Symphony X's debut, and
contrary to popular belief, it's pretty damn good. The band was obviously toying around
with their sound at the time, so the music comes off sounding like a mix of Queen,
Savatage, and the like, but overall it's a pretty powerful disc, and gives an idea of what
will be achieved later on. One of the main problems people have with this is the singer;
granted, he can't hold a candle to Allen, and the voice can get a tad whiny at times, but
nonetheless he does a pretty decent job here - certainly nothing to bitch about. As for
everyone else - well, they can flat out play! There are none of the sweeping, epic
keyboard/guitar duels here just yet, but Romeo still gets plenty of licks in, and
Pinnella's background-oriented keyboard work is outstanding on a couple of tracks,
"Absinthe and Rue" in particular.
Past the opening, one minute guitar shred ("Into Dementia"), "Raging
Season" is a great, mid-paced piece reminding of late 70s Queen.
"Premonition" is a more emotional cut, and features a smooth-flowing verse, and
a melodic Queen-like chorus (on second thought, I won't bother with that anymore - pretty
much every chorus here sounds like Queen, so get used to it). "Shades of Gray"
could have been a really nice ballad, but the chorus is somewhat lame, and Tyler REALLY
disappoints vocally. On the other hand, "Taunting the Notorious" (a fast one, by
the way) is his best vocal work, going for a more raspy approach, not unlike Graham
Bonnett, and even Russel himself for that matter, I might add. Finally, there is
"Rapture of Pain", which is a solid, (you guessed it) Queen-like rocker.
On the top of the spectrum are "Masquerade", "Absinthe & Rue", and
the ending track "Lesson Before Dying". Shredding solos, a whole slew of pace
changes, and a total sense of paranoia highlight both "Masquerade" and
"Absinthe & Rue" (the latter, with its epic, organ-based keyboard work being
the heaviest cut on the disc), whereas "Lesson Before Dying" is a grandiose,
twelve minute epic with a solo in itself (you'll see what I mean when you hear it), and a
really grand and uplifting chorus.
Thus overall it's a great album! Compared to what the band achieved afterwards, it's
certainly inferior, but to call it weak on its own premise would be only something someone
hopped up on absinthe would do. So enjoy...
My rating 8.6
by Ilya Ulberg
more album reviews |
