Symphony X returned to the stage with the gravitas of seasoned veterans, celebrating three decades of a legacy that defies easy categorization. It's been nearly a decade since Underworld, their last studio album, but, if they've always been known for their vocal and instrumental skills and precision, the time away has only honed their capacity to connect, enthrall and emote.
The evening started with the eleven-minute epic Iconoclast, culled from the album of the same name, and for the next hour and forty minutes, Symphony X took the Parisian audience on a monumental journey through time and space.
For many of us, the concert's highlights were the older classics: "Inferno (Unleash the Fire)" erupted like a sonic juggernaut, while "Paradise Lost" carried an elegiac weight, anthemic and intimate in equal measure. "Evolution" and "Sea of Lies" displayed Symphony X’s progressive complexity, yet were as visceral as the genre's most ferocious offerings. "Out of the Ashes" was a glorious affirmation of rebirth, delivered with a fierce conviction.
Russell Allen remains a vocal titan, evoking shades of Dio with his raw power and dynamic range, yet his presence is entirely his own. Michael Romeo, long shadowed by comparisons to Yngwie Malmsteen, reminded the crowd that his technical prowess is only part of the story—his solos are crafted with care, emotional and narrative, miniature epics themselves.
Symphony X have been dubbed many things: progressive, neo-classical, grandiloquent, virtuosic... and they are all of these things. But at their core, they remain resolutely, undeniably Metal.
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