Tag Archives: symphonic

Forest of Forgetting: Eye of Melian Continue to Craft their Own Genre!

18th February 2026 Overtone Leave a comment

Time for an interesting one! From the brain of Delain’s Martijn Westerholt, and featuring three incredible rock/metal/pop/symphonic musicians, the quartet have crafted some of the most interesting metal-adjacent music around in the last couple of years. It’s so hard to classify, given it is not quite metal but has elements, and orchestral and symphonic and very inspired by epic movie scores. Heck, even they themselves say they’ve created a new genre here. I’ve heard a couple of the singles and am excited to dive in and see what the rest of the release has in store!

The album starts with a beautiful piano melody from Martijn. ‘Of Willows and Shadows’ sets the tone of the release perfectly, building up so many layers, from the strings to percussion to the beautiful vocals. It feels suitably epic by barely 90 seconds in, the chorus sounding massive and surprisingly catchy for the style of music. It definitely has elements of Zimmer and even Elfman, but combined perfectly with a more symphonic metal structure and vibe, making it truly unique. The bridge is fantastic too, it really feeling like the track crescendos into something massive! It’s an absolutely incredible song in its own right, and the perfect way to open the album and hook in new listeners!

Single ‘Symphonica Arcana’ is a track I’m pretty familiar at this point, having listened a fair bit since its release and having had it stuck in my head at least a few times! That opening chorus is incredible and a definite ear-worm. Meanwhile, the instrumentation once again ebs and flows perfectly. And by the time the chorus comes back round it all feels huge, the strings and percussion being the vocals really putting it on another level. It was a truly excellent choice as a single as it incapsulates everything the band do so well, and is such a fantastic listen. If you haven’t checked this out already, what are you doing? Listen ASAP!

‘Child of Twilight’ focuses on some awesome guitar work to start things off, and the pace is a little higher than the previous tracks. It’s enough of a change of pace to keep me locked in and interested, which was nice! It almost has an Egyptian feel to it at times; it wouldn’t feel out of place in a Mummy movie. It’s another great chorus too, though every vocal part is so beautifully written and sung that it all stands out. Meanwhile, ‘Elixir of Night’ feels more like a whimsical childrens tale soundtrack, going back to the Elfman style perfectly. It’s also pretty short compared to a lot of the rest of the tracks, which honestly did it well. The more stripped-back instrumentation overall was fascinating, not reaching quite heights of the pervious tracks yet still felt monumentous. It’s yet another excellent song, and very much another early-album highlight.

The first single released from the album, ‘Blackthorn Winter’, is another that I’m fairly familiar with. It still doesn’t quite hook me in as much as ‘Symphonia Arcana’ for some reason, but is still a damn good song in its own right. The vocals remain a big high point of the release, and it is very much the same here. However, I also LOVE the violin solo tucked away in the middle of the track, adding even more depth and epicness to the song, as well as being beautiful in its own right. I cannot get over just how well crafted everything about this album is. Every moment, every note seems so very purposeful; the arrangements are phenomenal.

The other original single on the album, the recently released ‘Dawn of Avatars’, features the incredible Patty Gurdy and Troy Donockley as a guests. It starts out a little bigger than a lot of the rest of the album, instantly feeling grandiose. And it’s not long before both guests get highlighted, with Troy’s pipe-work prevalent early on and being a constant, great presence. Patty gets to shine plenty too, her hurry-gurdy playing adding yet another great layer on top of some already incredible instrumentation. It all combines together perfectly to create a truly excellent five minutes of symphonic music, and is another big highlight of the album. A track that easily makes our playlist!

Tracks like ‘Lady of the Night’, the title track, and honestly a lot of the rest of the album, continue the same path and vibe and sound that the first half of the release has set. It isn’t inherently a bad thing, every song is fantastic in its own right. However, I do feel like 12 tracks of a rather similar style is a little much for me, personally. I adore everything up to and including the title track, but the last few after that do start to make the album drag just a touch. Don’t get me wrong, I know this is very much my personal feelings and plenty will love a longer release. And as I said, musically each track is still phenomenal. It just felt like nothing we hadn’t already heard by that point of the album. At least ‘Nepenthe’ is on the shorter side and acts as more of an interlude to the closing track…

Speaking of, the bands cover of Bruce Dickinson’s ‘Tears of the Dragon’ is amazing. I also couldn’t think of a better way to close out the album. The band very much make the track their own, keeping the emotion and weight from the original while making it fit perfectly alongside the other 11 songs on this release. They somehow make it even more epic in the chorus too, the more basic rock band arrangement replaced by strings, bigger percussion and even some subtle horns. It’s a fantastic song as is, and this version is definitely up there alongside the original in terms of quality. And again, it’s the perfect way to close out such a huge album. Amazing stuff!

