Let's do one of the long suckers now.
Symphony X - The Odyssey
Sent by wolfking
What a grand intro. We get an overture of a theme we're going to be hearing a lot of as this goes on. The opening lyrical section fairly well defines what our story will be about This is a journey home, but one that will be full of perils and dangers.
Taking a moment here to talk about the music. While the guitar playing is fairly great, I find some of the symphonic elements a little artificial sounding which can take me out of it a little. It's a bit of a shame as the melodies and playing is great. I think it may just be me, in all honesty. Vocals here are fairly strong, but what else can you expect from Russel Allen?
Movement III - The Eye - is an absolute banger in my ears. The grit of his vocals, the edginess of the riff. It all comes into play here and it's a real banger of a section. But, it's the instrumental movement, VI - Scylla and Charybdis - that I really sink my teeth into as far as the band's playing goes.
I love the way that the band float between the heavier sections and the more melodic sections with ease in this song as a whole. The story is certainly an intriguing one, definitely one of the strongest stories in this round for my money. As said in my first impression, this one has a whole lot to like about it and a whole lot of song to like it in. It's a great retelling of Homer's Odyssey at the very least.
I think this one is held back from being truly timeless by some of the choices in keyboard tones, a few of which really do nothing for me. But, really, if that's my complaint about this song, what does that tell you? This is excellent, and has a strong prospect of song of the round!
5 + 1