epsylon - Reviews

Epsylon - The gift 3.5/5 Reviewed: 5-22-09 Tracklist: 1. Ascension 2. Liar 3. Broken dreams 4. Forever angel 5. Journey of sacrifice 6. The pirate 7. Between darkness & light 8. Masquerade 9. Legacy 10. Devil incarnated 11. First cry I only have a few bands from Belgium, but coincidentally, I reviewed the 2nd CD from the excellent band Gwyllion a few weeks ago, and now it's a debut 'The gift' from Epsylon, a new band from Belgium that was formed in 2006 by just 2 members - Yves Vermeersch and Sylvie Boisieux. The few had worked together in the past, and they decided to combine their ideas and start this fresh new band. Epsylon is female fronted, by Sylvie, and that means that Yves handles all of the instruments (guitars, bass, keys and even some of the backing vocals), with exception of the drums, which are performed by Jeroen Simons, who was Epica's drummer for many years. In addition, Jan S. Eckert contributes some backing vocals and bass segments, and he's known for his years with Iron Savior and his current role with Masterplan. There are also some other guest musicians, who provide some strings, piano and some more backing vocals, so even though the songwriting and bulk of the band's material are by Sylvie and Yves, they've obtained some help from other experienced musicians. The band's style can be described as both involved and simple. For starters, while I'd call their main style melodic metal, there are plenty of other styles present, including gothic metal, symphonic metal and power metal. So the blend of styles is a bit involved, but each individual style is fairly simple, so I wouldn't label this CD complex. Plus, there aren't any drastic differences between the styles and there's definitely nothing unsettling. It all works well and I think Sylvie and Yves have done a terrific job with the songwriting, as the CD is smooth, melodic, catchy and thoroughly enjoyable. Vocally, Sylvie has a somewhat soft voice and she reminds me of the wonderful Susanna Vesilahti from Unshine, or maybe Carmen Elise Espenaes from Midnattsol. She's very consistent throughout and there are some instances where she really shines, especially on track 3 "Broken dreams" and track 4 "Forever angel". The CD is far from a bombastic one too, so although Sylvie's voice is soft, the music doesn't overpower her. Actually, the balance between the music and the vocals is perfect, and that's surely one of the reasons this CD is great from start to finish. Because of the several styles present on this CD, I haven't been able to come up with some direct band comparisons, except I will say that this should appeal to lovers of female fronted metal in general. Also, I have nothing negative to say about this CD, as it's a nicely done debut from a promising band. So it's stamped with my recommendation, especially for those into the female fronted scene. (Written by CLINT for metalcdratings.com)
Their album is called The Gift and it offers so many good things in terms of memorable, quality, well-composed, intelligent heavy/power/prog metal songs. This cd has a very good, clear production. The band released the cd by themselves; however, this is a professional cd in every sense, including a very cool cd booklet of 28 pages (counting front and back) in color, with lyrics. If you demand high quality, this is something to consider in a serious way. If you don’t believe it, go their myspace page and hear for yourself. It is not just one or two songs are that good, it’s the whole cd. If you like finding new bands making quality metal, Epsylon should be on your priority list. Within the music you will find songs that emphasize dynamics and variety, from plenty of uptempo moments, lots of melodies, good midrange male vocals and good higher female vocals working together or alone, some elements that suggest a bit of prog metal (but not overdone) with emphasis on memorable songs. (Written by Mauricio for The Metal Bulletin)
Just a matter of approach Where most power-metalbands constantly go for a non-stop rush of double-bassdrumming, Epsylon chooses another approach: Subtle and dosed… Where most gothic-rockbands try to outdo eachother with the nastiest grunts, Epsylon chooses another approach: Simply leave them out! Where most melodic-rockbands tend to start sounding monotone and even boring, Epsylon chooses another approach: Diversity… Epsylon is an up and coming band hailing from Belgium, consisting out of Yves Vermeersch and Sylvie Boisieux. The first one is a young multi-instrumentalist and self-taught man. His musical partner, Sylvie, was a classical balletdancer from the french part of the country who started her singing education in the USA. In order to realise their musical dreams as a duo, in 2006, they decided to leave the band they’ve been playing in for 4 years. They dreamt about creating their own band focussed on making