Epica – Aspiral Review

By Kenstrosity

Since their founding in 2002, Epica garnered my everlasting adoration as my absolute favorite symphonic metal band, followed by other household names like Nightwish and After Forever. However, unlike the overwhelming majority of their ilk, Epica’s music bares sharper teeth, maintains a stronger connection to the greater pantheon of metal and its more extreme fringes, and remains to this day the most consistent in quality album to album. Few symphonic bands celebrating over 20 years of uninterrupted activity exhibit these characteristics. Consequently, my anticipation for Aspiral soars in my trust that Epica could never let me down, grounded by a great anxiety that one day, they just might.

The sigh of relief I let out after my first spin of Aspiral could be heard around the world. Brimming with drama, loaded with hooks, and laser-focused on delivering passionate, energetic songs, Epica’s ninth opus sees every member of this remarkably stable1 Dutch sextet operating in rare form. Running for bang-on one hour, Aspiral follows the classic Epica blueprint: epic, opulent symphonic metal informed by prog and power, and grazed across the cheek by death’s bony phalanges. However, new accoutrements and novel structures showcase a group exploring the boundaries of their sound with a gentle growth indicative of a collective eager to play and learn. While this never leaves any of these 11 songs unrecognizable as an Epica piece by any means, these admittedly light risks allow Aspiral to shine as a late career highlight.

Aspiral, first and foremost, is a triumph of performance in music. As the world already knows, lead siren Simone Simons is a powerhouse, her voice only getting better with time (“Obsidian Heart,” “Apparition,” “The Grand Saga of Existence—A New Age Dawns Part IX”). However, a delightful surprise, Mark Jansen’s immediately recognizable growl and scream rips across the record with a palpable presence and rabid tone (“Metanoia—A New Age Dawns Part XIII,” “Eye of the Storm,” “The Grand Saga of Existence”). Ariën van Weesenbeek’s incredible drumming steals the show all over the place, too, whether in the service of creating additional interest inside breakdowns and riffs (“Arcana”); by driving transitions smoothly between faster freakouts and slower spells (“T.I.M.E.,” “Apparition”); or when manifesting a groovy beat that all but guarantees remembrance (“Obsidian Heart,” “Fight to Survive—The Overview Effect,” “Apparition”). Thankfully, Mark Jansen’s and Isaac Delahaye’s axework keeps up, injecting oodles of fun leads and riffs (“Cross the Divide,” “Darkness Dies in Light—A New Age Dawns Part VII”) and quite a number of killer solos (“Apparition,” “Eye of the Storm”). Even Rob van der Loo’s bass guitar gets to shine a bit more, too, though he’s still a bit difficult to spot sometimes—a clear point of improvement for future records. And of course, Coen Janssen’s orchestrations need no introduction, but his gorgeous choirs in particular make a huge impression this time around (“T.I.M.E.”).

Of course, all of those performances would mean nothing without great songs in which to showcase them. Thankfully, Aspiral is loaded with pieces that live rent-free in my head. Hits like “Cross the Divide,” “Arcana,” the VOLA-esque “Obsidian Heart,” “Apparition,” the energetic “Eye of the Storm,” and beautiful penultimate epic “The Grand Saga of Existence” compete viciously for top spot as the album progresses—to the point that I always feel I’m giving the wrong answer when I call any one of them my favorite. Moreover, despite Aspiral’s adventurous and exuberant spirit, the whole feels cohesive, well-conceived, and smartly arranged. Even instrumental moments that threaten to derail my attention, like the initially questionable breakdowns in “Arcana” and “Fight to Survive,” get scooped right up by Mark’s and Isaac’s clever leads, Ariën’s kit wizardry, and Coen’s uplifting orchestrations. This, in turn, creates a dynamic experience that evokes a range of actions and reactions, logical progressions of story, and thoughtful decorations which make repeat spins valuable to invested listeners.

There’s so much more I can say about Aspiral, but as I continue to overwrite, I want to leave with a couple of notes. Firstly, while it occupies an ideal placement in the tracklist, delicate closer “Aspiral” might be the one song that meanders too long, creating a spot of bloat at the tail end. Secondly, I was hoping to hear more of the extremity that Epica unexpectedly unleashed on “Human Devastation” from their The Alchemy Project EP. I recognize that it was a one-off collaboration, but I do hear little hints of its beastly spirit in places here, and I crave more of it now that I know that Epica are willing to engage with it. Finally, Aspiral, flaws and all, made it impossible for me to go back to previous records as a point of comparison, because its pull is just too strong. Every impulse to pick up something else instead resulted in withdrawals, followed by yet another ravenous draught of Aspiral.2 If that’s not the making of a Great record, I don’t know what is.

