'Paradise Lost' marks another quality offering from Symphony X. This is probably the bands' most straight forward, heaviest album to date; they focus less on keyboards and orchestral phrases, and more on heavy guitar riffing. As usual Michael Romeo and crew all sound as tight as ever; not many bands can touch these guys when it comes to pure musicianship. The only thing lacking here is the overall melody and epic feeling that was present on the last few releases. With that aside, this disc is chock full of enough killer riffs and blistering solos to please any metal head.
"Set the World on Fire" is a top highlight here and maybe one of their best overall rockers. The distortion and riffing is razor sharp, and you can hear a little Maiden influence in the chorus with the galloping rhythm. It is also the catchiest song on here with its flowing chorus. The riff accompanying the time change at 5:07 is brutal and I wish they would have expanded on that a little more. "Domination" rocks with unpredictable time changes, and has some nice groove-based riffing and plenty of leads. The title track is a nice change of pace as it slows things down, and is very atmospheric and moves nicely.
Other highlights are sprinkled throughout, and overall this offering will please Symphony X's long time fans as it is fairly consistent with the past material; it is also a step forward in some respects. They now have to be considered one of the top American metal bands of the past 10 years as they consistently crank out quality material every time.

TRACK LIST:
1. Oculus Ex Inferni
2. Set the World on Fire
3. Domination
4. Serpent's Kiss
5. Paradise Lost
6. Eve of Seduction
7. The Walls of Babylon
8. Seven
9. The Sacrifice
10. Revelation (Divus Pennae Ex Tragoedia)

Review by Paul Jackson