Okey. I think its time for my fourth review now.
Songs:
1. Into the Dementia
2. The Raging Season
3. Premonition
4. Masquerade
5. Absinthe and Rue
6. Shades of Grey
7. Taunting the Notorious
8. Rapture or Pain
9. Thorns of Sorrow
10. A Lesson Before Dying
Rare Bonus song:
11. Disillusioned
Album:Symphony X(eponymous)
Artist:Symphony X
Year of Release:Late 1994
Genre: Progressive Metal, Neo-Classical Metal
My Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Best Song:Shades of Grey
Review: This album is the first by the progressive metal band Symphony X, the only album to feature the original singer Rod Tyler, as with a similar case to Dream Theater's Charlie Dominici, who was also featured on only one album. Similarly, Rod Tyler is superior to Russell Allen(the singer on all subsequent Symphony X albums), despite the band's initial thoughts at the time. The album's sound is unique and complex, and some might even regard the music as terribly performed or produced, but singer Rod Tyler makes up for all this with his high pitched vocals and powerful singing throughout the album. Songs like Shades of Grey and A Lesson Before Dying are slow and melodic, an occasional occurrence in progressive metal, which is reminiscent of Dream Theater's Another Day from Images and Words. The rest of the songs, especially Taunting the Notorious, are powerful and complex, with unfortunately not much originality compared to other progressive metal bands. This is not to say that Symphony X isnt an original band. Not at all - on subsequent albums, you can hear originality more than you can imagine than on this album.
However, you'd never be able to hear the vocals of Rod Tyler on any other album, despite how original it may be. His vocals are powerful and unique due to their high-pitched sound that fits perfectly to the songs present on this album. Symphony X remains a relatively unknown band outside the progressive metal community, and the absence of Rod Tyler on subsequent albums might be part of the reason why. The singer has not made any appearance on any other band or project, possibly retiring from the music industry, or, as has been implied by Symphony X guitarist Michael Romeo in an interview, due to a car accident which has possibly led to his death sometime in the 1990s. This is a pity as the only reason this album is worth listening to is because of the powerful and high-pitched vocals. Otherwise the music lacks originality and is played at a quite slow tempo, something that wouldnt attract people to listen to the album very often unless they realize the true magic of Rod Tyler's vocals. And this isnt something that can be realized just by listening to the album one time.
Shades of grey-Symphony X-Symphony X - YouTube