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1[[quoteright:360:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/52f373f6518a3561c44829e035c414c3.jpg]]
2[floatboxright:
3Influenced by:
4+ Music/{{Rush|Band}}, Music/IronMaiden, Music/{{Manowar}}, Music/BlackSabbath, Music/EmersonLakeAndPalmer, Music/JudasPriest, Music/{{Kansas}}, Music/VanHalen, Music/YngwieMalmsteen, Music/{{Soundgarden}}, Music/AliceInChains
5]
6
7Symphony X is an American ProgressiveMetal band that was formed in New Jersey in 1994. They also incorporate several elements of PowerMetal, Neo-Classical Metal, SpeedMetal, and traditional HeavyMetal in their music. Alongside Music/DreamTheater, they are considered to be one of the most important bands in Progressive Power Metal.
8
9Their music is often very fast and technical, often using [[UncommonTime unusual rhythms and meters]], synth and guitar solo trade-offs, sweeping keyboard orchestrations, and long instrumental interludes. Lyrically, a lot of their songs and albums often reference or are based on classic literature, and the band has recently trended to having their albums be [[ConceptAlbum based on some unifying theme]].
10
11From ''The Odyssey'' onward, all of their albums have been recorded and produced at guitarist and composer Michael Romeo's personal studio, The Dungeon.
12
13Frontman Russell Allen has also been a member of two {{supergroup}}s: Music/AllenLande with Jørn Lande, and Music/AllenOlzon with Music/AnetteOlzon.
14----
15!!Discography:
16* ''[[SelfTitledAlbum Symphony X]]'' (1994)
17* ''The Damnation Game'' (1995)
18* ''The Divine Wings of Tragedy'' (1997)
19* ''Twilight in Olympus'' (1998)
20* ''Prelude to the Millennium'' (compilation, 1999)
21* ''[[ConceptAlbum V: The New Mythology Suite]]'' (2000)
22* ''Live on the Edge of Forever'' (live album, 2001)
23* ''The Odyssey'' (2002)
24* ''Paradise Lost'' (2007)
25* ''[[ConceptAlbum Iconoclast]]'' (2011)
26* ''Underworld'' (2015)
27
28----
29!! Current Members:
30* "Sir" Russell Allen - vocals (1995-)
31* Michael Romeo - guitar (1994-)
32* Michael Lepond - bass (2000-)
33* Michael Pinnella - keyboards (1994-)
34* Jason Rullo - drums (1994-1998, 2000-)
35
36!! Former Members:
37* Rod Tyler - vocals (1994)
38* Thomas Miller - bass (1994-2000)
39* Thomas Walling - drums (1998-2000)
40
41----
42!! Symphony X provides examples of the following tropes:
43
44* AliceAllusion: "Through the Looking Glass".
45* ArcNumber:
46** Five on ''V: The New Mythology Suite'' (hence the name).
47** Also, nine (and three) for ''Underworld''.
48* CallBack: The main melody of ''The Divine Wings of Tragedy'''s title song returns at the end of "Revelation".
49* TheChosenOne: The child (Ma'at) in the story of ''V: The New Mythology Suite''.
50* ChronologicalAlbumTitle: ''V: The New Mythology Suite''
51* ConceptAlbum: ''V: The New Mythology Suite'', ''Iconoclast'', and arguably ''Paradise Lost''. ''Underworld'' is looking to be one based ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'', judging from the band's announcement.
52* ContinuityNod: "Revelation (Divus Pennae ex Tragoedia)", as noted above, is based on (and has many references to) "The Divine Wings of Tragedy".
53* DarkIsEvil: ''V: The New Mythology Suite'' uses this heavily.
54* {{Determinator}}: Used quite often throughout their discography, given the Romanticist nature of their songs, but most notable on "Accolade II", with each verse and the chorus ending with lines show casing epic macho resolve.
55* DarkerAndEdgier: Their music became much heavier throughout their discography. Compare some of their songs from ''The Divine Wings of Tragedy'' to their newer work, such as ''Paradise Lost'' and especially ''Iconoclast''. ''Underworld'' somehow managed to go even further in this direction thanks to prominent death metal elements on multiple songs.
