SYMPHONY X Singer: 'We Have Always Had A Problem In Getting Albums Completed In A Timely Way'

TheyWillRockYou.com recently conducted an interview with vocalist Russell Allen of North America's progressive metal masterminds SYMPHONY X before the band's April 23, 2011 concert at The Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

TheyWillRockYou.com: SYMPHONY X is known for having some very unique album covers on past albums. Did you use the same artist Warren Flanagan for "Iconoclast"?

Russell: Yes, we did, another genius of an artist like Jens. We are very fortunate in that because we create very artistic, very grand in nature (both lyrically and musically) music, it attracts all kinds of people from the entertainment industry. Warren has been the lead artist for films like "I, Robot", "Watchmen", "2012", "X-Men: The Last Stand" and many others. Warren is also a big SYMPHONY X fan. We just give him an image of what the music is and what we are thinking and he gives us back a Hollywood-level interpretation of the music visually; It's stunning. I'm always amazed at his work. He does it all by hand using a digital brush. He is our good-luck charm.

TheyWillRockYou.com: "Iconoclast" is your first album with Nuclear Blast. How has that relationship been so far?

Russell: It's been great; they are very enthusiastic. They are pushing us a lot harder than we have been used to, so that's exciting too. They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but we're happy to learn! They are happy to provide us every opportunity that they possibly can to be successful. We're an interesting group because we are far from the new kids on the block but we are also not the oldest either. We are at a very crucial point in our career and it's awesome to have the kind of support from Nuclear Blast who really loves what we are doing and truly believes in us. It looks as if they are willing to take that extra step to help the band get bigger and grow more. That's an important aspect at this stage in our careers to keep growing.

TheyWillRockYou.com: Based on the imagery I have seen online, "Iconoclast" seems to have a theme of technology and machines and how they affect us in our daily lives. Is this a fair assessment?

Russell: It's dead on; it's totally centered around that one theme and it touches upon everything from social networking to an unmanned military "Terminator" sort of scenario where we take ourselves out of the equation in military action which I think is very frightening. The big computers finding out how far man's intelligence goes before it finds out that it's alive. That's the basis for the song "Prometheus (I Am Alive)". We are kind of pushing the boundary for what we normally do with this because (for the most part) we have centered around classic literature, or mythology or events from the past. Now we are looking to the future which is a new thing for us. There are lots of industrial sounds in the music which is also something we have never done before. So it's still SYMPHONY X still doing what we do but adding a new color to the canvas sort of speak by allowing us to produce this very modern futuristic sort of theme.

TheyWillRockYou.com: We live in a society that feeds off of instant gratification. Does it concern you and the other members of SYMPHONY X that the average length of time between your last few albums has been about four years?

Russell: It has made it difficult to move up the ladder. We have always had a problem in getting albums completed in a timely way. It's mostly due to perfectionism. Both Michael [Romeo, guitar] and I are perfectionists. We ran into a few unforeseen problems this time around which did delay things even more than normal. We are not trying to be too crazy about picking part each track this time around and how perfect it had to sound. Perfect for us doesn't mean the perfect pitch or the perfect timing but more that it feels right. Perfectionism would be different for everyone, I think, but for us it is that it feels right. It sucks because we want to get albums out and tour and give our fans more of what they want, but at the same time we have to be happy ourselves with the finished product. We are not the kind of band that can tour and write; it's impossible. Mike needs his time to write the music and I need my time also to see what direction we are heading in. We are already talking about a few ideas I have for the next record in terms of what the theme would be. We do realize and want to get a new product out there in a timely manner so we can keep the ball rolling this time and we have a good momentum going I don't want to lose that due to inactivity.

Read the entire interview from TheyWillRockYou.com.