Overall: This is a really great album! It’s certainly not for everyone, it not containing many elements of traditional pop or rock outside of some of the structures. However, as someone who loves film scores and symphonic music, I absolutely loved it, and it was so fascinating to hear something like this even be possible, let alone crafted this well. If you are at all curious, I’d highly recommend checking out the release as a whole, though those first few tracks are really incredible. They are a band to keep a close eye on moving forward, and I’ll definitely be listening to this a fair bit in the coming weeks and months!

The Score: 8/10

Interviews & Features

Eye of Melian: ‘In this age, I feel like connection is something that can never be emphasised enough!’

12th February 2026 Overtone Leave a comment

We sat down to chat to the wonderful Martijn and Johanna of symphonic band Eye of Melian ahead of the release of their brand new album this coming Friday. Check out us talking about it and their touring plans below!

How would you describe your sound?

Johanna: I think we have created a new genre. It’s a combination of symphonic music, Hollywood music score, combined with ethereal pop music. That’s what it is in my mind!

The new album is out soon now! How does it compare to your debut?

Martijn: Yep, February 20th! I think with the first album we really established like… ‘what are we going to do?’, you know? Discovering yourself as a music entity. The second album, you can walk deeper into the forest, so to speak. You’ve discovered the forest and now you can go down deeper alleys and run. That’s the big difference, I think the second album deepens that sound; makes it a bit more happy, a bit more sweet, more contrast. It’s been a wonderful process making this album, very organic.

What’s the songwriting process like for you guys?

Martijn: I wish we could say we have a garage where we can all chip in together on a weekend, but that’s not how it’s going! How it starts is I simply start playing piano and I just play away what I feel like. It sounds a little flat, but it’s actually very pure, you really play what’s in your heart. I let myself be lead by the music, and it grows from there. Then I give what I’ve got to the rest of the team. We’re really blessed, I think we have a dream team, everyone has exactly the same idea of what it is that you need. There’s so much faith and respect and trust for each other so it’s really like Christmas to give the songs away and unpack what comes back. I’m never nervous, it’s always excitement!

It goes to Mikko for the arranging and orchestral stuff. I do some already but he can do it way more refined than I can! Robin writes lyrics and of course Johanna sings and plays violin, and also does vocal arrangements! I have melody lines they sometimes follow but sometimes they’ll have their own melody lines or alterations. It’s a very organic process and I love it!

Do you take a different approach to writing for Eye of Melian compared to your other work?

Martijn: Yeah, it feels very different! This is vacation! I love writing for Delain, I’m writing for Delain right now, but it’s a different animal, I really have to come up with more. Imagine two dogs; you have a German shepherd and you have a golden retriever. Eye of Melian’s more of the retriever, I just let the dog do its thing and I follow it. Then you have the Shepherd who’s like ‘I wanna go out, let me run!’. They both have their charm but are very different!

Is there a theme running through the album or is it more separate stories?

Johanna: I would say each are individual tracks, but they all fall under the umbrella of ‘forest of forgetting’. That’s the essence that wraps them all together! It’s tapping into your souls, the serenity that’s in there underneath all the worry and the noise of the world.

I Know you have a release show and then a tour after. It’s a lot of theatres as opposed to rock venues, right?

Johanna: Yeah! I used to be a solo artist for 10 years, a pop career, so those venues are really familiar to me, my home base. For me it feels very familiar, but for you Martijn I hear that it’s different.

Martijn: It’s new! It’s very different. I think this type of music really fits well in theatres; you can sit down and allow yourself to float away with the music. I’m very excited for this new experience. And I’m very happy that Johanna knows this scene, it comes very natural!

It’s your second run of shows, right? You did some last year too?