56* EpicInstrumentalOpener: Used very frequently, especially in their [[EpicRocking longer songs]]
57* EpicRocking: Lots of it. Their more notable examples are:
58** "A Lesson Before Dying" from their self-titled album is 12:07.
59** "The Edge of Forever" from ''The Damnation Game'' is nearly nine minutes.
60** "The Accolade" is 9:51 and "The Divine Wings of Tragedy" is 20:42, both from ''The Divine Wings of Tragedy''.
61** "Church of the Machine" and "Through the Looking Glass" from ''Twilight in Olympus'' are 8:57 and 13:06, respectively.
62** "Rediscovery (Part II) - The New Mythology" from ''V: The New Mythology Suite'' is 12:01.
63** ''The Odyssey'''s title track is their longest song to date, running at 24 minutes.
64** "Revelation (Divus Pennae ex Tragoedia)" from ''Paradise Lost'' is 9:17.
65** ''Iconoclast'''s title track is 10:53. "When All Is Lost" is 9:10 and "Reign in Madness" is 8:37, both from the same album.
66** "To Hell and Black" from ''Underworld'' is 9:23.
67* GenreMashup: Not evident with their first two albums, but after ''The Divine Wings of Tragedy'', their catalogue showed a mixture of influences ranging from the standard progressive and metal fair to more obscure influences like thrash metal, symphonic, classical and even a bit of jazz.
68* GratuitousLatin:
69** Two song titles: "Revelation (Divus Pennae ex Tragoedia)", whose subtitle and parts of its melody are based on "The Divine Wings of Tragedy"; and "Oculus ex Inferni". The Latin is not quite accurate.
70*** "Divus Pennae ex Tragoedia" is meant to mean "Divine Wings of Tragedy", as per a previous album of the same name, but "divus pennae" breaks the noun-adjective agreement rule (the adjective "divus" must agree with the noun "pennae", which is an a-stem), and "ex Tragoedia", literally meaning "out of tragedy", suggests that the wings are the outcome of tragedy. Two potential corrections would be "Divinae Pennae Tragoediae" or "Divae Pennae Tragoediae".
71*** "Oculus ex Inferni" could be taken to mean "Eye from Hell" or "Eye from the Inhabitants of Hell". If the band intended the former, then a correction would be "Oculus ex Inferno". If the latter, then "Oculus ex Infernis" is another option.
72** Several tracks on ''V: The New Mythology Suite'' have Latin lyrics.
73* GratuitousPanning: When you own your own recording studio, why not?
74* HeavyMithril: They seem to have a liking for Greek Mythology as evidenced by ''Twilight in Olympus'' and the title track of ''The Odyssey''. ''Iconoclast'' has sci-fi themes.
75* {{Instrumentals}}: Several. "Into the Dementia" from ''Symphony X'', "Sonata" from ''Twilight in Olympus'', "Transcendence (Segue)" and "On the Breath of Poseidon (Segue)" from ''V: The New Mythology Suite'', and "Oculus ex Inferni" from ''Paradise Lost''.
76* LargeHam: Sir Russell Allen.
77* LastOfHerKind: The child in ''V: The New Mythology Suite'''s story is the only survivor of Atlantis. [[spoiler:Then she dies.]]
78* LeadBassist: Michael [=LePond=] is a Type A.
79* LeadDrummer: Jason Rullo is renowned for his technical skill and was actually called to audition for Dream Theater, though his response was along the lines of "thanks, but no thanks".
80* LongRunnerLineup: Type 2; they have not had a single lineup change since [=LePond=] joined and Rullo rejoined in 2000.
81* MachineWorship: A major theme in ''Church of the Machine'' and the whole ''Iconoclast'' album. Of all songs from the latter, it's most apparent with ''Electric Messiah''.
82* MetalScream: All over the place. Russell Allen is fond of them.
83* MythologyGag: The lyrics to "Nevermore" contain three references to their third album, ''The Divine Wings of Tragedy''.
84* NewSoundAlbum:
85** Starting with ''Paradise Lost'', they began to lose some of their neoclassical and progressive influences and took on a harder-edged metal sound.
86** One could even say that this started with ''The Odyssey", as their music got a bit heavier with this release in comparison to their previous works.
