I kind of disagree with you on a lot of stuff.

Allens voice is getting better and better IMO

it's all opinion though

Maybe it was the overall production of the album that I didn't like. Allen's growl vocals just didn't do it for me on Paradise Lost, but, as you already said, it's all subjective anyway.

I'd like to know your thoughts on where you disagree, though.

bump for the first post.

Well, I listened to The End of Innocence and I think it sounds really good. I still think that Paradise Lost was a pretty good album, but I can understand if you didn't like the growling vocals. Russell Allen is capable of really good clean notes and I'm glad to see that they're kinda going back to that with the new album. I'll keep my eyes out for it.

If I were to judge the upcoming album on those 2 live tracks alone I'd say it sounds as though they're getting more grounded in their style (which is more power metal than prog). I'm sure there'll be a few odd ones, maybe one epic. I kind of stopped caring though.

Russell's vocals have been great on all albums to me but they have gotten kind of gritty(which isn't necessarily a bad thing). Dehumanized sounds great!

Gritty power metal vocals is a good thing. If there was a vocal gayness scale where both extremes are the gayness and center is the sweet spot (i.e. from one to ten, 1 is pop punk, 10 is death metal pig squeals), RA would be a 4. Jens kidman would be in a unique spike around 7-8 that is devoid of gayness. Robert plant would be a perfect 5.

I'm fine with Russell Allen's gruff vocals in The Odyssey -- it seemed to be more controlled than in Paradise Lost. He had a great mix of gruff and clean vocals that I loved. But, on Paradise Lost, his voice was a bit too gruff for my tastes, and it sounded oversung to me, like he was trying too hard to make it heavy.

Wonder if I should bump another old Symphony X thread and piss off Stem. XD Here goes.
Actually this album is killer. Don't know what the fuss about Paradise Lost is, it was the first album I got by them and it got me hooked. Iconoclast is what made me decide they're my favorite.

i hate this album

i don't even listen to the new albums. the last one i really liked was the odyssey.

It's not that it's the worst music ever ala , but imho this album lacked any originality or inspiration. Symphony X used to be this really awesome flavor of prog metal mixed with neo-classical. They were a band that most would compare to Dream Theater in virtuosity and raw talent. After that hiatus they went on after The Odyssey, I think they've lost whatever spark of creativity they had when crafting albums like Divine Wings of Tragedy and V (and Twilight in Olympus, which I think is pretty underrated). I know bands evolve and change, but I really don't find this direction interesting or stimulating.

My opinion. That's all it is.

that looks like a pretty correct opinion. i didn't feel like explaining myself, earlier, when i said i hated the album, that they released last year.