Symphony X
| Symphony X | |
|---|---|
 Symphony X at the Gods of Metal festival |
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| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Progressive metal |
| founding | 1994 |
| Website | http://www.symphonyx.com/ |
| Current occupation | |
| Russell Allen | |
| Michael Romeo | |
| Michael LePond | |
| Jason Rullo | |
| Michael Pinnella | |
| former members | |
singing |
Rod Tyler (until 1995) |
bass |
Thomas Miller |
Drums |
Tom Walling |
Symphony X is a progressive metal - band from New Jersey , in 1994 by the guitarist Michael Romeo was founded.
Band history
In 1994 Michael Romeo , formerly guitarist for the band Gemini, recorded his demo tape The Dark Chapter . He quickly attracted attention and soon formed the band Symphony X with bassist Thomas Miller, drummer Jason Rullo, singer Rod Tyler and keyboardist Michael Pinnella .
The recordings for their first album Symphony X began that same year; the album was initially released exclusively in Japan under the Zero Corporation label. Only after the release of their second album in 1995 did their debut album appear worldwide. Her second album The Damnation Game followed six months later and was released worldwide on the InsideOut label . Singer Rod Tyler had left the band and was replaced by Russell Allen , who had a significant influence on the style of the band and set a more neo-classical focus with his work.
The third album The Divine Wings of Tragedy is considered by many fans as their masterpiece. The recordings for this album took a relatively long time; the sessions started in 1996 and did not finish until 1997. With this album they also achieved success in Europe, the success in Japan continued to grow. In contrast to the previous albums, the two longtracks on The Divine Wings of Tragedy stand out, such as the 20-minute title track and the almost ten-minute “The Accolade”, which are clearly in the progressive rock tradition in terms of form and structure .
At the end of the year Jason Rullo had to leave the band for a short time for personal reasons. During this time he was replaced by Thomas Walling. With this line-up, the band played their fourth studio album, Twilight in Olympus , which was released in 1998. The album also features the instrumental piece “Sonata”, which is based on the motif of the second movement of the piano sonata No. 8 Pathétique (C minor, op. 13) by Ludwig van Beethoven . The remaining tracks on the album showed the band a little more compact again, the longest track was 13 minutes "Through the Looking Glass" and the nine-minute "Church of the Machine".
The first official appearance in the new line-up took place in Japan in 1998, followed by a world tour. Bassist Thomas Miller was then replaced by Michael Lepond.
With Prelude to Millennium , a compilation from the previous four studio albums was released at the end of the same year . In addition, this compilation included a re-recording of a song from the debut album known as Masquerade '98 , this time sung by Russell Allen.
Drummer Jason Rullo returned to the band prior to the recording of the fifth album V: The New Mythology Suite (2000). The album's material came largely from ideas for a never-realized longtrack called "Twilight in Olympus", the title of which, however, had been adopted for the previous album. It is in V is the first concept album of the band, the content of it deals with the Atlantis myth and ancient Egyptian mythology and astrology. The intro names "Prelude" is an adaptation of the Dies Irae from the Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi .
The band went on tour and recorded the live album Live on the Edge of Forever , which consists of recordings of several concerts.
In 2002 the band released their sixth studio album, The Odyssey , which climaxes with the 24-minute title track, which is a musical interpretation of the Greek legend about Odysseus . Except for the more traditional title track, the rest of the album was a lot harder than usual. It contains fewer keyboard parts than before and inspired some fans and journalists to compare it with Thrash Metal . Among the pieces is the continuation of the fan classic "The Accolade", which lasts as long as the first part and is thematically related to it. The album was followed by a tour supporting Stratovarius in 2003 . In 2004, apart from a few festival appearances, the band took a break, which Russell Allen and Michael Pinnella used to make solo albums. Michael Romeo was a guest on Timo Kotipelto 's second solo album, Mike Lepond recorded an album with Distant Thunder .
In the summer of 2005, Symphony X took part in the Gigantour, a major summer festival headlined by Megadeth and Dream Theater . In order to bridge the time until the next album, a fan club CD was released, which contains demo versions of various older pieces, as well as an interpretation of the Star Wars title melody on the electric guitar.
In March 2006, Michael Romeo announced that five songs from a new album had been completely recorded and the album would be finalized in the following months. However, the release was delayed because bassist Mike Lepond had to be treated for Crohn's disease . Eventually the album, entitled Paradise Lost, was released on June 22, 2007. Paradise Lost , which is thematically based on the epic poem of the same name by the English poet John Milton , is a musical continuation of The Odyssey . The tracks are less thrashy, but just as hard as on the previous album. Only the title track shows slightly ballad-like features and is strongly reminiscent of the song "Communion and the Oracle" from album V: The New Mythology Suite .
On November 12, 2009, Nuclear Blast announced that Symphony X had been signed. The album Iconoclast was released on June 17, 2011.
On April 10, 2015, the band announced that the recording and mixing of the new album was complete. On May 18, 2015 the title of the album was confirmed as "Underworld". The album was released on July 24, 2015. The first single, "Nevermore", premiered on May 22, 2015.
Discography
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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- 1994: Symphony X
- 1995: The Damnation Game
- 1997: The Divine Wings of Tragedy
- 1998: Twilight in Olympus
- 1998: Prelude to the Millennium (compilation)
- 2000: V: The New Mythology Suite
- 2001: Live on the Edge of Forever (Live)
- 2002: The Odyssey
- 2005: Rarities & Demos (exclusively for members of the fan club)
- 2007: Paradise Lost
- 2011: Iconoclast
- 2015: Underworld