Symphony X - verses - Shadow Gallery

W.Chuck wrote: AtLossForWords wrote: W.Chuck wrote: AtLossForWords wrote: goose wrote: [QUOTE=W.Chuck]Furthermore there are not many bands as diverse as Symphony X! ever heard of Dream TheaterPain of SalvationShadow GalleryVanden PlasAyreonAbydosTOCToolDead Soul TribeStream of PassionLaluSarissaOpethEdge of SanityKatatoniaPagan's Mindand so many other progressive metal bands that are more progressive than Symphony X.  I guess Ed is right, i do label SX as the Nirvana of Prog Metal. Of course there are bands which are complex but most of the bands you mentioned are not as progressive and as diverse as SX... next time please don't post any bands think about what you write... SX is not diverse or progressive for the most part.  SX is quite bland.  In fact i consider almost 80% of SX's music to be closer to Power Metal than prog.  What so progressive about songs like Dress to Kill, Of Sins and Shadows, The Relic, Medusa, and hell almost any SX song that is not an epic.  The only real progressive songs i've heard of SX are The Divine Wings of Tragedy, Edge of Forever, Winter's Dream, Through the Looking Glass, Rediscovery, The Accolades, and well the Odyssey.  Other than that i don't see SX as diverse or progressive.    Yes, I do consider Katatonia to be more progressive than SX.  Katatonia has done more to evolve their sound and increase complexity throughout their career.  SX has stayed very similar and in the case of The Odyssey, weakened their career. Every Symphony X song has progressive elements, some are more progressive some are more progressive and funny that you think Of sins and shadows and medusa are not progressive... you can define progressive metal with those songs... I think you should better inform about what is progressive...imo you just consider epics as progressive or song that have 50 different themes...

What is so prog about Of Sins and Shadows?  The song lacks way too many elements of progressive metal.  The key signatures sounds like the generic open minor position with few modulations.  The time signature is the classic 4/4.  The song lacks clean diversity.  Symphony X really fails with the use or lack of clean guitars.  Songs that better define progressive metal would be Dream Theater's Home, A Change of Seasons, Metropolis Part I, and of course Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence.  Pain of Salvation's Idioglossia, King of Loss, or Beyond the Pale are excellent choices as well.  I consider Shadow Gallery's Rain, I believe, or even War for Sale to be better representatives of progressive metal than Of Sins and Shadows.  Symphony X has very few songs that i consider progressive.

AtLossForWords wrote: What is so prog about Of Sins and Shadows?  The song lacks way too many elements of progressive metal.  The key signatures sounds like the generic open minor position with few modulations.  The time signature is the classic 4/4.  The song lacks clean diversity.  Symphony X really fails with the use or lack of clean guitars.  Songs that better define progressive metal would be Dream Theater's Home, A Change of Seasons, Metropolis Part I, and of course Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence.  Pain of Salvation's Idioglossia, King of Loss, or Beyond the Pale are excellent choices as well.  I consider Shadow Gallery's Rain, I believe, or even War for Sale to be better representatives of progressive metal than Of Sins and Shadows.  Symphony X has very few songs that i consider progressive.

So prog is all about weird scales, signatures and mixing different moods and sounds as much as possible? That's a really confining definition if you ask me. IMO artists (especially prog artists) should be free to choose any kind of musical element if it suits the song. There are plenty of SyX songs that would meet your criteria - the entire album V: The New Mythology Suite for a start.

BTW: Listen to Post Rock, if you think that Symphony X are "boring" ...

s1ipp3ry wrote: Theres no point in voting if you only know one of the bands

Thats a very obvious statement and the reason that im not voting in this poll

W.Chuck wrote: yes like the beginning of Through the looking glass or The death of balance, but I think overall SG sound more like DT.

Yes - Through the Looking Glass reminds me of Metropolis pt.1.

But which SG passages remind you of DT?

MikeEnRegalia wrote: SyX remind me of DT much more often than Shadow Gallery. There are passages in some SyX songs that are almost identical to passages of some DT songs ... gives me a feeling of deja vu everytime I'm listening to it.

Yes, but as you've mentioned; some particular passages, that are almost identical to D.T. 's.

I mean, Shadow gallery, as building up their style of composing and playing, more resembles D.T. With other words, when i listen to Shadow Gallery, i sometimes think "D.T. could have done such a song, if not S.G."

Well... Xympony at least sounds a bit reasonable to Me...

not the blunt - Symph X is better and it is far more "everything" than SG

W.Chuck wrote: yes like the beginning of Through the looking glass or The death of balance, but I think overall SG sound more like DT.

I think Shadow Gallery has a much better structure than Symphony X.  I think Shadow Gallery has a more similar sound to DT than SX does, but SX has a lot of songs that sound a lot like Under a Glass Moon from Images and Words.

Dream Theater slaughters both of these bands in all aspects of music.  Virtuosity, composition, variation, structure, and creativity being the foremost.

i still love Shadow Gallery, and Symphony X is alright.