THE ODYSSEY

Now, I'd like to start this review by informing the reader(s) - you - that I'm not the greatest Symphony X aficionado. I mean, I continue to love the band more and more with every album they construct, but I'm nowhere near the greatest fan on earth.

With that, I'd like to explicate my basis for enjoying this album over all the others:

When I first got into Symphony X, my favorite album was, of course, The Divine Wings of Tragedy (and I suppose I could argue it still is my favorite, both musically as well as vocal and lyrically), but what I found different with The Odyssey was Russell Allen. Yes, he's also the head vocals on The Divine Wings of Tragedy, but he isn't as evolved. With The Odyssey, Allen put himself in an almost kind empty shell that allowed him to center solely around the superior nature of the album at hand, without really wondering what all the fanatics wanted to hear. I mean, don't get me wrong, 'cause I'm not saying Allen purposely chose to sway his vocals - and lyrics, too, if we're speaking on it - toward the thought of necessarily gratifying the media's wishes, but I do happen to find their previous albums to be somewhat formulaic.

With Inferno (Unleash the Fire) - The Odyssey's first song - Allen coarsely runs right through the band's second-rate pulse with the words, "Welcome to the anarchy; enigmatic entity," and to me, when Russell accentuates "enigmatic," I just melt. His emphasis gives the whole verse more personality than I've ever heard from the five guys (including the old members). Like always with Symphony X's songs, this chorus beamed magnificently.

I'm not going to evaluate every track on here, so with that, I'll continue to Accolade II, which is the sequel to The Divine Wings of Tragedy's The Accolade. Pinnella's harmonious keys during the introduction immediately gives you - or at least me - an idea of how the song is going to go, but it's not until all the instruments simultaneously unite and excel as one, giving you the almost sensation of soaring through the air, that you know how grand the piece is going to carry on.

All right, now I have to skip farther ahead toward the song we all know and - I hope - love, The Odyssey. First off, if you haven't read Homer's The Odyssey, then you might not understand this song that much, so I'd suggest you pick it up soon and read it - it's the book I'm currently involved in at the moment. Without much elaboration, let me tell you it's a twenty-four minute epic that is up there with The Divine Wings of Tragedy, but as for now, I still don't know which one I appreciate more.

Eh, again I have to apologize for such a short review, but if you're not used to the Symphony X-ish music, then this album would be the perfect one to start with.