Rating: Great!
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: Stream [Stop This!]
Label: Nuclear Blast
Websites: epica.nl | facebook.com/epica
Releases Worldwide: April 11th, 2025

#2025 #40 #AfterForever #Apr25 #Aspiral #DutchMetal #Epica #Nightwish #NuclearBlast #PowerMetal #ProgressiveDeathMetal #ProgressiveMetal #Review #Reviews #SymphonicMetal #VOLA

Elyose – Évidence Review

By Dolphin Whisperer

Being true to yourself as a listener is an essential part of the reviewing process. So, at a very base level, I can say things like “I’m tired of hearing djent riffs” and “pop-infused metal doesn’t do anything for me.” And, at my core, I can know those things are true. Except, every now and again, well-crafted music comes along and bashes upon our truths like a coup de foudre to an unsuspecting heart. Such was the case when I encountered Elyose’s hook-laden, djentrified y2k platter of Déviante. And so too am I again smitten with the chug-ridden, cybergoth stylings of Évidence. The proof, as they say, is in the purple pudding.

Though incepted as a fuller band effort with the heart of an electronically urgent, less symphonic Nightwish or Epica, Elyose now falls under the primary care of vocalist and composer Justine Daaé. With collaborative assistance from djent veteran Anthony Chognard (ex-Smash Hit Combo), Elyose has shifted from pop heavy metal-rooted hop to a sound more Kemper-fied and modern. But unlike other popular female-voiced acts who sport a melodic focus around extended range rhythms, like Spiritbox or Poppy, Daaé sticks to the power of her full and trained clean timbre, finding vocal play in lush harmonies and playful percussive runs.1 Maintaining Évidence in almost entirely her native French tongue, Daaé brings both an earnestness and extra depth of pronunciation expression to each passing phrase.2 Though Évidence has an undeniable musical catchiness and air of accessibility, its bones remain too personal in aim and adoration for an industrial/alternative past, and too metal in dramatic spirit, to land neatly in a pop lane.

Despite the layers that Daaé peppers into triumphant choruses and textured verse articulations, Chognard maintains a workmanlike framing with riff accompaniment to build rhythmic tension around hypnotic synth lines. On the most electronic leading tracks, Elyose’s warbling hooks grow from subdued fluctuations to whirring guitar squeals to strobe-blaring crescendo with a cinematic scope and effortless swagger (“Mission Lunaire,” “Théogyne 2.0”). And in a manner reminiscent of the smart and slamming groove from the most successful VOLA works, Chognard weaves jagged thumps alongside powerful, character-driven vocal tethers to sink Évidence’s teeth even deeper into the urge to hit the replay button (“Ascension Tracée,” “Immuable,” “Abnégation”). Out of context, bits and pieces of the modern guitar work can feel like patchwork memories from a mind informed by ’10s djent memories, but in context it maintains a careful balance with Daaé’s unique presence.

That familiarity of riffcraft does hold Elyose from striking harder throughout parts of Évidence, though. It’s less the note-for-note déjà vu of a nasally amp-simulated tapping run or a seven-string Periphery preset note crushing than it is the overall flatness of guitar production that takes away some of the mystique that classic crunchy layer can offer. Again, many of these clips that offend in this way serve as short segues or setups for Daaé to mark with greater lasting power the peaks of each composition. And a few licks that warp and chime alongside intense bridges hold a particularly nostalgic resplendence in their carry (“Étoile Solitaire,” “Ascension Tracée”). But for a couple of tracks that follow patterns on a similar path (namely “Tentatives Échouées” and “Prête au Combat”), the escalating flow that pervades through Évidence can lose its way.

Not all pleasures in life have to be complicated, yet it would be disingenuous to call Évidence simple. While the formula for Évidence hasn’t changed much from Déviante, Elyose continues to perform with an idiosyncratic style rooted in detailed, memorable mic work and addictive, groovy instrumental backing that is hard to put down. There’s no secret to Elyose’s success—every song shoves an undeniable chorus through the trials of verses and bridges and reprisals that fall exactly where they should. But Évidence powers through the complacency of chorus worship with a voice determined to soar. The only feeling that could make the joy of Elyose’s music more rewarding is perseverance, a feeling which Évidence embodies with a glitching and gliding charisma and a catharsis-clenched fist held high.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: PCM3
Label: Self Release
Websites: elyosemusic.com | facebook.com/elyoseofficial
Releases Worldwide: January 10th, 2025

Show 3 footnotes

1. It’s not quite rapping, so hold your gag reflex, folks. There’s always Reliqa for that.
2. Closing track “Rise and Reclaim is in English.
3. Thank you!

#2025 #35 #AlternativeRock #Djent #ElectronicMetal #Electronica #Elyose #Évidence #FrenchMetal #GothicMetal #IndependentRelease #Jan25 #Reliqa #SelfRelease #VOLA