Ephyra
Along the Path

Ephyra is something so rare as an Italian band that goes down the folkish and symphonic metal path, described as melodic death metal with folk and symphonic elements. They are a sextet with two vocalists and this is their second album, it has a very interesting cover artwork even though the sword in the logo feels very much like an Italian metal stereotype. Of course we can not judge a book by its cover but I really like the cool minimalistic approach of this album, but an album is more than that so what can we say about the album itself?

I wrote in the first paragraph what the label says, I don’t really agree with the death metal label they have put on the album, folk metal or symphonic metal would be better as I believe that many fans of death metal and melodic death metal would think of this as something very watered down if it were in that genre. The vocals are both a guy growling (which he doesn’t do amazingly well) and a female singer who sounds pretty good. The sound is pretty good, edgy, and modern – polished but dirty enough to keep it powerful and exciting. It is 52 minutes long; I don’t think that is long enough to bore the listener as it is fairly varied throughout.

I would say that this is a pretty good album; it has energy and a pretty solid feel to it. I think though that they should have dared to thread further from the paths and not just stay along it all the time – the title is very fitting, they just walk on the well threaded paths, giving no real surprises. I think the album starts very well but then looses its way the further it goes and ends on the low point, something that isn’t really the best way to do it. And I think it is hard to muster up any higher appreciation for the album and it will certainly not qualify for a spot in my record collection, but then again it is very full and I have to get rid of one album to fit a new one in there so I only pick the absolute best and to that level it is a long way to go for these guys. I wouldn’t say that they couldn’t reach that level though; there are parts of this album that shows some great quality.

The best track is the second one, the first real song of the album that is brilliant – I also think that the opening intro is very good. But after that second track I think that the album becomes pretty stale and predictable, it is okay but not enough to get my undivided attention. If you like bands like Furor Gallico, Elvenking, etcetera, I think that it could be a good idea to look into this band, chances are that you might like it. Along the Path is a bit too much along the path for my critical mind, but it is still a solid album.

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