The Odyssey is the sixth studio album by progressive metal

Progressive metal

Progressive metal is a subgenre of heavy metal originating in the United Kingdom and North America in the late 1980s...

 band Symphony X

Symphony X

Symphony X is an American progressive metal band from Middletown, New Jersey.Founded in 1994 by guitarist Michael Romeo, their albums The Divine Wings of Tragedy and V: The New Mythology Suite have given the band considerable attention within the progressive metal community...

. It was the first to be recorded entirely at guitarist Michael Romeo's home studio. The fourth track, "Accolade II," is a sequel to "The Accolade" from The Divine Wings of Tragedy

The Divine Wings of Tragedy

The Divine Wings of Tragedy is the third studio album by progressive metal band Symphony X, released in 1997.-Track listing:-Allusions:...

. The album (in particular the track "Awakenings") is heavily influenced by the band Kansas

Kansas (band)

Kansas is an American rock band that became popular in the 1970s initially on Album-Oriented Rock charts, and later with hit singles such as "Carry On Wayward Son" and "Dust in the Wind"...

. The eighth track is the album's grand finale: a 24-minute musical take on Homer's

Homer

In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...

 "The Odyssey" about the journey of Greek

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

 hero

Hero

A hero , in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, their cult being one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion...

 Odysseus

Odysseus

Odysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....

.

Track listing

1. "Inferno (Unleash the Fire)" – 5:33 (Romeo, Allen)
2. "Wicked" – 5:33 (Romeo, Allen)
3. "Incantations of the Apprentice" – 4:22 (Romeo, Allen)
4. "Accolade II" – 7:54 (Romeo, Pinnella, Lepond, Allen)
5. "King of Terrors" – 6:20 (Romeo, Pinnella, Allen, Rullo)
6. "The Turning" – 4:45 (Romeo, Lepond, Allen)
7. "Awakenings" – 8:22 (Romeo, Pinnella, Lepond, Allen)
8. "The Odyssey" – 24:14
   1. "Part I - Odysseus
      Odysseus
      Odysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
      
      ' Theme/Overture" (Romeo)
   2. "Part II - Journey to Ithaca
      Ithaca
      Ithaca or Ithaka is an island located in the Ionian Sea, in Greece, with an area of and a little more than three thousand inhabitants. It is also a separate regional unit of the Ionian Islands region, and the only municipality of the regional unit. It lies off the northeast coast of Kefalonia and...
      
      " (Romeo, Allen)
   3. "Part III - The Eye" (Romeo)
   4. "Part IV - Circe
      Circe
      In Greek mythology, Circe is a minor goddess of magic , described in Homer's Odyssey as "The loveliest of all immortals", living on the island of Aeaea, famous for her part in the adventures of Odysseus.By most accounts, Circe was the daughter of Helios, the god of the sun, and Perse, an Oceanid...
      
       (Daughter of the Sun)" (Romeo)
   5. "Part V - Siren
      Siren
      In Greek mythology, the Sirens were three dangerous mermaid like creatures, portrayed as seductresses who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. Roman poets placed them on an island called Sirenum scopuli...
      
      s" (Romeo)
   6. "Part VI - Scylla
      Scylla
      In Greek mythology, Scylla was a monster that lived on one side of a narrow channel of water, opposite its counterpart Charybdis. The two sides of the strait were within an arrow's range of each other—so close that sailors attempting to avoid Charybdis would pass too close to Scylla and vice...
      
       and Charybdis
      Charybdis
      Charybdis or Kharybdis was a sea monster, later rationalised as a whirlpool and considered a shipping hazard in the Strait of Messina.-The mythological background:...
      
      " (Romeo)
      1. a) "Gulf of Doom"
      2. b) "Drifting Home"
   7. "Part VII - The Fate of the Suitors / Champion of Ithaca" (Romeo, Lepond)
9. "Masquerade '98" (Limited Edition / Japanese bonus track) – 6:00 (Romeo, Pinnella, Miller, Rullo, Tyler)
10. "Frontiers" (Japanese bonus track) – 4:51

Personnel

• Russell Allen
  Russell Allen
  Russell Allen is the singer of the American progressive metal band Symphony X.-Biography:Before working with a rock band, he was a jouster at a Medieval Times Dinner Theater. He was introduced to the band Symphony X by former singer Rod Tyler...
  
   - vocals
• Michael Romeo
  Michael Romeo
  Since 2005, Romeo has taken advantage of a new custom model, Caparison Dellinger II - Michael Romeo Custom, which he used to record the Symphony X album Paradise Lost...
  
   - guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  s, orchestral keyboards
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
  , and programming
  Programming (music)
  Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices, often sequencers or computer programs, to generate music. Programming is used in nearly all forms of electronic music and in most hip hop music since the 1990s. It is also frequently used in modern pop and rock...
  
  
• Michael Pinnella
  Michael Pinnella
  Michael Pinnella is a keyboard player, most notably for the band Symphony X. He has also released a solo album, a mixture of classical and progressive-styled music titled Enter By the Twelfth Gate on the InsideOut Music label in 2004...
  
   - piano
  Piano
  The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
  
  , keyboards
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
  
• Michael Lepond
  Michael Lepond
  Michael Anthony LePond III is the bass guitar player of the North American progressive metal band Symphony X, and also is the bassist for Dead on Arrival, a heavy metal band from New York. The group issued an album - Alive and Kickin’ - on the independent Polo label in 1996...
  
   - bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Jason Rullo
  Jason Rullo
  Jason Rullo is the drummer for the progressive metal band Symphony X. He has been featured in the Modern Drummer readers' polls. He also performed on the 2003 self-titled album by Redemption, a super group including members of Prymary and Fates Warning...
  
   - drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  

Production

• Produced, Recorded & Engineered By Michael Romeo
• Mixed by Michael Romeo and Steve Evetts
• Mastered by Peter Van T'riet