Live on the Edge of Forever

After a considerable amout of succesful releases, Symphony X's live album, is by far the most outstanding of them all, if not one of the best live albums ever to be released. All the great songs you could ever want to listen are there. They've even played the 20-minute-long masterpiece "The Divine Wings of Tragedy", almost sacrificing themselves on-stage.

This album is for every progressive metal lover, although for those who still don't know Symphony X, i suggest listening to one of the previous albums first: "V - The New Mythology Suite" will make you understand why Symphony X deserves so much respect. The songs lyrical content are mostly creations from guitar god Michael Romeo, and range from Egyptian mythology to a whole mythological story created from scratch, that themes the album "V". Now, musically speaking, these guys are actually considered by some to be more talented than the membres of the progressive metal legend Dream Theater. The guitar solos are amazing, as well as the drumming by Jason Rullo that seems to have all the rithym in the world but also no rithym at all, wich creates amazing drumming sequences that will make you go nuts. Although, vocalist Russel Allen can't reach the same high notes as in the albums (let's face it, we can count on our fingers the ones that actually can) his voice is nothing more than stunning. The keyboards by Michael Pinella are magical, and "mini-solos" and holy improvisations come up during the concert. Besides that the band interaction with the audiance can be noticed all the way through the album. The first CD contains mostly songs from the album "V" and the second one brings you to an earlier moment in their career, with songs from "Twilight in Olympus" and "The Divine Wings of Tragedy". If you're a fan of live albums this is a must-have. It will definetly change the way you face them, especially after the song "The Dinive Wings of Tragedy".