music full of intensity, and life, one of the main things I and many others love so much about metal. If this was just a metal album, however, I wouldn't be reviewing it. As a prog fan, I want to hear great musicians playing their asses off and with some sort of nod to what made prog, prog: the merging of 'high art' and music. Prog for many has come to be a password for long compositions, and outstanding technical ability. That is especially true, in my opinion, in classic prog metal and shown not in an ensemble context but through the soloists. The album has plenty of great solos, mandatory I suppose for prog-metal albums, but what I love about this album is the relative lack of emphasis on the soloists, thus the album has less a feel of 'look at me' and there is more an emphasis on group playing and the songs themselves. Yes, there are solos galore but - unlike some albums I've heard - I thought the solos fit well within the music itself and were tastefully done rather than jarring departures from the original song itself.

Prog to me is so much more than about technical ability. Otherwise we'd be reviewing bluegrass and country albums. Prog is about, and art-rock was based upon, highly educated musicians merging classical music and classical literature and creating a thinking man's music. This is what appeals most to me about this album. The album has direct inspirations and quotations from classic literature and classical music. Songwriting is not an easy task, especially in prog, with its penchant for extended song lengths and albums based on themes. Many have tried, and most have failed to deliver unique concepts that can hold a listener's interest throughout the course of a full album. What I perhaps love most about this album is it is NOT some original kitschy concept, but a album whose musical centerpiece, the nearly 21 minute title track, is musically grounded in one of the great classical pieces immediately recognizable to music lovers. It is an album a music lover, especially a prog fan, can immediately gravitate to. One special bit of praise, and what in the end make this a masterpiece and worthy of recommendation to those like me unable to make progress into the world of classic prog-metal, is the overall length. Many modern albums simply drag on FAR too long and would be best served by trimming the least effective tracks and making stronger overall albums. At 65 minutes it is only slightly longer than traditional long play albums and does not approach the excess of many bands that use the CD format to expand albums out to nearly 80 minutes in length. It is tightly packed and it never overstays its welcome.

In summation this is, I believe, an album that those who are not fans of prog-metal but enjoy both root forms can like, even love. An easy album to grade, 5 stars in my book, and for the site I agree it deserves the classic prog-metal album status it has. It is a prog-metal album that non- prog-metal fans might really enjoy.