How can a band live up to the demands and quality of one of the best albums ever written. I'm talking about "The Divine Wings of Tragedy", the previous release from Symphony X. With that album they showed the world how music shall be done. When "Twilight" came, I had a feeling that it was gonna be a weak shade of "The Divine". And how quickly it was released, since the band went directly to the studio instead of touring. I had heard clips of two songs before I got my hands on the album, tracks 1 and 4. I thought those were absolutely fantastic, so I had a good feeling when I pushed the play button on my CD-player with "Twilight In Olympos" in it.

As usual this monster band hasn't put one bad song on the album. This is progressive metal with a fist right in your face. "Sonata" is a classical piece based on a theme from Ludwig van Beethoven. It can be seen as an intro the track 4. After hearing this beautiful, slow motion song there's an explosion in the shape of a drum fill from the now former drummer Tom Walling. Another detail on this album is verse 2 of "Orion – The Hunter". Here they've inserted the exact thing verse from "The Raging Season" of the first Symphony X album. The highlight of the album is yet the epic track "Through the Looking Glass". It's only 13 minutes long (which really isn't long for being Symphony X). The song has this mystery feel to it, with the theme of Alice in Wonderland. One of the best songs this year... There's a ballad like song in the end, just as on "The Divine...". "Lady of the Snow", a really good song. Not as good as "Candlelight Fantasia" though. But what is...

Another good thing about the album is that it's only 52 minutes long. I don't know about you, but I see that as a positive thing, 'cause it make the whole thing more easy listening. There should have been a title track, with a length of around 20 minutes, but that one had to be left out because of the time pressure. It will problably come on the next one.

One of the best albums of –98, and there should really be any doubt. Just rush to the stores and get it...

Following the path explored in their 3 previous albums, Symphony X ventures further in their own unique definition of neo-classical (speed) metal. With their previous release "Divine Wings of Tragedy", the standard was set extremely high, so doing at least as good was a thorny task. Symphony X fulfilled it brilliantly, even if the style underwent some slight shifts. Their music is still dominated by the powerful hacked and syncopated riffs of Romeo, but their purely neo-classical melodies have been partially replaced by more progressive tunes. The band also abandoned the frequent use of choirs of the previous albums, loosing by the way the medieval features. All the musicians still display as amazing skills as ever, but their incredible virtuosity is never vain or boring. On the overall, one can say that "Twilight in Olympus" doesn't possess the genius of "Divine Wings of Tragedy", yet it is still a masterpiece of the genre.