Nuclear Blast
2011
CD 1
1. Iconoclast
2. The End Of Innocence
3. Dehumanized
4. Bastards Of The Machine
5. Heretic
6. Children Of A Faceless God
7. When All Is Lost
CD 2
1. Electric Messiah
2. Prometheus (I Am Alive)
3. Light Up The Night
4. The Lords Of Chaos
5. Reign In Madness
Symphony X are a band who have lost me a bit lately. Or at least they haven't been as pleasing to my ears as they used to be. Don't get me wrong... The Odyssey and Paradise Lost weren't Bad albums at all. I can't help but think something has been lost though. Despite being good albums, neither struck me as very progressive, as melodic as past material, and it did seem as though the band was trying too hard to be heavy. At first The Odyssey seemed like an interesting change of pace, but then came Paradise Lost and it sounded like too much of the same. That album has not aged with me well at all.
After listening to Iconoclast I can pretty much say that this is what the band is now, for better or for worse depending on your own opinion. Personally, I just find that a lot of this album runs together. I kept listening to it over and over again trying to concentrate, but I found my attention drifting, much as it seems to be in this band. I just don't hear anything as epic and soaring as they used to be and the chugga chugga guitar riffing gets kind of boring. I feel as though a lot of the riffs here are just too samey and the songs suffer for it. Basically, Iconoclast is missing the hooks, creativity, and soaring melodic vocals that made the band in their earlier days.
Overall, this isn't at all a bad listen. It really isn't. It's pretty headbangable. It just seems a little shallow and one dimensional to me. There are moments that break that mold are recall better days, but I do feel like this band's best days are behind them if they continue to follow this path. This is probably still above average and if you like heavy power metal you could do worse. If The Odyssey & Paradise Lost were to your liking than by all means check this out.
The rating is something I batted around in my own mind for awhile, but in the end I can't really give this above an ok rating. Not wholly mediocre or anything, but I just can't get excited about this and the true highlights are few for me. If I could go back and re-rate Paradise Lost at this point, it would likely be lower as well in retrospect. I have a feeling some may differ on this, but hey... it's my take.
Highlights: Children Of A Faceless God, When All Is Lost
Rating - 3.0/5
1. Iconoclast
2. The End Of Innocence
3. Dehumanized
4. Bastards Of The Machine
5. Heretic
6. Children Of A Faceless God
7. When All Is Lost
CD 2
1. Electric Messiah
2. Prometheus (I Am Alive)
3. Light Up The Night
4. The Lords Of Chaos
5. Reign In Madness
Symphony X are a band who have lost me a bit lately. Or at least they haven't been as pleasing to my ears as they used to be. Don't get me wrong... The Odyssey and Paradise Lost weren't Bad albums at all. I can't help but think something has been lost though. Despite being good albums, neither struck me as very progressive, as melodic as past material, and it did seem as though the band was trying too hard to be heavy. At first The Odyssey seemed like an interesting change of pace, but then came Paradise Lost and it sounded like too much of the same. That album has not aged with me well at all.
After listening to Iconoclast I can pretty much say that this is what the band is now, for better or for worse depending on your own opinion. Personally, I just find that a lot of this album runs together. I kept listening to it over and over again trying to concentrate, but I found my attention drifting, much as it seems to be in this band. I just don't hear anything as epic and soaring as they used to be and the chugga chugga guitar riffing gets kind of boring. I feel as though a lot of the riffs here are just too samey and the songs suffer for it. Basically, Iconoclast is missing the hooks, creativity, and soaring melodic vocals that made the band in their earlier days.
Overall, this isn't at all a bad listen. It really isn't. It's pretty headbangable. It just seems a little shallow and one dimensional to me. There are moments that break that mold are recall better days, but I do feel like this band's best days are behind them if they continue to follow this path. This is probably still above average and if you like heavy power metal you could do worse. If The Odyssey & Paradise Lost were to your liking than by all means check this out.
The rating is something I batted around in my own mind for awhile, but in the end I can't really give this above an ok rating. Not wholly mediocre or anything, but I just can't get excited about this and the true highlights are few for me. If I could go back and re-rate Paradise Lost at this point, it would likely be lower as well in retrospect. I have a feeling some may differ on this, but hey... it's my take.
Highlights: Children Of A Faceless God, When All Is Lost
Rating - 3.0/5
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