Twenty or so years ago, if you had a female singer and distorted guitars you were instantly just labelled Gothic Metal. Just as it seems to have been the trend over the last ten years or so to dub any Metal band with a female singer, distorted guitars and a modicum of keyboards as Symphonic Metal. It’s unfortunately a lazy way of lumping bands into one category without exploring further. So I was intrigued and very interested to see this third album from Greek Metallers Elysion being touted as Gothic Metal. In this day and age??? Really??? Well kudos to the band, the PR, the label or whoever, because although not entirely able to be shoe-horned into one category, the nearest description I would pin on the band would have to be, the aforementioned Gothic Metal.
OK, this is still maybe slightly contentious, because although there is an air of melancholy throughout “Bring Out Your Dead”, it’s by no means downbeat, miserable or stuck the past. Also, there’s hints of Lacuna Coil within the band’s sound at times, which can also point towards a band on the edge of a periphery, as Lacuna Coil also were in the first few years of their illustrious career. Which lengthy musings bring me (finally…) to the observation that Elysion are a Metal band with a Modern Gothic Metal edge that still have very much to interest the current heavier, melody-orientated Symphonic Metal fans out there.
Because Elysion are guitar led, no question about it, and right from the first notes of the first track on this album. The riffs and guitar melodies come deliciously thick and fast throughout this impressive album. The songs are diverse and layered, with no song galloping off needlessly into Symphonic Power Metal territory, preferring to let driving, heavy, mid-paced rhythms carry the songs, giving the instruments room to breathe. This also gives plenty of opportunity to showcase the excellent vocals of Christianna, who carries every lavish melody with perfection and power.
Having a vocalist of Christianna’s calibre certainly allows the music to have the light and shade it needs to convey the emotion which every track exudes – as well as every song being wonderfully hook-laden and memorable. So yes, in hindsight Gothic Metal was indeed a term thrown around far too willingly back in the day, with many bands being lumped under its banner unnecessarily, yet some of them managed still to shine through as individuals. So, what if a band were to come along who were formed around that time, took it all on board, and now decided to portray what Gothic Metal might sound like in 2023? Well maybe they have, and maybe, that band could very well be Elysion.
(8/10 Andy Barker)
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