627. Symphony X / Symphony X. 1994. 3/5

Guitarist Michael Romeo had been gigging in bands such as Gemini and Phantom’s Opera in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s without managing to create much traction for the work he was doing. In 1992 he recorded a demo tape in his apartment in New Jersey to send out to as many record labels as he could in order to attract some attention and hopefully secure a record deal. This it eventually did, with a record company called Zero Corporation, based in Japan, a country that was well renown to have fans tolerant of the kind of guitar material that Romeo was producing. This led to the demo being re-recorded (with all instruments being played by Romeo himself, except for one track that had keyboards played by Michael Pinnella) and released as Michael Romeo’s first instrumental album titled “The Dark Chapter”. Zero Corporation then asked Romeo if he had a band that played music of a similar genre, and if so, they would be interested in releasing an album of their material. This isn’t the kind of offer you are going to turn down, and so Romeo went about putting together his ‘band’. Firstly, he brought in Pinnella to again be the keyboardist, before also recruiting bass guitarist Thomas Miller, drummer Jason Rullo and lead vocalist Rod Tyler. The newly formed band recorded a demo tape titled “Danse Macabre” in early 1994, and though it is not clear whether or not the demo was sent to other record companies, it was Zero Corporation who green lit a record contract for the band on the basis of its contents.
With a contract in hand, the band had to come up with a name. Romeo explained in an interview with the website theheaviestmatteroftheuniverse.com in 2008 that "the music we were coming up with had the keyboard thing and the guitar, and some classical elements, so the word 'Symphony' came up and ... then, somebody said 'Symphony X' and we were like, 'yeah, that's cool' it is that kinda thing, and the 'X' is the unknown and all the other stuff we do."
From here the band entered the studio to write and record their debut album in August and September of 1994 at The Hit Factory in New York City, which became the self-titled “Symphony X”, and was released in December 1994.

Symphony X's debut came at a time when grunge was beginning its fade and morphing into several other music genres, and complex guitar and keyboard composing bands were again rising in estimation of the music listening world populi. It was certainly the case in Europe where power metal and speed metal were mixing with progressive rock and metal, and Symphony X’s appearance in the US came on the back of fellow Americans Dream Theater’s rise to prominence. What does become apparent is that as soon as you put on the album there are the unmistakable influences of bands such as Yngwie Malmsteen, Dream Theater and the Michael Schenker Group, not only musically but even vocally. Rod Tyler's vocals are very similar in pitch to the half a dozen vocalists that Malmsteen has used through his career. Michael Romeo's guitaring and Michael Pinnella's keyboards are also heavily influenced by these bands, so the comparison is a reasonable one.
The opening intro of the musical instrumental "Into the Dementia" leads into "The Raging Season", mixing together all of the elements of progressive metal as it was known at the time, synth and keyboards, a faster guitar riff overlaid with very Brian May-eque solo chords, and power metal vocal effects. This song isn't sure if it is going to be a fast riff-fest or a more power metal trade-off between the main instruments, and so it combines both. Jason Rullo’s drumming has an immediately noticeable impact, along with the trading of solos from Pinnella and Romeo on keys and guitar. "Premonition" is led by Pinnella's keys and synths, with Tyler’s vocals lending solid support. It is a solid track that mirrors the elements of the power metal and prog metal gernes, sounds great without providing anything that stands out to capture the imagination. "Masquerade" almost falls into a 1980's pop rock direction, and apart from the solo (which really doesn't fit the rest of the pattern of the song) the guitar is buried by the keyboards. This song was later re-recorded on the “Prelude to the Millennium” album and sounds much better in that mix. Closing out side one of the album is "Absinthe and Rue", kicking off with a very progressive nature of heavy guitar riff and prominent atmospheric keyboards, along with the double kick driving the song along. Then Michael comes in with a great heavy riff that seems to be heading to taking this song into a true heavy metal direction, but instead it climbs back to the atypical progressive metal route of keyboards on top of the song. It’s a good song, but I feel as though they may have missed a trick here.
There is no pretence on the opening track of side two however. "Shades of Gray" is a power ballad without a shadow of a doubt. For bands of this genre this is almost a given on every album, and when they are done well, they can add to the enjoyment of the album. Down the track, Symphony X are extremely adept at this. And while I can see why some fans would enjoy this particular song, to me it just bogs the album down at an inopportune time. "Taunting the Notorious" tries to restore the balance to the album, coming back in faster and heavier, while Tyler certainly tries to put some oomph in the vocals, which in this case come across really well. The lead out of the song, combining the fast paced double kick from Rullo, the trading solos from Pinnella and Romeo and soaring vocals from Tyler make this a terrific track. It is also extremely short for a band of this genre, at only 3 minutes and 20 seconds. "Rapture or Pain" has a good feel to it as well, but again sounds as though it is missing an element that would make it a memorable song rather than just the next song on the album to be played. "Thorns of Sorrow" could have almost been pulled off an Yngwie Malmsteen album. The opening salvo of drums and synth, and then the introduction of Tyler’s vocals, has a very Malmsteen feel about the track, only missing any true guitar until the back half of the song. It is definitely the keyboards here that dominate rather than the blazing guitar riff.
The album is then concluded with the lengthy epic "A Lesson Before Dying", which combines every essence of progressive metal. We have the dominating keys, we have the ninety seven changes in tempo and song parts, we have the bass given its chance to harmonise, we have the soaring vocals, and eventually the flailing of guitar. In the end, it feels as though five different songs have been morphed together to form one twelve minute monster, and ends in a way that leaves you in two minds of how you feel about it.