Johanna: Yes, we started out actually with a few support shows for my other band, Auri. One show in Finland and three in Europe. It was a wonderful way to get our feet in the water, y’know! Also, I think we’re still at the starting stages, trying to figure everything out. There’s a lot of novelty still, but it’s a wonderful journey we’re all very excited about. We can’t wait to see where it goes. But some things you learn along the way as you start doing it!

It must be cool to be able to bring these songs to life on stage, too!

Johanna: That’s what I’m most looking forward to, for sure!

What can people expect from an Eye of Melian show?

Martijn: It sounds a little bit hippy, but I hope we have a really wonderful exchange of energy. When we see people enjoy the music, that gives us energy as well. We hope people will experience the music in a really intense way. Johanna sings but she also plays violin. We have piano, we have Kai Hahto (Nightwish/Wintersun) on percussion for the upcoming shows. For the release show in the Netherlands Troy will join us, who is also I’m Johanna’s other band. There are so many connections happening musically that are really exciting. I hope people will enjoy the ride and, together with us, discover what we can do by taking this on the road.

I was curious to see how much of a band you were bringing with. I imagine you can’t tour with a whole orchestra all the time!

Martijn: That’s the big dream! But we have to start somewhere, so we have some orchestral parts on tracks, but we also play a lot of stuff too! Mikko will play the keys, I have my piano, we have acoustic guitars and backing vocals and Robin and also Johanna’s brother will join us onstage for backing vocals. The vocals are there and we tried to build it up. But eventually, an orchestra would be the best!

It sounds like an almost family ordeal though which is great, getting people from bands you’ve known for years involved!

Johanna: It is like a family, and that’s the best thing for me about all this. It’s so heart-connected, and that’s the sort of energy we want to bring to the audiences.

Have you got a busy rest of the year planned after the tour?

Martijn: Well, this is our second album but it also feels like the first as our first album was more like trying out the water. We just signed a deal with an international agent, as well as a Dutch theatre agent, so we’re also working on theatre shows for next year. Hopefully we can do festivals too. We would love to tour everywhere, but we’re going to see what’s possible. We will be on the road much more, that’s for sure!

Fingers crossed we can get a UK show at some point!

Martijn: Absolutely! We both love touring the UK!

Johanna: It’s like my second home, there!

Do you have a dream tour lineup you’d want the band to be a part of?

Martijn: Good question! What do you think, Johanna? Hans Zimmer, maybe?

Johanna: Oh, that would be amazing! Really any composer gurus who are out there touring at the moment, I think that would be the ultimate dream! But just to share this experience with kindred spirits, people who feel like family to you, is what is most important to me! Making indelible memories with the people that you love! And also connecting with the audience through the music and getting to meet the people out there in the world. In this age, I feel like connection is something that can never be emphasised enough. Things seem so fragmented, awful things are happening in the world, so to hold onto that connection that we’re all part of this universe, all part of this magical planet earth that we get to breath a few breaths on and then continue on our journey in another form, is truly special. Remember what truly matters in this world.

Reviews

TIME: Infected Rain ‘s Best Album Yet?

9th February 2024

Moldova’s own Infected Rain have been growing more and more popular seemingly by the day since signing with Napalm Records. Three albums into their partnership and they just released possibly their biggest album yet. They have been all over my socials and YouTube in the leadup to this release, and I’ve loved what I’ve heard so far! I only really know their singles, so I’m excited to dive in with a full album!

The album starts off heavy right from the offset with ‘BECAUSE I LET YOU’. The opening riff is awesome, chunky and groovy, and the quick pace of the verse behind Lena’s awesome harsh vocals carry on the energy perfectly. It’s the perfect blend of death, nu and industrial metal, and pretty unique and very interesting to listen to! The chorus is surprisingly catchy too, the power behind the vocals almost giving off Doro vibes. It drops down to a simple piano and clean vocal in the middle, adding a beautiful other later to the track. It also builds up back to the heaviness perfectly, and the final chorus is epic brilliance. What a fantastic way to open an album!

‘DYING LIGHT’ opens on another great filthy riff. Anything with the Gojira scrapes in it has my heart, and they’re done awesomely here. The vocals throughout are awesome, be it the duelling screams in the verse, the more operatic style of the pre, or the even heavier lower screams throughout. The rest of the band work overtime too, some awesome riffing going on as well as some awesome industrial/nu metal chugging. I can’t get enough of the blend of styles. The dropped-down ambient bit in the middle was cool, again adding a more dynamic edge to the track. And it again builds the heaviness back up perfectly. It’s an amazing track, and one that easily makes our playlist!

