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Nov 5, 20223 min read

Symphony X - The Odyssey (2002)

FROM THE CRYPTS - CELEBRATING PAST ALBUM RELEASES in the HISTORY of HARD ROCK & HEAVY METAL…


The Odyssey was released 20 years ago this week! What were your favorite tracks?



On November 5, 2002, Symphony X released their sixth full- length studio album The Odyssey via Inside Out Music.


The album is the band's first to be recorded entirely at guitarist Michael J. Romeo's home studio, The Dungeon. Accolade II is a sequel to The Accolade from The Divine Wings of Tragedy (1997). The title track is the album's grand finale: a 24-minute musical interpretation of Homer's Odyssey, an epic poem about the journey of ancient Greek hero Odysseus.


Background:

In an interview with Metal-rules.com, Michael Romeo was asked about the bands goal for The Odyssey and he responded;

“Well, one of the main things was just to make things heavy. Definitely a little more aggressive. Just different from the last album. The last album (V: The New Mythology Suite) was very polished and that kind of thing. It was cool because it was a concept album and it works. But for this one we just wanted to do, kinda go back to the stuff that we grew up with. Like, I grew up with Sabbath, Priest, stuff with a lot of riffs. So that was the thing for this one. We just wanted to definitely have some more guitar riffs. Guitars and vocals up front. Just heavier, a little more aggressive, a little more nuts.”

When asked about the bands writing process, he replied;

“It depends from album to album. Usually me and Michael Pinella [keyboards] pretty much write most of the music. But since this album was more about riffs and guitar-oriented, it was kind of like my job I guess. The band was like, "Dude, there's gotta be some heavy riffs, so go do your thing." So for this one, I pretty much had a lot of work. It's all good. With the lyrics, Russ has a lot of lyrics on this album, but everybody contributed some. Everything, the music, the lyrics. If I come up with a riff or the basic outline of a song, I'll bring it to the guys and we'll go to the rehearsal place and go over some of the ideas, make some changes, that kind of thing. So everyone at least gets to make some input. There's no definite formula though, it changes from album to album.”

Talking about the albums title track, Romeo said;

“…when we approach songs like that, we're not like, "Oh, let's make sure it's 20 minutes long and then it's done." We're not trying to time it or anything like that. When we take a story like The Odyssey, we try to find the cool parts for the lyrics and then with the music we try to tell the story, so there's a good progression of motion in the song. It's moving along, trying to keep things interesting and the parts changing, but still bring back some of the melodies, so it's one cohesive thing. We definitely put a lot of work into so that it's not a big mess.”

Critical Reception:

Alex Henderson at AllMusic gave The Odyssey three stars out of five, calling it an "old-school" album and "dated" for its time, while clarifying that "dated isn't necessarily a bad thing—if you hold a particular era in high regard, dated can actually be a plus." He also likened the mythical and fantasy elements to classic Heavy Metal acts such as Queensrÿche, Yngwie Malmsteen, Ronnie James Dio, Iron Maiden and Metallica.


Loudwire named the album in fifth in the list Top 25 Power Metal Albums of All Time and Metal Hammer ranked it at No. 19 in a similar list.



Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells



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