Symphony X - Underworld

Published August 16 2015

*=Staff's pick	Overture Nevermore Underworld Without You Kiss Of Fire Charon Hell And Back* In My Darkest Hour Run With The Devil Swan Song Legend

Genre	Progressive Heavy Metal	Russell Allen	Vocals
Tracks	11	Michael Romeo	Guitar
Running time	64 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Nuclear Blast	Michael Lepond	Bass
Release	July 24, 2015	Jason Rullo	Drums
Country	USA	Michael Pinnella	Keyboard
Producer	Michael Romeo
Similar artists	---

When I listen to Underworld, I can't say that I feel hit by an overwhelming wall of sound. Yet it is a quite powerful and pretty progressive experience that's coming at me. Partially it's also kind of heavy and quite speedy and even if its natural direction is solid, the band is still able to come out with a diverse record. It's not overly technical, but at the same time they definitely like to add a little extra to the music with some complex stuff.

The record is overall pretty nice to listen to, but the lack of really awesome and accurate melodies and songs is evident and therefore this release in the end somehow becomes just a record of many. Don't get me wrong, because I like what I hear, but it just doesn't have the final touch to make it rocket to the skies. Russell Allen once again manages to handle his vocal duties really well, even if I think that he has been involved with so many different projects and bands in the recent years that I occasionally feel a little tired of his voice.

Underworld will ultimately neither make this unit more popular, nor will it harm the band in any way and Symphony X will probably stay at this quite satisfactory level in the world of heavy music. It's not good or catchy enough to meet the bigger masses' requirements, but still it's a genuine and a rather good piece of work to make the fans want to keep following this progressive outfit in a distant future.