Check out similar (ish) music here!

The lower, almost tribal opening of ‘NEVER TO RETURN’ was awesome, and really broke up the album well early on. The electronic instrumentation pulls it off incredibly well, and Lena’s clean vocals fit perfectly over the top. The vibrato she puts on the high notes is as impressive as it is haunting. And it means that when the heaviness explodes in with the crushing scream, drums and distorted guitar, it hits like a mac truck. The bridge riff is awesome and nearly heads into a pretty sick breakdown of sorts. The whole darker Egyptian-feel of the track is incredible, and I couldn’t get enough of it. Another that made our playlist!

Single ‘Lighthouse’ opens on an interesting spoken word bit from a little girl, setting the theme and scene up for the track perfectly. And I love that the band come in with a ch0nky riff but a clean vocal, giving off more of a symphonic metal feel. If you’re a fan of Within Temptation or Nightwish, you’ll love this song. It still gets heavy, for sure, but not until the breakdown a couple of minutes in. What a fucking breakdown it is too, damn. Her scream of course fits awesomely over the sick riff, and it fits the tone of the track surprisingly perfectly.

I loved the heavier take on the chorus after it too, the harsher vocal with the faint clean one behind it sounding massive. And it doesn’t over-stay its welcome either, going back to the cleaner stuff after. Shockingly, it’s a third straight track onto the playlist. I LOVE this song; it’s both beautiful and crushingly heavy, and has a great story and message to it.

Tracks like ‘THE ANSWER IS YOU’, ‘ENMITY’ and single ‘VIVARIUM’ are more straight up heavy awesomeness. The band almost remind me of the likes of Otep at these sort of times, especially in the former. Infected Rain do heavy so very well and I really like all three tracks. I simply don’t want to keep saying the same thing over and over and gushing too much in this review. They do all have bits of rest and dynamics throughout still, too. The final minutes of ‘ENMITY’ are particularly spectacular! I’d definitely recommend all three songs!

‘PANDEMONIUM’ definitely has some heaviness to it, but the synth running through it was amazing. It gave the track an almost an 80s pop vibe on top of their regular music. Also, the heavier verses that it wasn’t in were amazing, bouncy and a lot of fun. The riffing again is a massive highlight of the track, but honestly everything fitted together perfectly. It’s another excellent track!

Tracks like ‘UNPREDICTABLE’ and ‘PAURA’ are really interesting. The former opens on some beautiful clean vocals over an awesome riff before alternating between heaviness and a more symphonic sound. The same could be said for the latter, outside of the first minute and a half of build-up through the electronic drums and what I assume is Romanian (?). Again, both are two more fantastic, epic-feeling tracks!

‘GAME OF BLAME’ is very much the ballad of the album. The synth running throughout again gives it an 80s feel, but sounds awesome over the other keys. The distorted guitars come in in the choruses but with everything else going on it all feels massive and uplifting. It’s hugely catchy too with the cleaner vocals and the synth behind it. Heck, even when Lena screams in the second verse, it still has a ballad-like feel to it. It feels different while still maintaining the bands signature sound. And we still get a sick breakdown, one of the heaviest points of the album. This track has everything, and is another to make our playlist!

The closing track on the album is an ambient one, swells of synths and strings. It honestly fits the album pretty perfectly, and I couldn’t think of a better way to finish it all off. It ties a pretty bow around one hell of an album.

Overall: This is an awesome album. There isn’t a bad track on it and a number of them are up there with some of my all time favourite tracks from the Infected Rain. It’s easy to see why the band are rocketing in popularity recently, and this album will surely continue that upward trend. If you’re into the heavier side of metal, I’d recommend checking this out immediately. The album is sure to be up there in our album of the year list come December, I can assure you that!

The Score: 9/10

Reviews

Initiation: How Does Death Dealer Union Compare to Lena Scissorhands’ Other Work?

