Best Songs from Symphony X's V: The New Mythology Suite

V: The New Mythology Suite is the fifth studio album by American progressive metal band Symphony X, released on October 10, 2000, through InsideOut Music. The album marked the band's first full-fledged concept album, weaving together the legend of Atlantis with ancient Egyptian mythology, astrology, and ideas drawn from the writings of American clairvoyant Edgar Cayce.

The album also introduced the lineup that would become Symphony X's longest-running configuration, with bassist Michael LePond joining the group and drummer Jason Rullo returning after sitting out Twilight in Olympus Across its 13 interconnected tracks, V blends progressive metal, neoclassical flourishes, symphonic passages, and recurring musical themes into one continuous narrative.

1. Rediscovery, Pt. II (The New Mythology)

   

   This 12-minute epic is undoubtedly the highlight of the album, bringing all of the great elements of Symphony X into this one song, with great transitions from soft piano arrangements to a slightly quirky-sounding guitar riff, as well as many other twists and turns throughout.

2. Egypt

   

   The Middle Eastern themes are kicked up quite a few notches here compared to some of the other songs on the album influenced by such music. This is definitely one of the standout tracks in terms of instrumental technicality, with an amazing guitar solo as the bass also joins in and produces a memorable instrumental break.

3. Communion and the Oracle

   

   A really lovely song with a great atmosphere and absolutely amazing vocals. It's less intense, but still shows the power of Russell Allen's voice. While the song never hits any kind of major escalation, it is extremely good, and the keyboard once again really shines.

4. Evolution (The Grand Design)

   

   Despite the song being fairly straightforward, it is still definitely one of my favourite songs on the album, as the dark tone of the main riff is perfectly contrasted by the majesty of the chorus. An absolutely incredible song in every respect.

5. The Bird Serpent War / Cataclysm

   

   An awesome song with some incredible melodies and many transitions, once again displaying Symphony X's talent for being able to do so much in relatively short periods of time.

6. A Fool's Paradise

   

   The layering and harmonisation of the vocals is really well executed here, making for some amazing sections. This song also has a much bigger focus on the neoclassical sound of their previous album, making this a fairly refreshing track after the much heavier focus on prog and power metal in many of the other songs.

7. Absence of Light

   

   The main riff is great, and as always, the instrumentation is on point, but I find this to be one of the slightly weaker songs on the album, as I don't find anything about it that particularly stands out, even though it still sounds excellent.

8. The Death of Balance / Lacrymosa

   

   I absolutely love the symphonic intro and how it perfectly leads into the guitar taking centre stage. I also appreciate the way it changes in the second half.

9. Fallen

   

   The keyboards have a very mysterious, Middle Eastern sound to them, and the chorus manages to be sufficiently eerie, with some great riffs to back it up. I like the way it calms down in the middle before building right back up to the chorus.

10. On the Breath of Poseidon (Segue)

    

    A cool-sounding interlude, but as with many short instrumental interludes, it doesn't do all that much to impress me.