Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost is the seventh studio album by progressive metal band Symphony X, released on June 26, 2007 through Inside Out Music. It is a concept album loosely inspired by John Milton's 1667 epic poem Paradise Lost. The album was the band's first to chart on the U.S. Billboard 200, reaching No. 123 and remaining on that chart for a week, as well as reaching No. 1 on Billboards Heatseekers and the top 100 in five other countries. Overview Style The album's release had been delayed numerous times since the announcement on November 16, 2005 that the band was going to "start pulling it all together". In a fan club chat on March 18, 2006, guitarist and main songwriter Michael Romeo said that the album will be "a bit darker—the direction is still the same—for the most part", and went on to say that "the classical stuff was getting to a point where we need to evolve the music a bit. There is still a lot of classic influence in there—not as obvious as '[Out of the] Ashes', say". He went on to suggest that there may be a song or songs on the album themed around the works of H. P. Lovecraft, and that there would be "A big tune on here ... Paradise Lost is the theme as of now", lending rumor to the title of the album. In August 2006, some preliminary cover art was leaked on the internet, confirming suspicions that the title of the album would be the same as the song "Paradise Lost". This leaked album art, which was initially categorized by the band as only "preliminary" artwork, was later revealed to be the official artwork, with the full panorama (including the back cover) being made available on the official Symphony X website on May 12, 2007.