There is, and here it is.
After their tour in support of
Paradise Lost - their biggest yet, spanning North and South America as well as Europe and Asia and nearly six months - one would think that the band would seek to capitalise on their newfound popularity, but for a long time, silence seemed to be the order of the day. After the conclusion of the Paradise Lost Tour in 2009, the fans had to wait for over a year before they even got confirmation that a new album was in the works. In March 2010, an update revealed that the album had been recorded and that Romeo and Allen were just starting on the lyrics. Fans became hopeful, but that was it for a while - the next significant update had to wait until January 2011, when Allen unveiled that the album, while not a concept album, was still centered on the topic of machines taking over the world and technology being our demise. "How original." is what I still clearly remember thinking, but I was nevertheless excited about the new album. It would still take some time to arrive, but at least the band premiered new songs live, of which I gobbled up YouTube vidoes like the hopeless fanboy I was back then - they served adequately to tide me over until the release of the band's eighth studio album, to be released in June 2011, entitled...
Iconoclast (2011)CD 1
01. Iconoclast (10:53)
02. The End of Innocence (5:29)
03. Dehumanized (6:49)
04. Bastards of the Machine (4:58)
05. Heretic (6:26)
06. Children of a Faceless God (6:22)
07. When All Is Lost (9:10)
CD 2
01. Electric Messiah (6:15)
02. Prometheus (I Am Alive) (6:48)
03. Light Up the Night (5:05)
04. The Lords of Chaos (6:11)
05. Reign in Madness (8:37)
Probably in reaction to how well
Paradise Lost was received, this album is a stylistic continuation in the styles that the band displayed on that album - more guitar-driven and less keyboard-heavy, a grittier vocal performance by Allen and an atrocious lead guitar tone (okay, so maybe that wasn't intentional, but come on!), and while I would struggle to pick out a song on this album that I would call bad, it does all sort of run together at the end.
This is something which you saw first hints of on
Paradise Lost, but which still had more variety and was shorter, so it never became an issue there. Here, it very much is - not only are the songs very similar in tone, but also in structure, making this possibly the only Symphony X album where I regularly end up skipping tracks - not because the tracks I skip are bad on their own, but they add nothing to the album aside from length, so what's the point?
But anyway, let's approach this in a more track-by-track manner. "Iconoclast" is a fantastic opener, displaying amazing riffing and a powerful chorus, though it does drag on a little. Still, it's a worthy Symphony X title track and definitely one of my favourites on the album - especially that main riff, that's delicious. The instrumental section shows us that Romeo and Pinella have not lost their touch, but that lead guitar tone... really?
"The End of Innocence" is one of the tracks that I usually skip, though I did listen to it again for the purposes of this review. It's not bad, but it's pretty standard fare and doesn't exactly offer anything new that we haven't heard the band do already. The chorus is nice enough and the calmer sections show us that Allen can still sing, but on the whole, this is nothing to write home about.
Same thing with "Dehumanized", really, though that one is a little more adventurous, with some great riffing, a fantastic interlude and a chorus that is just unexpected enough to keep you engaged. However, the main riff is pretty dull and fails to get me going and the solo is more of the same and certainly not helped by that atrocity of a tone that Romeo uses (I'll shut up about that now), though I won't lie and admit that the final part of the solo that leads back into the chorus is actually pretty cool, but that's too little too late. Still, this is the second of the songs that I usually end up skipping to have the nerve to make it through the album proper.
"Bastards of the Machine" seems to be many other people's choice of a skip track, but I really like it. While it has the same structure as the two preceding songs, this one just kicks so much ass that I can't help but love it. Plus, the main riff is addictive on both the guitars and the keys and the brief bass breaks in this one are some of Lepond's best moments on the album. Plus, dat pre-chorus... what's not to love about that?
While this is by no means one of my favourite Symphony X songs, it's definitely one of the first that I would pick were I to attend a show of theirs - few of their songs are as straight-up badass and energising as this one is, especially that croud-shouting section in the middle.
"Heretic" is another song that I routinely skip. Again, not a really bad song per-say, but it just doesn't really get me excited. Yeah, the main riff is nice in its simplicity and the verses are quite catchy, but that's basically it. Guys, you can do better than this.
