Symphony X, the power metal maestros helmed by Sir Russell Allen and the amazing six string skills of Michael Romeo are back! Almost four years after the brilliant Iconoclast set new standards for American power metal, Symphony X are thrilled to confirm their brand new album Underworld will be released this Summer. Hitting the shelves on the 24th of July, Underworld will be released through the legendary Nuclear Blast Records.
Crafted in Michael Romeo’s own infamous studio, The Dungeon, the album draws on multiple themes including Dante’s Inferno. Mr Romeo himself takes up the story:
Musically, Underworld has things reminiscent of the bands previous albums but this one definitely has its own individuality. Every element added was in service of the song, so the album flows and becomes a total listening experience from start to finish. Every song is to-the-point and fine-tuned, with us paying a lot of attention to the hooks, voices, riffs, and keeping the interest and the energy high for the entire record. It is heavy and aggressive as fuck when it needs to be, yet soaring and emotional at other times. I think the balance is just right. It had to have all the elements of what we normally would do, just tweaked up a notch and really fine-tuned. You know, industry people have talked about how we’ll never see a complete album again, and that idea. I wanted to defend the reputation of the album, and really try to make Underworld worth listening to as a whole record. It’s what I love about great individual songs, but still an album experience. I don’t want to sound like I’m preaching, but it was a point we wanted to make. It was about the progression of the whole record. It speeds up here and then it dips down here. It all makes sense together, it all works together and it all flows together.
…like the last couple of records, there’s a theme that carries through, without it being storytelling. We try to find something to key in on and get the juices flowing, and here the goal was to find something a little dark but with emotional content. I started looking at Dante, and Orpheus in the underworld, where he’s going to go to Hades or hell to save this girl. So there’s the theme of going to hell and back for something or someone you care about.”
The track listing for Symphony X’s new album Underworld is as follows:
01. Overture
02. Nevermore
03. Underworld
04. Without You
05. Kiss Of Fire
06. Charon
07. Hell And Back
08. In My Darkest Hour
09. Run With The Devil
10. Swansong
11. Legend
A variety of pre-orders for the album are available from the Nuclear Blast online webstore and can be reached on the following link – https://nblast.de/SXUnderworldNB.
Symphony X have released a lyric video for the first song from the album, titled Nevermore, and features many of the traditional elements one might expect from the band, along with some very interesting vocal variation from Sir Russell Allen. Listen for yourselves here:
Further updates from the Symphony X camp including on more songs from Underworld will be reported here as they become available! In the meantime please follow Symphony X on Twitter at @symphonyx.