87* OneSteveLimit: Thoroughly averted with three Michaels in the lineup.
88* PendulumOfDeath: "King of Terrors" is essentially a musical retelling and summary of "Literature/ThePitAndThePendulum". Its second verse tackles this trope:
89-->''Awake again - paralyzed\
90I'm shackled to this altar\
91sacrificed to their God\
92'Inch by Inch and Line by Line'\
93The Blade - descending lost in time\
94The fiends of Doom they call my name\
95I slip away...into black I fade away''
96* PowerMetal
97* PrecisionFStrike: "Dehumanized". "Hit the switch, you ''son of a '''bitch'''''!"
98* ProgressiveMetal
99* RockMeAmadeus:
100** "The Divine Tragedy" quotes Bach's "Mass in B-minor" and Music/GustavHolst's "Mars, Bringer of War" from ''The Planets Suite''.
101** ''V: The New Mythology Suite'' contains quotes from Verdi and Mozart's Requiems, Bach's "Concerto for Harpsichord in D minor" and the {{cantata}} "Ich habe meine Zuversicht", and Béla Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra.
102* RockOpera: ''V: The New Mythology Suite'' is about the fall of Atlantis.
103* RuleOfSeven: The song "Seven" is the seventh song on their seventh album ''Paradise Lost'' (not counting the album's intro) and lasts for roughly seven minutes.
104* {{Sequel}}: ''Accolade II''.
105* ShoutOut:
106** Possible as ''Iconoclast'' appears to have [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Imperium Dreadnoughts]] [[http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51LXh+U8+-L.jpg on the back.]]
107** The Odyssey quotes the main theme from [[Music/GustavHolst Uranus]].
108*** The opening of "The Divine Wings of Tragedy" is also a quote of "Mars" from the same orchestral suite.
109* SpinOff: ''Paradise Lost'' can be seen as this to ''The Divine Wings of Tragedy'''s title track.
110* StageNames: Russel's nickname could count as he was credited under the nickname for a guest appearance on another band's live album.
111* SymphonicMetal: Incorporated quite frequently, notably on "The Odyssey" which has several mostly-orchestral breaks, and "Occulus Ex Inferni".
112* TruckDriversGearChange: For a Metal band, they pull these every now and then. They usually occur in the repetition of the last chorus.
113** Examples are: "Through the Looking Glass", "Candlelight Fantasia", "Lady of the Snow", "Paradise Lost" (twice), "The Sacrifice", "Revelation (Divus Pennae ex Tragoedia)" (inverted), "Iconoclast", "The End of Innocence" (inverted), and "Swan Song".
114** "Set the World on Fire (The Lie of Lies)" seems to do this as well since its last chorus is played half-step higher than the first two; however, the end of the song is played in the same key as the intro and the verses.
115* TitleDrop: While it's typical for a song's title to appear in the lyrics, it crops up unexpectedly near the end of ''The Odyssey'' in a manner reminiscent of a TitleDrop.
116* UncommonTime:
117** Used heavily in a very large chunk of their discography. Heck, there isn't a single song on ''The Odyssey'' that ''doesn't'' have this at some point.
118** One of the more ridiculous examples can be found in "The Accolade", which, at one point has a 6/4 bell melody, a 7/8 chime melody, a 5/4 violin melody, a very different 5/4 piano melody, a 12/4 guitar melody, and an 11/4 drum beat and bass melody, '''all at the same time'''.
119* VillainSong: "Pharao" (from ''Divine Wings of Tragedy''), "Orion (The Hunter)" (from ''Twilight in Olympus''), and "Fallen" (from ''V - The New Mythology Suite'') are early examples. The later albums mostly consist of villain songs, e.g. "Set the World On Fire (The Lie of Lies)", "Domination", "Serpent's Kiss", and "Seven" on ''Paradise Lost'' alone.
120* YukiOnna: "Lady of the Snow" is inspired by the myth of the Yuki-onna, describing a beautiful, pale woman dressed in white who seduces the singer as he tries and fails to resist her deadly charms. The intro and outro also feature Japanese-inspired instrumentation in reference to the myth's origin.

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