Symphony X

[Brandon_Webb]

Anyone here listen to them? Excellent excellent Speed Prog Metal. 100 times better then Dream Theater. Most there lyrics are about Mythology and stuff, a bit diffrent. But they have a sick guitarist, and a much much better singer then Dream Theater. I recomend listening to 'The Odyssey' Realllllly great stuff. 'The Inferno (Enter The Fire)' Is one of my favorite songs.

 

[vince56]

Yeah, SymX is good. Very Yngwie-influenced parts. I have the following albums:

The Damnation Game
The Divine Wings of Tragedy
Twilight on Olympus
V
The Odyssey

Of all those, I really loved Divine Wings and Olympus. Great albums. Better than Dream Theater? Not in my opinion. They're not as dynamic as DT and their guitar player gets stale and repetetive after awhile (all his solos sound the same). The singer is great, but the songs can get a little too 80s "hard rock" at times and the lyrics about demons and dragons and such are super cheese.

Saying that, they're definitely in my top 3 of bands I listen to and would gladly recommend them to anyone into metal. They're heavier than DT and just a little less heavy than Pantera. The guitar tone (rhythm) is to die for, and their bassist and drummer are also top notch. Good arrangements and solid music. I've been into these guys since about 1997 and they're a really good band that doesn't get enough notice.

 

[Brandon_Webb]

Yeah, SymX is good. Very Yngwie-influenced parts. I have the following albums:

The Damnation Game
The Divine Wings of Tragedy
Twilight on Olympus
V
The Odyssey

Of all those, I really loved Divine Wings and Olympus. Great albums. Better than Dream Theater? Not in my opinion. They're not as dynamic as DT and their guitar player gets stale and repetetive after awhile (all his solos sound the same). The singer is great, but the songs can get a little too 80s "hard rock" at times and the lyrics about demons and dragons and such are super cheese.

Saying that, they're definitely in my top 3 of bands I listen to and would gladly recommend them to anyone into metal. They're heavier than DT and just a little less heavy than Pantera. The guitar tone (rhythm) is to die for, and their bassist and drummer are also top notch. Good arrangements and solid music. I've been into these guys since about 1997 and they're a really good band that doesn't get enough notice.

I think there better then dream theater. Idividually no there not, but Labrie REALLY brings the band down in my opinion. His lyrics and Singing are awful. But really, I would rather listen to LTE.

Also, my dad has V, Odyssey, and I *think* Twilight On Olympus.

 

[vince56]

Yeah, Labrie can do that to some people. I actually like his vocals. The recent DT albums aren't as good as their old ones, mainly because many of their new songs that have feeling and emotion eventually wind up morphing into circus music of some kind. Every album of theirs from Images & Words through Scenes From a Memory is amazing in my book.

 

[vince56]

whoa whoa whoa, did you say his "singing and lyrics are awful"???

Name one Dream Theater song where the lyrics are awful. Just one. I can understand not liking LaBrie, but their lyrics? They have some of the most emotional and intelligent lyrics in the business.

 

[Brandon_Webb]

Yeah, Labrie can do that to some people. I actually like his vocals. The recent DT albums aren't as good as their old ones, mainly because many of their new songs that have feeling and emotion eventually wind up morphing into circus music of some kind. Every album of theirs from Images & Words through Scenes From a Memory is amazing in my book.

I actually digged the newest album, I guess I'm into the heavier stuff. But Dance of Eternity, and The Glass Prison are still my favorites.

 

[Brandon_Webb]

whoa whoa whoa, did you say his "singing and lyrics are awful"???

Name one Dream Theater song where the lyrics are awful. Just one. I can understand not liking LaBrie, but their lyrics? They have some of the most emotional and intelligent lyrics in the business.

Alright, I guess I went a bit too far on that comment.(lyrics half)

 

[vince56]

I am glad to see you really getting into progressive metal

If you like SymX and Dream Theater, check out these bands:

Soilwork
In Flames
Sonata Arctica
StratoVarius (sucky singer, great band)
Nightwish
Trivium

 

[vince56]

I actually digged the newest album, I guess I'm into the heavier stuff. But Dance of Eternity, and The Glass Prison are still my favorites.

I'm totally into the heavy stuff too, but the songs "Misunderstood" and "Endless Sacrifice" are amazing songs that are destroyed by their respective circus music instrumental sections. Ever since Dream Theater brought Jordan Rudess into the band they've gone downhill IMO. My favorite album of all time is Dream Theater's Awake album, followed closely by Falling into Infinity. FII really got me into Derek Sherinian's keyboard playing, and his solo albums he's released recently are very very good.

 

[Brandon_Webb]

I am glad to see you really getting into progressive metal

If you like SymX and Dream Theater, check out these bands:

Soilwork
In Flames
Sonata Arctica
StratoVarius (sucky singer, great band)
Nightwish
Trivium

I've listened to In Flames and Stratovarious (Rest of my family doesn't like them ) Haven't heard of the other 3/4.

I also obviouly Like Tool, which some classify as prog metal.

I'm also getting into, King Crimson, Ozric Tentacles, Queensryche. I have "Savatage" On my que list.

 

[Brandon_Webb]

I've listened to In Flames and Stratovarious (Rest of my family doesn't like them ) Haven't heard of the other 3/4.

I also obviouly Like Tool, which some classify as prog metal.

I'm also getting into, King Crimson, Ozric Tentacles, Queensryche. I have "Savatage" On my que list.

Oh, yeah. And this guy named "Vince" I hear he's pretty good too

 

[vince56]

I've listened to In Flames and Stratovarious (Rest of my family doesn't like them ) Haven't heard of the other 3/4.

I also obviouly Like Tool, which some classify as prog metal.

I'm also getting into, King Crimson, Ozric Tentacles, Queensryche. I have "Savatage" On my que list.

IF you're getting Savatage, I recommend their CDs in the following order...

Dead Winter Dead (you WILL recognize the instrumental on this album, it's so big they've even played it on the Rosie O'Donnell show)

Edge of Thorns - Criss Oliva's last CD before he died in a car accident. He was a great player.

Handful of Rain - Alex Skolnick of Testament played guitar on this album, which is Savatage's heaviest album by far.

The Wake of Magellan - Their last good album. Great Rock opera.

The rest of their CDs all sound terribly 80s IMO. I do love their vocalist, he's the epitome of what prog-metal vocalists should be.

As for those other bands, Sonata Artica is very similiar to Stratovarius, only with a much better singer (still a high-range guy though). Nightwish is very interesting because they're a power-metal band similiar to Sonata or Strato or SymX, but they have a female opera singer as their frontman (she's pretty damn hot for a goth chic too).

and if you're into some nice throwback music, there's a powermetal band called Hammerfall that's cheesy as hell and picks up right where Judas Priest left off. I saw them in concert a few years ago and it was a ton of fun.

If you get the chance, go down to Zia and pick up a $25 2-DVD set called "Monsters of Metal". It came out earlier this year, and has 50 videos on it from bands like Soilwork, In Flames, Hammerfall, Dimmu Borgir, Stratovarius, etc, and it's really really damn good.

Oh, yeah. And this guy named "Vince" I hear he's pretty good too

Debut album out on Weeping Shadow Records, Jan 25!