ICONOCLAST

Okay, I must admit that my first thoughts after hearing the opening (title) track were: here we go again. Symphony X sounding like its good old self. I own all their previous albums and am therefore familiar with their sound and style completely. Downside of this is that the formula tends to wear thin (see my DT's latest !) after all this time.

On the other hand Symphony X is one of my most favorite bands ever which obviously means I'm extremely fond of this sound and approach. So I was thinking: bring 'em on again, what the heck. Of all previous albums Iconoclast has most resemblance with the predecessor Paradise Lost. In fact I could have started the review with Paradise Lost II but that's a bit too negative I feel.

Still I have to admit there's not much new under the sun but same as with DT's latest I have not a real big problem with that. Symphony X is a superb prog metal band and you can wake me up in the middle of the night for them so to speak. And since there's not a weak track to be found here and the quality (both production and execution) is huge I can once again go for one justified rating: 4 stars it is and the recent average of 3,84 is pretty accurate.