This time we didn’t have to wait long and Elysion, three years after the magnificent “Bring Out Your Dead”, are releasing the fourth full-length of their career. The new album, as the title suggests, showcases the band’s identity. It picks up where the previous left off, taking things a step further and it’s clear from the very first listen that they’ve worked hard to deliver a polished result.
Of course, the Athenian band’s gothic/atmospheric metal doesn’t claim to be groundbreaking, but that doesn’t matter at all. How many bands actually pull that off these days? As long as there’s good music that makes you want to listen to it again, the goal has been achieved. And Elysion have known this very well from the moment they first entered the scene. The material is quite heavy, heavier than their previous work, following their well-known formula. Short songs with riffs, melodies and choruses that stick in your mind. Something that might seem easy in theory but isn’t quite so in practice, otherwise, many more bands would be doing it.
If I had to single out a few songs, not that the rest are uninteresting or just fillers, they would be the wonderful ballad-like “Broken”, “Phoenix” with Christiana singing higher than ever and the duets on “The Last Ride” and “Harvest”. Konstantinos Togas (Nightrage, Herta) and Sakis Tolis (Rotting Christ) respectively, lend their extreme vocals, creating an interesting contrast that fits the compositions very well. In fact, this is the first time the band has tried something like this, and I can say that the result does them justice. I believe that there isn’t a clear standout track on “Identity”, as all eleven songs are perfectly balanced with one another, so every listener will likely have a different opinion than mine.
The production by the usual suspect, Fotis Benardo, at Devasoundz Studios is excellent, giving the material the sound and dynamics it deserves. Elysion, then, are celebrating their twenty years in the music scene in the best possible way and are showing that they have both the drive and the ability to offer us even more wonderful things. We hope they’ll be more consistent from here on out, both in their discography and their live performances.
