SYMPHONY X Frontman: 'The Social Media Component Is Enslaving The Population'

Darryl Smyers of the Dallas Observer recently conducted an interview with singer Russell Allen of North America's progressive metal masterminds SYMPHONY X. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Dallas Observer: Your band has always been more successful in Europe and Asia, just like a lot of other metal acts. Why is that the case?

Russell: Metal is taken seriously in those places by whole generations. Here, we become a victim of trends and we want to subdivide everything and categorize everything. What was your dad's band isn't culturally relevant anymore. That's what it is here, the flavor of the month. We want what's hot now and we don't care if it was good five weeks ago. That's the mentality. The rest of the world is totally different. They stick with something. They love it. They pass it along to their younger friends and family. Metal is like a family affair. It can be that way in America, too, but the scene is way oversaturated.

Dallas Observer: The band tackles some major literary works. Is there a reason why you choose to write music based on epic works?

Russell: It obviously creates an interesting soundscape when you have great literature to reference. Those messages are timeless. Some may argue they are cliché, but I believe firmly they are timeless and true.There's love, there's loss and there's betrayal. There are all the primal human emotions. Attached to these tales are the consequences of these characters who succumb to these emotions. It's a lot for people to chew on. I didn't read this stuff growing up, but I did know about it. I'm a big fan of themes because themes carry on. For example, there's a lot of "Paradise Lost" in "Star Wars". There are these melodramas playing out that have already been told in great literature. There's a link between Odysseus and Luke Skywalker. These are classic tales that inspire us and we tell these stories in our own way.

Dallas Observer: With "Iconoclast", you moved away from literature and addressed a future world where machines control everything. Is the album kind of a soundtrack to the "Terminator" movies?

Russell: You could say that. When you say machines, you can think one-dimensionally, but technology really goes beyond machines. It's about genetic food altering. It's going to make or break us. The album is about the uncertainty of our future and whether or not technology will be our savior or our demise. We've let the genie out of the bottle. Everyone is on Facebook and everyone is on Twitter. The social media component is enslaving the population. It's already happening. That's a real thing that can cause a huge pitfall in someone's life.

Read the entire interview from Dallas Observer.