THE DIVINE WINGS OF TRAGEDY

This one is by no means a masterpiece, but by all means an incredible album early in the band's career, and a must for anyone who thinks they might enjoy Symphony X. This album definitely established Symphony X as a band that was serious about what they were doing; not only does it have a great collection of single tracks, with the various moods, head-spinning time signature changes, and excellent riffs that would all become trademarks of the band's sound, but one incredible epic, something that few metal bands had dared to pursue at the time. Overall, the musicians show off both their technical and compositional prowess, and having analyzed the music, it is quite technically demanding for most bands to cover, let along write anything of this skill level.

The first three songs are great singles in themselves, well made and adequately produced. The Accolade is a bit softer and something I'd imagine the more symphonic listener's appreciating to an extent. It is somewhat lengthly, almost ten minutes, and proves the band as sensitive to the compositional aspect of progressive music, which would be elaborated on in the album titled epic, over twenty minutes in length, The Divine Wings of Tragedy. The other songs on the album seem a bit more loosely thrown together, especially The Witching Hour, part of which reminds me a bit of Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Pharaoh and The Eyes of Medusa were good songs as well, and the album's closer, Candlelight Fantasia, ends the album on a bit of a softer note.

Overall, the album has very few weak sections and several quite strong ones, and I would recommend it to any lovers of progressive, symphonic, even power metal, and any combination of the terms, especially the first. The writing and especially production would become even more refined as the band matured, the content only being rivaled, in my opinion, by V: The New Mythology Suite. All in all, a great progressive metal album for any collection.