After five years of silence, surely the interest in a new Symphony X album will be big. This time is absolutely enough for creating a nifty production, and for presenting it in a better point of view. “Paradise Lost” is really impressing, but it is not quite the release expected by media and fans. The fabulous feeling comes from the great sound, the variety in the compositions, the interesting arrangements, but there isn’t any light of surprise and the hope for something unprecedented does not fall short of the expectations. Anyway, If you don’t have such expectations, you will find the album perfect in every other paragraph - musicianship to overzealousness, melodic to craziness! In “Paradise Lost” there is that Symphony X trademark sound, based on the tough strength of the bass and the drums, which are mixed in perfect synchronicity. It is not necessary to say that the songs are complex and full of links to symphonic metal and its power “brother”, because this is also a part of the typical sound of the band. There are links to the old songs, too, played and sung with an impressing punch. Progressive power metal is a good definition for the content of the whole album, but this doesn’t make it simple and straightforward in no way, despite the first part in the name of the genre. “Paradise Lost” cares a misleading title, and these associations must be forgotten before its first hearing. This is an album that will make many of the band’s fans happy, as well as the people who like the style, because it’s a modern sound and instrumental technique textbook. The rest will be pleased, too, however only if they leave their illusions for an imposing content after the long wait.