23rd September 2023

Infected Rain frontwoman Lena Scissorhands has started up a new band, Death Dealer Union. Describing themselves as gothic metal, they explore everything from death metal to symphonic to hard rock. Said band just released its debut album a couple of days go. I’m a pretty big fan of her original band, so have been excited to get in and check this out!

After the brief synth-led intro track, ‘The Vow of Silence’ opens on Lena’s effortlessly fantastic clean vocals before the listener is rocked by an awesome, heavy riff. The sound is massive, the big distorted power chords, great guitar melody and the synth behind it packing out the every part of the sound. It’s not long before her fantastic scream comes in over the top. It adds a layer of heaviness over the lighter, more melodic instrumentation.

The chorus is cleaner, a lot closer to symphonic metal than anything else. It reminds me a lot of Nightwish or Within Temptation. I actually don’t think it fits all that well between the harsher vocals, it kinda comes out of nowhere. Having said that, it’s a great chorus. And it does fit a little better the second time after a clean bridge/pre-chorus. And we get a pretty awesome guitar solo! Overall, it’s a good track and a fantastic introduction to the band’s variety of sounds.

Check out similar music here!

Most recent single ‘ILL FATED’ is awesome. The main riff running through it is a simple, foot-stomping metal jaunt that will get even the most cynical of heads bobbing and foots tapping. The verses dropping down to a more stripped-back, cleaner sound whenever Lena sings is also a great idea. It’s also an awesome chorus, massively catchy thanks to the doubled vocals and the scream behind it. The heavy parts too, be it the pre or the bridge, are awesome too. It’s a simple yet great track, and easily makes it onto our playlist!

‘Ekphrasis’ opens on another heavy, almost sludgy riff. Lena’s death metal screams fit perfectly over the top. So too does her beautiful, soaring clean vocals, though. The stripped-back verses build perfectly into a huge, power metal chorus. It’s again catchy as anything, and I can hear it easily being played in arenas around the world. We also get an awesome guitar melody over a slower, clean bit in the middle to break up the track, something I wasn’t expecting at all. It wasn’t quite a solo, but definitely acted like one. This was another amazing track, and I’m really starting to get into this album by this point.

Single ‘The Integument’ again bursts straight in with the riff, this taking much more of a NWOBHM/thrash approach. Heck, we even get a very Kirk Hammett solo in the opening. The higher tempo was a refreshing change of pace and Lena’s vocal melodies and harmonies throughout were AMAZING. The screams are reserved for the pres for this track, ensuring that both the verses and choruses are catchy as hell.

I loved it slowing down and dropping back to a beautiful clean bridge too in the middle, leading to a slower, more emotion and feel driven guitar solo. It builds up perfectly too into a more heavy, epic final verse and chorus. I LOVE this track. It wears all of its inspirations on its sleeve, be it Metallica, Judas Priest or even still Nightwish. I’d have been obsessed with this in my youth, being such a big fan of the first two bands. Another that easily makes the playlist!

The sludgy riffing returns with ‘Mythos’. It’s another track that leans more into the symphonic side of the bands sound, to great effect. It’s another catchy as hell metal track with a phenomenal guitar solo tucked in the middle, even featuring some awesome harmonies in it! And the screams for the bridge and outro give it some added fun heaviness.

The same sort of thing could be said about ‘The Big Blue’, ‘Back to Me’, and ‘Anew’. All three are good tracks, but are pretty similar to others on the album. I simply feel that the review would get boring if I repeat the same thing over and over!

‘The Downfall’ is fairly similar to the others, however I love the added emphasis on synth. In the heavier parts it gave off almost Children of Bodom vibes. And it’s full of more catchy melodies and harmonies from the vocals, which always helps! It has some of my favourite harsh vocals on the album too through the verses.

‘Love Me When I’m Ugly’ is the slower, ballad track of the album. The lyrics are packed full of emotion and fit perfectly over the mostly clean guitars. Still, when it does get heavy and distorted, the riffing is sick. And the chorus is again infectiously catchy. It also feels like it gets a tad proggy in the middle with the changes in the bridge and the drop down. It’s a really awesome song and well worth checking out if you like things slower!

The final track, ‘Beyond Heaven’, is the longest and most epic of the songs on the album. After a slow piano build of an intro, it heads into a quick, chuggy verse that still feels like it’s building up. It all leads to a massive chorus at around the two minute mark. It’s another arena-filling sound, for sure. We also get another trademark great guitar solo in the middle, adding so much to the track. It’s a fantastic way to close the album and really draws together everything we have heard throughout. Great stuff!

