SYMPHONY X have been silent for at least 5 years since The Odyssey release in 2002. During this silent period of time most of the SYMPHONY X members were active; Russell Allen released the ATOMIC SOUL project debut album and the most impressive album The Revenge with  Jorn Lande as the co-singer, while Michael Pinnella gave birth to Enter By The Twelfth Gate.
So, Paradise Lost is the title of the new and seventh album of the five piece band from New Jersey of the U.S.A. The band have blended all the fine elements found in the previous work creating a mature and diverse album. Fortunately (at least for me),  SYMPHONY X did not loose their direction by wandering throughout the Progressive Metal territory with over-complicated melodies and countless tempo changes that in some point wear off the listener. The guitars have moved towards aggression with fast paced and cutting edge riffs without leaving aside the melodic breaks and the bombastic scale travelling. Russell Allen has made most of the collaboration with Jorn Lande and has expanded his vocal potentials by being mostly theatrical and by adding a little bit of harshness.
After the short intro, the fast paced Set The World On Fire comes in with staccato rhythm guitars and a catchy chorus with Allen's powerful high pitched performance. The guitar and keyboard solo near the end remind us that SYMPHONY X come from the Progressive Metal camp while some minor orchestration adds some more points towards music diversity. The bass guitar and the fast drumming continue to surprise us in the aggressive Domination and the groovy and bluesy at times The Serpent's Kiss where Allen's low pitch voice has something from Tomas Englund (EVERGREY) timbre. The homonymous track brings melody and emotion in front, with piano melodies and clean guitar arpeggios until the fast tempo Eve Of Seduction kicks in, comprising impressive guitar work with catchy hooks and shredding leads and fills where I dare to say that there is a PANTERA essence throughout the rhythm guitar tremolo.
The Eastern melodies of The Walls Of Babylon is next, where the choir backing vocals bring to mind the THERION works during the Vovin era. The song follows a distinct Progressive Metal path featuring the classic guitar-keyboard-bass guitar solo pattern. The fast and melodic guitar legato opens for the in-your-face Seven where Allen really shines with an almost Power Metal uplifting performance. The keyboard based The Sacrifice slows things down just before the epic nine minutes long song Revelation comes to close the new SYMPHONY X opus.
Without any doubt the new SYMPHONY X album was worth the five years of waiting and will put a big smile to all the Metalheads and not just to the Progressive Metal ones.