MICHAEL ROMEO – War Of The Worlds // PT. 1

It should come as no surprise that Symphony X’s longtime guitarist and songwriter’s solo album sounds a lot like Symphony X. Whether that’s good or bad is up to the listener. On War Of The Worlds, Part 1, shredder extraordinaire Michael Romeo is right at home in Progressive Metal territory. The guitar solos are numerous and perhaps a bit longer than you would find on a Symphony X album. This is to be expected and guitar fans who are hoping for some serious shredding will get exactly what they want.

One nice element of this album is the vocal performance. Rick Castellano’s voice is aggressive when it needs to be, but still capable of delivering a variety of timbres and dimensions. By contrast, Symphony X vocalist Russell Allen has chosen to sing in essentially one style on many of the most recent albums. He has taken some criticism for this, especially since it was a deliberate change from the early Symphony X releases. Castellano uses a nice range of vocal power settings throughout War Of The Worlds, Part 1, and the album is better for it.

The other, perhaps unexpected, element of this release is the heavy use of orchestral parts. Unlike some of Romeo’s Italian counterparts, he chooses to use the large, bombastic orchestral arrangements more as musical interludes between otherwise heavy, raw, traditionally metal bits. This gives the album a nice contrast between light and dark.

Overall, this is an excellent Progressive Power Metal release that will please existing fans of Romeo’s work, guitar shred heads, and just about any fan of Traditional Prog Metal.

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