Symphonic metal band Elvellon are set to release their sophomore album this coming Friday. A full six years after their debut, the band look to build on that, and put out one hell of a release. I hadn’t heard of them until I got their album through our emails, but love the genre so I’m excited to check this out!
Album opener ‘Unbound’ starts things off in the most epic way possible. Operatic vocals and strings build up, soon backed by the metal instrumentation as a HUGE riff explodes in. Heck, we get multiple great riffs before the soaring, powerful vocals come in for the verse. It instantly gives off Within Temptation/Nightwish vibes, fitting in with that style perfectly. The heavy verse leads into a massive, arena-filling chorus, catchy and huge. We get a great, modern Maiden-esque bridge in the middle before it all drops down again, similarly to the start building into a massive, epic final chorus. It’s an awesome song, and the perfect album opener to give listeners an idea of exactly what the band are about.
‘A Vagabond’s Heart’ fits the song title perfectly, immediately having more of a pirate feel to it. There are certainly the heavy symphonic elements too, plenty of strings and the operatic vocals, but it also definitely feels different to the previous track! It all leads to another huge, massively catchy chorus, too. I love the heaviness of the track overall, it adding an awesome layer behind the orchestral elements and epicness. It drops down for the bridge, going back to a greater focus on the strings like at the start, which sounded awesome. And yet again, it built to a huge final chorus. This would be awesome live with a big stage show. I loved this track, and it’s one that easily makes our playlist!
The same sort of feeling continues through the following track, ‘My Forever Endevour’, but has a touch more of a folk feel. It almost reminds me of the Game of Thrones intro, but obviously heavied up. The vocal melodies are once again catchy as anything, especially through the chorus! Part of me is a little shocked at this point that, three tracks in, we are still getting orchestral bridges in the middle; part of me was really expecting a guitar solo by now. Still, I can’t complain, as they fit the tracks so well, and this is another awesome song!
Sadly, by the time I’d reached ‘Ocean of Treason’, I felt like I’d heard much of what this album had to offer already. Songs like it, ‘The Aftermath of Life’, ‘A Legacy Divine’ and most in between are all pretty similar. They’re great, but all share similar structures and feelings and elements. The one in that collection that’s different is ‘Last of Our Kind’, a beautiful piano-led ballad brimming with emotion. The strings sound so good filling it all out, and the vocals fit perfectly. The drums and distorted edge add enough heaviness to it but keep it still slow and ballady. And, shockingly, this is the song we get a guitar solo in, full of emotion and fitting the track perfectly. This was an incredible song, and another that easily makes our playlist!
Another incredible, slower and this time proggy song is ‘The Aeon Tree’. From the folky intro and first half, it being a beautifully epic tale, including some amazing spoken word poetry. It makes it all fantastically uplifting, in a crazy way, and would fit absolutely incredibly as part of a film score. It all builds and builds, the distorted guitars helping out, into a truly fantastic final three minutes. We even get a piano solo, only adding to the epicness. This is storytelling and songwriting domestically to perfection, and is another huge highlight of the album.
It’s almost a shame that the band go back to their typical sound after the epicness of the previous track. It’s certainly not a bad track by any stretch, but pales in comparison to ‘The Aeon Tree’ and it feels like the two should have been swapped round in terms of the order. Still, it’s a great, huge-sounding song that still feels like a fitting conclusion to the album!
Overall: I enjoyed this! It’s not the best symphonic metal album I’ve ever heard, don’t get me wrong, and at times is certainly on the generic side of the genre. However, the songs were well written and performed incredibly, and there were plenty of highlights. And that epic prog track… *chef’s kiss*. I certainly wouldn’t turn this off if it came on again, and will certainly be listening to a few of the tracks more going forward! But as a whole album, it did feel a slight bit of a slog at times, as fun as it was.
The Score: 7/10