ICONOCLAST
"INFERNAL MACHINES ARISE - FLESH AND STEEL COLLIDE!"
Sometimes bands just seem to do everything right. Symphony X is basically a band like that. _Iconoclast_ is a brilliant prog-metal album. First of all, the band sounds tighter than ever and the production is really heavy, really METAL. It's sound is very similar to _Paradise Lost_. You know when bands suddenly gets 'heavier' on an album or two, and the heavier albums are the best albums? Yeah, this is like that. However, the band retains its knack for amazing vocals, melodic hooks, and songwriting that closes on your skull like a bear trap snapping shut. Not to mention some downright rippin' prog-metal breakdowns, face-melting solos, and a big, epic, "Rise of the Machines" kind of theme. There's an absolutely brilliant 'power ballad', "When All Is Lost". And that's saying a lot when you think of crazy songs that might be in that category, such as "Candlelight Fantasia," "Lady of the Snow", "Awakenings", "Paradise Lost", "Edge of Forever" maybe... anyway. You know, a lot of the album sounds kinda 'the same' at first, and it's long which doesn't help that initial impression (2-disc version is mandatory, if you get the 1-disc set you are stupid). But that is only at first, because give it some attention and the music reveals all the brilliant layers that make awesome prog-metal so tasty (especially with this emphasis on METAL and great hooks). I've listened to this to death since it was released and it fills me with joy. This is probably Symphony X's most _perfect_ album so everything else they release after this is just gravy. Well maybe the last song could have been a wee bit more epic and huge but it's still excellent so oh well. And one final comments, even after all these years there are still reviews that say Symphony X has "stupid" or "bad" lyrics, but come on, what do you expect, Edgar Allan Poe? It's a metal band, writing about (in this case) evil machine empires (or something) messing $&@% up. The lyrics are actually AWESOME when you think about it.
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