Prog Metal masters Symphony X recently played to a packed house at the House of Blues Sunset in Hollywood CA and I was one of the many diehard fans lucky enough to catch their dynamic performance. It’s been a couple of years since the guys were out this way, in fact it was during the 2004 addition of Gigantour and as it was they were on the second stage and played during the day so all of us out here on the west coast were definitely due for a good headlining show. Support this evening came via L.A.’s own Echoes Of Eternity and North Carolina’s Sanctity.

I was really looking forward to seeing Echoes of Eternity but thanks to the morons who run the HOB website, once again they fucked up on the time and when the band was supposed to go on at 8:30pm they actually went on at 8:00pm so of course I missed their set. I heard them finishing up their last song as I walked through the door. To make matters worse the next band Sanctity took the stage within minutes and played for what seemed like hours. I’m sorry but these guys just didn’t interest me at all. Their music is definitely an ode to an older Thrash Metal way of playing but in my book it comes across as nothing more than a cheap imitation. For what its worth though they did seem to have quite a few fans in attendance and did an exceptionally great job working the crowd. The bands frontman reminded me a lot of a young Dave Mustaine red hair and all and sounded as Metal as could be just not the best that Metal has to offer. I eventually found myself sitting on the floor in the back of the club waiting for the end. When it did come I stood up shook it off and did my damnedest to not let my entire evening go to crap.

Thanks to the superior talents of the headlining act all was not lost and for the next two hours I was entranced by the majestic attributes of the five stellar musicians who make up Symphony X. The sound couldn’t have been more perfect and the lighting was better than most of the shows I see at this venue. The band are currently touring in support of their astonishing new masterpiece album Paradise Lost. It was great to hear some of the new songs in a live setting, songs such as “Set the World On Fire”, “Walls of Babylon”, and “Domination, but my favorites being the title track “Paradise Lost” and the first single and video (their very first) “Serpents Kiss” Vocalist Russell Allen was absolutely stunning in his vocal delivery and I never grow tired of hearing guitarist Michael Romeo shred the way he does. Other fan favs included “Inferno”, one of my personal favorites “Sea Of Lies” and the entire 24 minute masterpiece “The Odyssey” While I was very happy to have attended this event I may have held my expectations too high and not hearing more of the bands back catalogue left me feeling a little let down. For some reason the impact wasn’t quite the same as I’d experienced the last couple of times I’d seen the band. I’m sure the fact that I missed the opening band and had to sit through another that didn’t appeal to me had something to do with it as well. In the end I’m glad to have been present and have absolutely no regrets. Hopefully they won’t stay away too long as I’m already itching for another shot.

-Priest