Overall: This grew on me so much throughout the album. While the opening track didn’t quite hook me in, ‘ILL FATED’ did, and by the time I reached ‘The Integument’ I was hooked ’till the end. The whole band are massively talented players and writers and it showed throughout the whole 50+ minutes of this release. I feel like it’d somehow be even better live, too! A really unique album in terms of genre-combinations and sounds, and one I’ll definitely be spinning again!

The Score: 8/10

new music mondays

New Music Mondays: State Champs, Misery Index and More!

16th May 2022

A slightly slower week this week, with no absolutely massive releases or a huge amount of albums out. But still, there was some great new music from the rock and metal world released this week, with six new albums out. Let’s check them out!

STATE CHAMPS: Kings of the New Age

New Yorkian pop-punkers State Champs put out their fourth album last Friday. I have to admit I know the name and have probably heard a track or two, but I never really got much into the modern wave of pop-punk.

However, having said that, this is a pretty damn good album. It’s a little heavier than traditional pop punk, but I also thinks it adds a more anthemic feel to it all. It’s arena pop-punk, and I am shocked it’s taken me this long to listen to it. Obviously the singles are all amazing, but there isn’t a bad track on the album really. I need to check out more from this band and genre ASAP, I think! 8/10

Misery Index: Complete Control

The Maryland based death metal band put out a DAMN heavy death metal album last week. And it’s great. Before Overtone I would never have even attempted to listen to this album, but it’s opened my eyes to a lot of fantastic death metal, this included. The riffs are brutal, crushing awesomeness and the gang vocals means that a few of the tracks are even pretty catchy. Just check out ‘Infiltrators’, it perfectly encapsulates the bands sound and attitude in just two short minutes. Great stuff! 8/10

Cage Fight: Self-Titled

The new band seem to go by so many different labels, be it punk, thrash, metalcore. Either the latter or metalic hardcore is probably the closest to their sound. Either way, it’s fucking fantastic. From the first track of the album I was hooked, and I stayed hooked throughout. I love that we are starting to get more and more female screamers these days as they are showing they can do it just as good as the guys. I also have to gush over just as smooth the transitions between the tracks are. At times I didn’t realise a new song had started until like 30 seconds in. It’s the sign of a great album as it flows perfectly. I was going to say the first X amount of tracks were fantastic, but honestly it just kept rolling with great track after great track! This is a ridiculously strong debut album and they have found a new fan in me! Not a bad track on the album and damn, I need to see them live soon! 9/10

Moon Tooth: Phototroph

The Prog Metallers have been around for a decade now, constantly wowing audiences with their talent and songwriting skill. That continues with Phototroph. Their new music may be their best yet. The guitaring in the opener and ‘Deathwish Blues’ is a technical masterclass, combining both lead and rhythm together perfectly. There are times even the vocals somehow sounds both completely separate from the instrumentation but also the perfect accompaniment. ‘O My Isle’ may be my favourite of the bunch, combining light, catchy sounds with a pretty heavy riff. Another band that I need to check out more of! 8.5/10

Visions of Atlantis: Pirates

It’s like if Nightwish and Alestorm had a lovechild. Symphonic metal about pirates is something I never knew I needed until now, and yet also I’m surprised there isn’t more of. All of it is great, but ‘Master the Hurricane’ is on a level of its own. Unquestionably epic from the string-heavy opening to the massive closing riff, it is how you do symphonic/power metal at its very best. A highlight on an album that also includes the likes of ‘Wild Elysium ‘ is an impressive feat and should hopefully set Visions of Atlantis up to be the next big thing in the sub-genre. 7.5/10

Check out our Powerwolf review here.

Morgue Supplier: Inevitability

If anyone was here last week, you know what’s coming here. It’s death metal. What more do you expect. Granted, this had slightly more groove to it than the typical blast beat and ‘AHHHHH’, but it still didn’t do a great deal for me. As such, I don’t feel qualified to give scores to death metal, as I am just not going to like it enough to give it a good rating, no matter how good at the sub-genre the band is. I’mma give it a 4/10 and hope that works!