Wilderun are a Symphonic Progressive Folk Metal band from Boston, Massachusetts and I’ll be honest, those are three sub-genres of metal I had not actually thought existed as a combined entity. Sure, there’s Symphonic Folk Metal, Progressive Metal, Folk Metal, Symphonic Metal and Symphonic Progressive metal… But Symphonic Progressive Folk Metal?? Closest thing I can imagine is Opeth’s more modern stuff, but I’d say they’re more Black Metal than Folk Metal, but exposition aside, this is a new one for me and it should be interesting.
And interesting it is, but don’t get all excited thinking this is going to be a big score or profound musical discovery. Instead, the interesting comes across at how well on paper and a theoretical level this band works and how well the sections of music are delivered and how when it all comes together, how underwhelming it is for the most part, resulting in what can best be described as a bipolar fusion of Opeth, Devin Townsend and Dream Theater styled inspirations with none of the spark which makes those bands stand out as some of the best acts to draw inspiration from.
What I discovered on this album is that there are three distinct musical personalities to Wilderun. There is the soft and gentle clean personality which you’d find wearing a woollen poncho, with tatty dreads and a beat up acoustic guitar telling you to free your mind as they nonsensically jam/busk in public. There is the melodic, harder and heavier sounding Wilderun with the crisp distortion, rich melodies and catchy hooks who you would expect to see at any prog metal show… And then there’s the unleashed Wilderun which basically turns the band up to 11, unleashing some tremendous growl and roaring vocals, ridiculously intense blastbeats and buzzing guitars, sounding like the more metal leaning Devin Townsend and Ghost reveries era Opeth stuff. These personalities often switch places across the tracks, like most bands do with their sound, getting heavier or lighter, ramping things up or dialling them back… But here, it is as if the entire song shifts itself due to the change of approach.
As an example, take album opener “Exhaler”. On a technical/compositional/theoretical level, it works well. The gentle vocals, crisp acoustic guitars and folk instruments work rather well, creating some nice melodic sequences and vocal harmonies. The subtle string and synth sections augment the tone and atmosphere and create a fuller sound which results in a good track (on paper), but at the same time, a track which is so bland if doesn’t really standout well as an opening track. “Woolgatherer” which follows this clocks in at over 14-minutes in length and again, objectively it stands up well as a solid composition. This is where the other elements of Wilderun’s sound come into play – we get to hear the more metallic influences to their sound and on the compositional front it is good. The bass tone in the verses is rich and very clear so you can hear the active and dynamic bassline, the soaring lead melodies over sustained chords which are augmented by symphonic blasts of orchestral samples add that touch of grandeur and the shifts to the more extreme side of the metal spectrum kick in well, creating a repeating pattern of gradual peaks of intensity before it dials down again. On a technical front, the guitar leads are superb, balancing virtuosity with situational awareness, going more for playing what fits, than playing what they want and the band having to fit around it. The drawback is that for all these good moments, in a 14 minute track, at least 40% of it is boring and disengaging – the gentle and clean bits which are bland as hell despite having a purpose within the composition.
Just from these two tracks, which comes to 20 minutes, just under a third of the album’s total run time paints a picture for the majority of this release. Whilst the next two tracks, “Passenger” and “Identifier” are actually pretty damn cool, probably because of their more metal-leaning sound. ‘Passenger’ has a feel which is pretty similar to 2000’s era Dream Theater. A refined musical edge, sharp and concise delivery and to me, quite engaging to listen to. The symphonic arrangements across the track compliment the instrumentation well, often trading places from supporting to being the centre of the show and the vocal performance is fantastic, trading off from soft to more pronounced to full on with minimal fuss. It has a great atmosphere about it and on the whole, it is enjoyable. ‘Identifier’ is a similar story, it has more of a hook to it, keeping you engaged even when it goes to the meek and gentle sounding parts and the guitar solos in this are simply incredible, really showing a diverse array of styles and sounds.
Sadly, it is here where the release peaks. An obligatory, ambient filler track called “Ambition” takes up a few minutes and serves little purpose other than to pad out the run-time before the four-part closing track “Distraction” (I, II, III and Nulla) ends the album, with only Distraction II, the more metal-orientated one being of any appeal to myself. Part 1 of this quadruplet of tracks takes its time setting the scene so again, compositional/theoretical/execution gets the nod. The distorted variant of the acoustic melody is a nice touch and the gradual shift to the harder approach works well, but by the time the track transitions into part 2, you start to find your attention slipping slightly, only aware that this is a new track/musical movement by the different approach musically. Part 2 is heavier on all fronts and sounds like a real killer symphonic progressive metal number, but on the whole, it is a bright 5-6 minutes in the middle of a big musical movement and part III just screams big grandiose finale despite it being the second to last musical moment on the track.
Overall, “Epigone” is a classic example of great from a technical view but lacklustre from an experience side. I have praise for the ability of Wilderun, they are a tremendously talented group of musicians who have a good grasp on the styles of music they specialise in delivering, but unfortunately, when roughly one third of the album is enjoyable and the rest does little to catch your attention or to keep you engrossed in it. “Epigone” is extremely solid on the compositional level, but it is definitely a niche sound for a very particular set of fans.
(5/10 Fraggle)
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