Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost is Symphony X's seventh album, on which they fused progressive construction with dark heaviness to deepen their expression. A concept album loosely inspired by John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost, it restrains the early neoclassical elements and steps into their heaviest, most aggressive sound yet. Reaching No. 123 on the US Billboard 200, it is an important work that marked the band's first chart entry. Released in June 2007 through Inside Out Music, it topped Billboard's Heatseekers chart. From "Set the World on Fire," led by the solemn instrumental "Oculus Ex Inferni," to the weighty "Domination" and "Serpent's Kiss," which got a video, sharp riffs and big choruses line up. Russell Allen drives the songs with a somewhat rawer voice, and Michael Romeo's thick guitar dominates the whole record. Building one of the band's commercial peaks, it is a powerful album. Mixed at Fascination Street Studios in Sweden, it achieves the thickest production of their career to that point.