It has been a significant time in the offing, but Symphony X fans can finally experience a solo album from legendary guitarist Michael Romeo. Of course, as you might expect from the ambitious guitarist, a simple solo album would never suffice. Instead, Michael has indulged in high concept with a two-part take on ‘War of the worlds’. An epic tale, the first part offers up ten tracks and weighs in at just under hour, allowing plenty of opportunity for Michael to flex his musical muscles.
Opening with the cinematic ‘introduction’, it is clear from the off that this is going to be a gloriously over-the-top venture with lush orchestration and wild-eyed soloing complimenting one another. Drawing on the varied soundtrack work of Jerry Goldsmith, a composer with long links to the sci-fi world, and John Williams, ‘introduction’ sets the scene for one of literature’s greatest showdowns before the ferocious power-metal of ‘fear the unknown’ kicks the album properly into gear. Unsurprisingly erring close to the hard-hitting prog-metal of his day job, ‘fear of the unknown’ is a complex battery with laser guided percussion, fret-burning solos and, taking it all to the stars, Rick Castellano’s pitch-perfect vocals. It segues into the brutal ‘black’, which deftly melds industrial, symphonic and metal elements into an irresistible whole that sounds like Metallica’s black album on conceptual steroids, Rick Castellano once more on hand and delivering a vocal performance that eclipses his peers both in virtuosity and power. This is what you want from prog metal – power and precision in equal measure – and Michael clearly knows the value of tempering his remarkable skills with the simple, unstoppable power of the riff. Keeping things innovative, ‘Fucking robots’ takes a Skrillex-sized sledgehammer to Holst to deliver a titanium-plated track that edges in and out of industrial-strength dubstep territory with impressive ease. The closest parallel of a rock band synthesising modern elements with such aplomb, and with so little compromise, would be Bowie’s woefully underrated ‘earthling’, and, as with Bowie, Michael is not afraid to take those elements he wants from contemporary music, without feeling the need to smother his own work in them. The first half concludes with the Eastern-influenced ‘Djinn’, a dark, blisteringly heavy track awash with spice and a sense of the unknown. Focusing very much on the rich orchestration, ‘Djinn’ is a flawlessly executed example of cinematic metal and it’s impossible not to find your imagination racing as the evocative soundscapes unfold.
It is unthinkable that so epic a tale could unfold without some form of tender-hearted ballad and this arrives in the form of ‘Believe’, a suitably epic piece of work that echoes the work of the late James Horner before everything is stripped back to the bare bones, Michael tapping into the rich vein of emotion to which Dream Theater aspired on ‘the astonishing’, but rarely hit with such devastating accuracy. With such tenderness dutifully despatched, Michael unleashes a complex battery of prog-metal riffing on the compelling ‘Differences’, and if the track maintains a strong melody throughout, it’s certainly not to the detriments of Michael’s intense shredding. An electro-orchestral interlude, the short, pummelling ‘war machine’ is a neo-classical delight that takes John Williams and infuses it with a core of gleaming steel. It segues directly into the unstoppable ‘oblivion’, a none-more-brutal track that leaves the listener dazed and breathless as the album races towards its conclusion. It leaves only the autumnal ‘constellations’, a hybrid ballad that takes the darker strains of James Horner and filters them through a mix of Devin Townsend and Jeff Wayne. It’s not always the case that a two-part tale is able to finish on such a climactic note, and it bodes well for the second part that Michael was able to maintain such a tight grasp on quality across the course of the record.
Over the years, the phrase ‘cinematic’ to describe music has become somewhat overused. However, in this case the term is entirely apt and Michael has created a remarkably dense mix of evocative orchestration and punishingly heavy metal. With a strong conceptual theme, perfectly suited to the bombastic approach Michael has taken, ‘War of the Worlds / Pt. 1’ has it all – a tightly plotted story line, insanely memorable melodies and a gloriously over-the-top production that feels entirely in-keeping with the theme. The orchestral arrangements are first rate throughout, evoking memories of the great sci-fi epics, and the result is a sense of grand spectacle rarely heard on record. Stunning on every level, Michael Romeo’s first solo album is a masterpiece that combines style and substance into an effortlessly beguiling whole. Prog metal in excelsis, ‘War of the worlds / Pt. 1’ is everything you could want from such an album. 9
