Symphony X The Odyssey

I own most of Symphony X's albums now and I have to say this is my personal favourite. Where some of the other albums can feel a bit "samey" or a bit too heavy, or too light, this album seems to find the right balance perfectly. Credit goes out to Michael Pinella for the stunningly superb classical aspects to the albums - especially the humungous intersessions during the final 24 min epic song based on Homers "The Oddysey". Michael Romeo seems to have come up with a whole range of new riffs and solo's which makes a refreshing change, and Russel Allen's vocals are in top notch form, despite being slightly mixed into the background. This was the last album before the band went a bit too dark and gritty for my liking - but everybody has different tastes, esepcially when it comes to prog metal - but this is definately the pinicle of the genre in my book.