By Vinnie Apicella The multi-talented Prog-Metal masters Symphony-X at long last have landed on American shores with their bold new conceptual masterpiece, "The New Mythology Suite." the fifth in a series of releases which up to now has only been available overseas. In what may well be their shining moment, the New Jersey based band may finally have luck on their side as they embark on their latest journey through the pages of history, where mythology merges with mystery and the real world, a collision of darkness into light which for them currently consists of a gray area settled between time and space. And "V," a transcendental epic creation that rivals many of their European counterparts enjoying perhaps the genre's greatest success in a number of years. Guitarist/Lyricist Michael Romeo, well spoken and schooled in the fine art of yesterday's classics, discusses the late arrival of the band and what it took to finally break through the rigidity of the U.S. market. "We really started out in Japan with the first two albums and then the third album is when the European thing started to happen. We've just been steadily going, trying to tour and get more people into the band. It's all been really good. As far as the states, I know there are people that are interested in our kind of music; It's not the mainstream, but." Definitely not mainstream but there is a certain cyclical element-a free flowing fluidity that captures the essence of the music, ties in smoothly with their concept which ironically enough is based upon the mystery of Atlantis. "With the music we decided to try a concept album because we never really did one before. The first thing we decided before anything with the music was that we didn't want to have just a bunch of songs. that were just songs with the same lyrics. We wanted to have obviously the same lyrical content, but we wanted the music to be continuous and follow the story as closely as it could musically. I think maybe some of the influence for that. is drawn from a Stars Wars type of film score. We wanted to go with that kind of approach. And then the idea of Atlantis came up and we started doing some research to come up with some cool ideas-it was pretty interesting and everybody was pretty intrigued by some of what we found. and it wasn't just about Atlantis. There were also ties to astrology and ties to maybe ancient Egypt, so we had all these interesting things to work with. We also shot for a good vs. evil conflict to base the overall story on. a struggle between the dark and light as the basis of the story but using all of this Atlantean and Egyptian background." So considering all of the latest European acts to build their following through the conceptual storylines-respected bands like Ivory Tower, Rhapsody. Blind Guardian of course, their credentials and their history has been well documented. For the relatively young life of Symphony X, first time visitors to this mythological realm, was there a considerable challenge based upon structuring an album of such magnitude. "It was definitely a band effort," according to Romeo. "We were definitely all on the same page, so to speak. The music. mostly it's myself and the keyboard player (Michael Pinnella) that write most of the music, so I think maybe making the music work and to still have actual songs and to have everything flow together-to keep repeating different themes that had to be repeated without it sounding like we were doing it on purpose. even though we were! (Laughs) But making everything fit within the concept, it was a little challenging but it kept us on our toes a little bit." As big an undertaking as an album like this proves to be, the true test of an album's worth is how it translates from the stereo to the stage, particularly where something this monumental in storyline and scope has to not only capture the true essence of its own character but involve an audience of onlookers. are they prepared to deliver "The New Mythology Suite" in its entirety or is there enough of a sequence of songs in and of themselves to keep with the theme without sparing much of their past work? "What we originally started doing at rehearsals was the whole album," answers Michael. "We worked out the orchestral parts so we could do it live-maybe I would play one of the violin parts and Mike (keyboard) would do a two handed routine or do something else... So we got it all down pretty good but it was too long-especially if we were going to play here we have a lot of other material we want to do. So we decided not to do the whole album but decided the main bulk of the story is from the first song up until about the ninth. It's like really where the most important parts are happening. So we decided to do that much and this way we have a lot of time left for some other material from the other albums. A lot of people haven't heard that stuff either so we'll just try to mix everything all together." Having been around since the early '90s, "V" marks a new working relationship with the Metal Blade label, also home to other such progressive talents as Fates Warning, Kings -X, and Spock's Beard. Is this, the road less traveled for them, somewhere they're comfortable exploring again in the future? "We always try to do something better. We just try to do the best that we can do and hopefully everything comes out okay. From album to album we try to do something a little bit different or add in a different element so it's not just the same stuff every time. In essence it's the same style but like with this album. adding an orchestral thing, which maybe we won't do on the next album. There's really no boundaries; you can always keep adding stuff and bringing in different styles and it'll still work." Not surprisingly, Michael points to the likes of Rush and Kansas as two major influences (and the albums "Hemispheres" and "Masque" respectively) in his approach to music and the many varied influences become very clear within the expanse of "V." Of course the solid foundations which lie at the core of Symphony X remain a constant and to that, Romeo points to one of the reigning kings of heavy metal, Ronnie James Dio and the classic Sabbath opus "Heaven & Hell," while for guitar heroics, he points to such players as Randy Rhoads, Al DiMeola and Uli Jon Roth-not a bad triumvirate of tactical experts from which to base your own development. But aside from progressive practitioners and technical guitar wizardry, does the band find a limited audience upon completion of a given piece of work? "I think anyone who likes music. If you like metal, you'll like the album. If you like progression, you'll like the album. If you're just a fan of good music, good songs, melodies, it has a little bit of everything for everybody. So maybe it'll take a couple of listens to soak it all in but once you do it's like, wow! There's guys I know in Death Metal bands that like Symphony X, and then my Mom. likes Symphony X!" (Laughs) The band is currently making plans to take to the road in support of their newest release although nothing is definite and the foreseeable future is still to be revealed, but at least for now, "The New Mythology Suite" opens a new chapter for the band and should be a welcome relief for empty-pocketed stateside fans anticipating this overdue occurrence. "I know Metal Blade mentioned that they'd like to try to get something happening for a tour," Michael concludes. "So hopefully within the next couple of months we'll see something come up but right now the only plans we have are to tour over in South America and then over to Europe which will bring us into December. Then after the New Year, Japan and maybe back to Europe and maybe over here." Copyright 2000, BallBuster, The Official Int'l Underground Hard Music Report