SYMPHONY X — Iconoclast (review)

Album · 2011 · Progressive Metal

3.5/5 · 2011-07-04
cennsor

[review originally published on http://thecennsor.wordpress.com/]

I’ve been toying around a while with the thought whether or not I should write a review of Symphony X‘ long awaited Iconoclast. Pro: it’s a fantastic album, full of mind-blowing material that’ll leave most of you in an enchanted, long-lasting gaping awe. Contra: when I say this is good, I mean it’s so damn great you can’t expect the tiniest shade of objectivity for the following few paragraphs.

But as the most perspicacious of you have already grasped, I eventually decided to do it. Although it is true I love the band to the point I can righteously call them my favourite (and I listen to a lot of stuff), threatening to seriously affect the natural bias anyone has just about anything, I can’t pass on the opportunity to give this stellar band their due, small as my contribution may be.

Moreover, (almost) unconditional love for a band accounts for higher expectations, and those in turn for a sharper critical sense. After a fair amount of spins, I can positively say I’m way past the adoring, kind of shocked “how did they come up with this AMAZING stuff?!” phase, and (closer to being) ready to write down something not all that biased. Iconoclast is truly an awesome piece of work, and once again the long wait (as for the previous Paradise Lost) has definitely paid off, but there are minor flaws I’ll also mention. So let’s get to it.

For starters: this review is about the double CD edition, as that’s what the band themselves consider the “true” album to be. As guitar hero/main composer Romeo had stated several times before, Iconoclast owes its birth to some material which was eventually left out of Paradise Lost. Far from being sort of a recyle bin for things past, it’s undeniable those echoes are present and very easy to trace for the band’s fans. The sound resulting from a very similar kind of mixing and producing process to that of Paradise Lost also enhances this impression (suffice it to mention Light Up the Night, perhaps the most blatant instance). That aside, the album still sounds fresh, as though what was “left out” of Paradise Lost has been worked on a lot, pondered carefully, and finally brought far enough not to make Iconoclast just sort of a lame follow-up to the previous album. Absence of haste in the process definitely helps explaining how that was achieved.

Iconoclast starts off this whole futuristic man-versus-machine concept with a very epic, solemn kind of incipit, with choirs à la first songs off Paradise Lost. The strong linear structure of the song, strenghtened by what can be argued to be the best solo lot of the album, already makes a case for it to be the best of the bunch. It’s also, in my opinion, the most fitting candidate to the title of (semi-)epic of the album, although When All is Lost and Reign in Madness, respectively at the end of each CD, do rival with it in lenght and “depth”.

Segue the two singles so far, The End of Innocence with its liquid riffage and the less catchy, though still strong, Dehumanized. As soon as they came out (before the rest of the album), fans were divided, their preference alternatively going to the former or latter. I’m calling myself out of the dispute and pretending I don’t also have a preference, by stating they’re both good and diverse enough to potentially please everyone. Bastards of the Machine, Heretic and Children of a Faceless God also confirm the impression one has already got at this point that Symphony X consciously decided to capitalise on Paradise Lost‘s greater catchiness than their previous work. The shredding and soloing of Romeo‘s is astonishing as ever, and though the days of masterful blending of classical music into heavy metal couldn’t seem farther off after a decidedly (and again: conscious) heavy shift, Symphony X‘ sound does still retain much of the glory days. The prog anima hasn’t been neglected either: tasty staccato shredding, square stop&go’s and perfectly timed tempo changes are all still there, right where they should be. Even echoes of Rainbow are to be heard (listen carefully to Children of a Faceless God and The Lord of Chaos‘ bridge). Symphony X have built on the “drift to the heavier side” which I personally loved about Paradise Lost (and some die-hard fan still can’t forgive them) but the sweet classical flavour hasn’t died away entirely, as the epic choirs stand to testify.

What has been left wanting, in my opinion, is the lyrics. I had grown accustomed to bigger efforts from Symphony X to put some kind of poetry into their lyrics; the last truly notable ones being those of The Odyssey. In that respect, Iconoclast is much lamer than anything they’ve ever written (lirically). This probably adds up to the augmented catchiness of it all, and was just as probably thoroughly thought of; still I can’t force myself to liking them. They convey kind of a sense of hastiness nowehere else present on the album. Still we’re far from the vast depths of the “sea of cheese”, so that’s minor issue really.

The first CD is beautifully closed up by a nine minute long ballad (with flashes of heaviness Romeo couldn’t help filling in), but there’s still a lot to feast your ears on on the second. Electric Messiah gives it a solid and sound start, followed up by Prometheus (I am Alive), a cool progression from slow to faster tempos on Romeo‘s familiar staccato guitar work. Light Up the Night and The Lord of Chaos stay true to the intended “simplification” of the overall sound, but on the other hand also serve as an example that it is possible to achieve it without going all four-fourths and braindead drumming. The songs’ structure is deep and articulated, whilst the sound is polished yet crunchy enough to justify Sir Allen‘s most aggressive vocals to date. A good example of different instances coexisting in harmony is the closing Reign in Madness, where an almost-80′s keyboard paves the way for much more modern riffing and (yet again) a catchy chours, right before it all slows down and then picks up the pace again towards the end.

THUS SPAKE THE CENNSOR: Simply put, a couple of minor issues aside, Iconoclast is pretty much an album for the ages. Or to keep our feet on the ground, for the next couple of years (I’m starting to hope it’ll take this long again before we get another Symphony X studio album… the equation time=care=good stuff has again worked very well). It’s still so very early, but count it atleast among my picks for album of the year. The same higher accessibility that seems to irritate the fanatics of their more baroque sound of old will actually do a perfect introduction to those (hopefully fewer and fewer) who don’t know the X yet. But be advised: it’s like entering a maelstrom. Symphony X still marks the spot for utterly enjoyable prog-scented, heavy shredding, epic folly. 9/10