THE DAMNATION GAME

With their second release Symphony X made a significant change compared to their debut. They replaced their lead singer Rod Tyler by the impressive Russell Allen. And that makes a whole lot of difference to the sound of the band. If I judge the songwriting there's not yet great improvement noticeable, just slightly. If I regard the whole album and compare it with the complete debut I'd even say it's more or less a copy. It was just with their third release the real improvement became evident but not yet with this one.

Most songs are good/pretty good but none of them really memorable. Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks that way if I look at the ratingaverages for both albums. Same as with the debut there are neither very strong songs nor really poor ones on Damnation Game. If there are highlights I would say The Edge of Forever and A Winter's Dream. Again this is a very obvious 3 star case.