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BACK
SYMPHONY
X
An Odyssey Out of Obscurity
By Adrian ‘The Energizer’ Bromley
While not the biggest Symphony X fan on the planet,
I must admit that the band’s latest release The Odyssey (on
InsideOut Music) is fucking brilliant! Plus, having seen them live
several times over the last year, I am digging Symphony X much more
than I would have thought a few years back.
In all honesty I think veteran progressive metal acts like Dream
Theater and Fates Warning are still putting out good music, but
bands like Pain of Salvation, Evergrey and Symphony X are much more
into what they do, and it shows. Creative, versatile and downright
talented, Symphony X continues to see their fanbase growing with
each release, especially in North America.
"We never really had a proper release for our earlier albums
in North America; it was all done over in Japan. The first two albums
were available only in Japan and the label we were on at the time
[Zero] wasn’t really rushing out and licensing the album to
other territories. So we were basically stuck there," starts
Symphony X guitarist Michael Romeo. "It was just where we were
and it felt great to be able to put out an album in North America
and Europe and start to get reactions. It was very uplifting, really."
Must have been frustrating. Why’d it take so long?
He says, "The label was getting many offers, I know that for
a fact, but they thought that none of them were all that good. It
was frustrating because it took so long to get this going."
One thing that the New Jersey act (the band is rounded out by drummer
Jason Rullo, keyboardist Michael Pinnella, bassist Michael Lepond,
and singer Russell Allen) is hoping that new fans unaware of their
past discography will go back and acquire their older material and
understand the evolution of the band and how they arrived at The
Odyssey, their sixth studio release.
"I think it is a lot cool in the grand scheme of things. The
first album is really a demo and it doesn’t sound too good
and we had a different singer. Also, the second album is good, but
we didn’t have our shit together. In the overall picture, I
think it is great that we are getting exposure now after we have
worked hard to make this band what it is today. I’d rather
people listen to the new stuff rather than the old stuff, but as
you said, it is cool for the people to see how the band came along."
Now the band is a high profile act in the progressive metal genre.
They have won over fans and critics many times over. Does Romeo
see any competition with any other acts in the genre?
"We enjoy what we do, and I think that shows, and people latch
onto that. For us personally, I think we see ourselves more of a
band of musicians than a band in the progressive metal genre. I
mean, we do write music with progressive metal elements when we
see fit, but I think deep down we are just out to write good music
however it comes about. I think that for us we have become superior
songwriters than we were in the past. I’m not saying we are
the best or better than anyone else, I just think we have spent
a lot of time working on where choruses go, arrangements of songs,
and just capturing a good vibe. I think nowadays we look more into
how good a song is and all that rather than are there enough guitar
solos, et cetera."
Yeah, get rid of the guitar solos.
He laughs. "Well…not all of them. I still need a job in
the band. But seriously, we just make an effort now to make music
that will make an impact and say something. Forget the flashiness
of it all or ‘see what we can do’ mentality of it all.
Good songs are the key to being happy with our music as far as I
am concerned—and The Odyssey has plenty of great numbers that
I love on record and playing live."
After so many years of chugging along at it, what has been the most
rewarding experience for Romeo?
"Oh, there are many. Too many!" Romeo states. "I
mean, I think a lot of the great things for me is to be able to
go into a studio, record an album and play it back and hear what
we did and how things came about. I’d also say playing live
is a great experience for the band and myself. There were many years
early on that we never played out and toured for albums. We were
almost like a studio band until like the fourth album. There was
a lot of shit that went down and we could never take this on the
road, and it sucked, but now we are playing everywhere and making
the most of it and I think fans appreciate it the most."
"Doing it for the fans" sounds like the right motto.
He ends off, "Yeah, but we are also ‘doing it for ourselves’
too. Fun times for everyone!"
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