"Children of a Faceless God" is one of my favourite tracks from the album, and I don't even exactly know why. It's probably a mixture of the chorus, which is pretty awesome and the instrumental section, which is out of this world and maybe my favourite on the album. The way that the first solo builds into the bridge, whose vicious vocals explode into the second guitar solo is one of my favourite moments in the entire Symphony X catalogue. The rest of the song is very solid as well, but the instrumental break and the bridge are the true moments where this song really shines.
"When All Is Lost" is a fantastic ballad and truly a great way to close out the first disc, as well as a much-needed change of pace. Pinella gets to show us that he's a fantastic piano player and Allen delivers what is easily his finest vocal performance of the entire album, showing that he's still got it. It's the second longest on the album, but I'd say that it's the true epic of the album, due to its nonlinear nature and its structure that is constantly twisting and turning, as opposed to the title track - which is just a fantastic long song with a very familiar structure. My favourite moment of this album is when Romeo just explodes into the second guitar solo and lets loose completely in a fantastical bout of controlled shredding that never fails to give me goosebumps. Somehow, even the lead tone is less obnoxious here, which should be considered a real achievement.
"Electric Messiah" is another highlight, even though it's quite straightforward, but I love the driving nature of basically all the riffs in this song and the chorus is one that will stay in your head for days. Another song that I could see rocking the house live very well - a shame that it has yet to be performed live. The one thing that I would criticise here is the lack of a proper ending - it just fades out with the chorus on repeat, which is something that always annoys and is also another reason why I want a live version of this song.
"Prometheus (I Am Alive)" is the final skip track of the album for me. It sounds vaguely interesting in the intro (was that acoustic guitar there? HOLY SHIT), but it quickly degenerates into standard Symphony X heavy fare. The chorus is pretty cool, and that's basically it. Pass.
"Light Up the Night" is completely, balls-to-the-wall power metal and I love every second of it. Allen screams out his soul in the chorus and the whole song is just basically a shredding attack by Michael Romeo, and because of that, it works. Like with "Seven" on the previous album, Symphony X's newer, heavier style, works best at 100%, no-holds-barred intensity and "Light Up the Night" is basically "Seven" cranked up to 11. It's completely over the top and I love it for it.
"The Lords of Chaos" is the one that took the longest to grow on me, but it's one of my favourites now. The riff is interesting enough and actually quite groovy, especially once the rhythm section enters, and the chorus is truly majestic - when it comes, I can never resist singing along. The instrumental section isn't quite as good as the rest of the song, but still, this one's a definite winner.
"Reign in Madness" is like a poor man's "Revelation". It's semi-conventionally structured, like the closer on the band's previous album, but the actual material taking up that structure is nowhere near "Revelation"'s brilliance. It's a decent closer though, albeit my least favourite of the three digipak-only tracks. It's still good, and those verses (that are sadly never revisited past the first chorus) are ridiculously awesome. It's just a shame that when the song abandons the conventional verse-chorus-template that the song loses some of its coherence and it never quite manages to pick it up again - if it stayed on that level throughout, this would have been an amazing finish.
On the whole, what can I say about this album? I like it. Unfortunately, due to its samey nature and the need to skip several track when listening to it in one sitting, I can't say anything more positive about it than that. Listening to the normal version cuts the length down, but you're also missing two of the best tracks, so it doesn't actually improve the album a whole lot. There are flashes of complete brilliance all over this - parts of "Bastards", the instrumental section in "Children of a Faceless God", "When All Is Lost"... but when viewing this an album, it's just not good enough - at least, when compared with Symphony X's amazing back catalogue.
1. When All Is Lost
2. Children of a Faceless God
3. The Lords of Chaos
4. Light Up the Night
5. Bastards of the Machine
6. Electric Messiah
7. Iconoclast
8. Reign in Madness
9. Dehumanized
10. The End of Innocence
11. Heretic
12. Prometheus (I Am Alive)
After a long time (longer than it should have been; my bad!), we are finally done with this discussion. I want to thank everyone that has participated here and I hope that these reviews have been entertaining for you all - I certainly had a great time re-exploring the back catalogue of one of the bands most important to my musical taste in general. And if there is just one person out there that has discovered Symphony X for themselves as a result of this thread, I will consider it a time well spent.