My first taste of Symphony X didn’t come until 2004, at a time when I was slowly working my way through every band I could come across to discover. I had recently bought Dream Theater’s new album “Train of Thought” and was a little obsessed with it at the time, and I wanted to find other bands of a similar nature to discover and listen to. Some research into the project gave me a few names, some of which I had already garnered and others I had not, and one of those names was Symphony X. So I found their latest album, which was 2002’s “The Odyssey”, and I was hooked. An amazing album with many amazing songs, but it was the heavier and faster elements of the progressive metal music that I enjoyed most. So having digested this album, it was time to go back and discover the albums of their discography.
As it turns out, my thoughts on first listening to this album some twenty years ago and listening to it again today haven’t changed much. This album is fine, but it is not a patch on what the band achieved after this. Rod Tyler’s vocals are good, and in some instances remind you of the man who took his job after this album Russell Allen, but nowhere near as powerful as Russell is. And the songs are all okay – I mean, you can hear the bones on this album being created, sourcing out the right way to go about fleshing them out – but that doesn’t come here. Take a listen to this album, and then take a listen to just about any song from any of the following albums, and you will definitely hear the difference in the quality and genius of the songs. The progression that the band makes following this debut album is pronounced, and it does leave this album sounding like an early demo rather than a first fully fleshed out debut album. And having first heard the band on the album “The Odyssey” and then gone back to listen to this AFTER that quite amazing album, it does leave this in the shade quite a bit. In the shade of a planet about to collide with Earth. Yes, it’s a damn big shadow.
As good as the other musicians are here, the star was always going to be Michael Romeo, and there just isn’t enough of him on this album. It is surprising how much his guitar is not as prominent as the keys and drums that seem to dominate most of the songs here. And these songs also need the presence of a big voice, one that can drive and carry the heavy lines and the softer lines, and while Rod Tyler is a good singer, he is not a frontman in the way these songs need. Listening to the album again today, those points are all quite noticeable to any fan of the band.
As I mentioned, Tyler moved on after this album and was replaced by the person who he actually introduced the band to, Russell Allen. At this stage of their career the band wasn’t even touring or playing gigs, an interesting situation that came to a head sometime down the track.
This album is ‘fine’. In ranking all of Symphony X’s nine studio albums, I would certainly rank this as 9. Every album after this soars above it and showcases the best of the wonderful musicians that make up this band. Not all debut albums can be the unforgettable ground breakers, can they? The best was most definitely yet to come.