Symphony North -- New Band

[Knight]

Huge fan of TSO, and always strange to me how few bands like them there are out there. 

But I found this one: Symphony North. I really like them. They have an album out named Father, Christmas. Sounds like it's going to expand, too.

I think you can sample their music here: www.symphonynorth.com 

   

Merry all-year Christmas!

[HeyMcFly79]

Huge fan of TSO, and always strange to me how few bands like them there are out there. 

But I found this one: Symphony North. I really like them. They have an album out named Father, Christmas. Sounds like it's going to expand, too.

I think you can sample their music here: www.symphonynorth.com 



Merry all-year Christmas!

I just discovered them last year,  and ever since,  they've become part of my holiday tradition and music rotation.   They're really amazing and the story is just wonderful.

[Mangar]

I just discovered Symphony North recently.  While they get zero points for originality (they're blatantly trying to be TSO), I do like their "Bell Ringer" album.  Overall, I think it's a stronger effort than the past couple of TSO albums.  My one issue with their songwriting is that it occasionally has a bit TOO much going on, to the point where the song structure sometimes feels a bit random.  But the musicianship is excellent, and the singers are all impressive.  Nice to hear Jody Ashworth on a few tracks again, too.  Since my first TSO album was BLN, he was the guy I associated as the voice of TSO for a long time, despite the fact that I don't think he ever toured with them.
The full album is on Spotify for anyone who's interested in checking it out.

[MikeNY]

I just discovered Symphony North recently.  While they get zero points for originality (they're blatantly trying to be TSO), I do like their "Bell Ringer" album. 

Totally agree here. It sounds so much like a TSO-wannabee. There were a few songs I thought were ok, but this was so unoriginal. I do like Majestica, Gary Hoey and Wizards of Winter Christmas albums though.

[KISSAlien]

I just discovered Symphony North recently.  While they get zero points for originality (they're blatantly trying to be TSO), I do like their "Bell Ringer" album. 

Totally agree here.  It sounds so much like a TSO-wannabee.  There were a few songs I thought were ok, but this was so unoriginal.  I do like Majestica, Gary Hoey and Wizards of Winter Christmas albums though.

The Majestica album starts out great then goes off a cliff about midway through for me. The Wizards are great. They have improved with each album. The latest album is stellar. Gary Hoey hasn't done a new Christmas album in years either but his stuff is fantastic. You also couldn't meet a nicer guy. I have seen him perform dozens of times.

[Mangar]

One issue I'm having with the Symphony North album now is that it's just too long.  I posted my previous reply when I was only about halfway through it, but jeez, this thing just keeps going and going!  In that sense, it suffers the same problem as Night Castle.  Some editing could go a long way to improving both albums.  There's some good music, but it starts to get a bit bogged down by all the excess after a while.