MUSIC After overseas success, Symphony X comes home

The band of American musicians is on its first U.S. tour after wowing Japan, Europe and South America.
By MATT PEIKEN
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
The guys in Symphony X never took to heart the chorus of Grand Funk Railroad's classic rock hit "We're an American Band."
They never came to your town and they certainly didn't party down. Instead, the progressive metal band from New Jersey recorded and released four albums without performing a single show. When they finally emerged from their self-imposed hermitage with instruments in hand, the only people ready to embrace them lived half a world away.
With fans filling theaters and large clubs to see Symphony X in Japan, Europe and South America, the band saw little reason to take on the challenges of winning people in the United States.
"We didn't try to become big in Japan or any other country, but people like our records over there, so we rode that wave," says founding guitarist Michael Romeo. "Here, what you hear on the radio is different sometimes from what people like, almost like you're forced to like something because you hear it 10 million times. We wanted to get stuff happening, but we just came to the realization what we do goes over better overseas."
Sixth album
Romeo sees that changing with "The Odyssey," Symphony X's sixth album and only the second to see American distribution. After performing only a handful of shows around the East Coast, Symphony X is launching its first full U.S. tour.
It's not as if pop cultural tides here have turned to the hallmarks of this genre -- complex arrangements, deft musicianship and epic songs of majestic, mystical subject matter. From bands in the '70s such as Rush and Yes, to Queensryche in the '80s to reigning kings Dream Theater, prog-rock has always had a small but dedicated core of smart, computer-literate, male-heavy American fans.
Romeo doesn't cozy close to the label of progressive rock because, he says, it's too narrow to encompass Symphony X. Piano, keyboards and orchestrated string parts sit next to soaring vocals and the crunch of guitars in the Symphony X mix.
"For the younger kids, progressive has a different meaning than older guys might give it," he says. "Each album and song is very different -- we'll have big artsy, orchestral sections with piano and acoustic guitar, and then there's the new record, which is very aggressive. People who think we're progressive listen to the new album and go 'Oh wow, this is heavy.'"
Others noticed
Symphony X turned heads on other continents with every prog-metal group's rite of passage, a concept album. "V: The New Mythology Suite" is based on legends of Atlantis, ancient Egyptian mythology, astrology and the clairvoyant readings of Edgar Cayce. Romeo drove Symphony X to return to the more riff-based metal of its roots for "The Odyssey." He wanted to retain the melody that had become a band trademark, but layer more concrete into the foundation, to match the ferocity of bands that often share stages with Symphony X.
"If you go to Europe, you can hear Judas Priest and Black Sabbath on the radio all the time. Metal bands are always playing there and there are all kinds of festivals," Romeo says, adding that his band recently performed a festival in Italy with Slayer and Manowar. "The last album was intricate and had all these interesting things happening, but we just wanted to get back to something more in-your-face. It's fun sometimes to just crank up the amp and bust it out."
Started in Japan
Romeo grew up in South Amboy, N.J., idolizing metallic heroes such as Tony MacAlpine and Paul Gilbert. He sent a demo tape of songs to Guitar World magazine, which ran a small profile of Romeo. An executive at a Japanese record label who saw the profile called Romeo and asked him to put together a band that could write and perform more music of the style on the demo tape.
In 1994, Romeo stitched together a band and recorded the first Symphony X record within a few months. It took three albums, he says, for the band to feel comfortable with its artistic direction.
"Just growing up here, all we ever did was play around town. There weren't any recording studio or albums being put out or anything legitimate by any bands," Romeo says. "It was just schlepping your equipment to a gig and playing and not getting any money. So here was this label giving us money to record and we just stepped into that mode. We also felt we needed time to get our identity as a band."
XSymphony X will be at Peabody's Down Under in Cleveland Dec. 6.