melodic power-metal. With Epsylon, and its debutalbum ‘The Gift’, that dream has become a reality. The musical craftsmanship of composer Yves Vermeersch is coupled to Boisieux’s lyrical talents, a golden combination. Add to the duo a few excellent session musicians, an experienced producer (Frank Van Bogaert) and you’ve got yourself an album that distinguishes itself from tons of albums of bands that are packed together in the same musical alley. ‘The Gift’ is a well-balanced out album. The musical and vocal variation is the driving force behind this album and allows one to easily take it all in. Besides Boisieux as the lead vocalist, there are a few vocal guestparts by Heather Shockley (Rock Ignition) and Jan S. Eckert (Masterplan). The last one, with his unorthodox and raw singing, even reminds a bit of Savatage’s Jon Oliva. And because he had such a good time doing it, he even recorded some bassparts. Good example of this vocal variation is the heavy and energetic ‘Liar’, on which Eckert and Boisieux neatly divide and share the vocalparts. The contrast between these two is very big, but has a surprisingly good effect. On this song, aswell as the other ones, it’s clear to hear Vermeersch’s and Boisieux’s love for bands like GammaRay, Stratovarius, Epica and Masterplan. Yet, on ‘The Gift’, there’s also pieces of Ayreon and Within Temptation passing by. Theme of the album are the different lifestages in a human life and the emotions that accompany them. All this has been poured into great, sometimes personal lyrics by Boisieux. It all actually means something, and that deserves to be said aloud for this genre. Absolute highlight of this album, which actually does not know any weak songs, is ‘Broken Dreams’. It’s a Mid-tempo track, which is perfectly balanced musically and contains high quality vocalwork. There’s a part in the song where you think the song is over, but suddenly continues in a great direction. Pure joy! Other highlights are ‘Forever Angel’, a calm song with a beautiful duet by Boisieux and Eckert, the prestigious and medieval sounding ‘The Pirate’ which contains some Ayreon influences and the brilliant ‘Devil Incarnated’ which has leading parts for Vermeersch on guitar and Jeroen Simons on drums. Certainly Simons can not be left out in this review. On the right, well-dosed moments, the ex-Epica drummer, knows how to hit his skins perfectly. It’s a shame that this album was released just at the end of 2008, at a time that most people probably had their yearlist ready. One week later and it would have undoubtedly been a huge candidate for the 2009 yearlists. With ‘The Gift’, our friendly neighbours from down south, surprised me extremely well. Despite the fact that I’m not a big follower of this particular genre, the end result can only be considered amazing. This music will definitely please the average progressive rockfan. Also the artwork and the 28-pages(!) booklet are very nicely done. Indeed, it’s just a matter of approach. It’s up to you to seize this gift. ©Hans Ravensbergen.
DUTCH VERSION (English version below) *TIP* EPSYLON The Gift (EIGEN BEHEER 406521) EPSYLON is een nieuw Belgisch duo, bestaande uit alleskunner Yves Vermeersch (gitaren, bas, toetsen, achtergrondzang, composities) en zangeres Sylvie Boisieux. Hun muziek is vrij stevig en heeft trekjes van zowel de Gothic-rock van bands als WITHIN TEMPTATION als de melodieuze en progressieve metal van bijvoorbeeld AYREON. Men wordt bijgestaan door Jan S. Eckert (zang, bas). Heather Shockley (zang) en Jeroen Simons (drums). De produktie is van Frank Van Bogaert en dan zit het met de kwaliteit altijd wel goed. Frank is ook verantwoordelijk voor de strijkersarrangementen en speelt piano. De CD opent in Ascension donker met een koor en een vrouwenstem die een tekst voordraagt. Deze koren komen terug in Liar. Dit stuk zet de toon voor de meeste stukken op de CD: stevig en stuwend, de fraaie zang van Boisieux, rauwe mannenstemmen en sterk gitaarwerk van Vermeersch. Niet alles op de CD is hard. Soms neemt met gas terug. Zo heeft Forever Angel wel iets weg van de muziek van MOSTLY AUTUMN. Dat geldt ook voor Boisieux’ op die van Heather Findlay gelijkende stem. De rauwe mannenstem is wel een verschil. Nummers als Journey Of Sacrifice en Legacy zijn lekker bombastisch. The Pirate heeft gave folky maar ook theatrale elementen. Dit doet me denken aan de Duitse folkmetal piratenband CULTUS FEROX. Masquerade heeft een goede opbouw: het begint als een ballad en wordt later steviger. EPSYLON heeft met The Gift een album afgeleverd die zich met gemak kan meten met de grote namen uit het genre. Compliment. Websites: www.epsylon-music.com; www.myspace.com/epsylonmusic. Paul Rijkens voor IOPages (all rights reserved) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ EPSYLON is a new belgian duo, consisting of multi-instrumentalist Yves Vermeersch (guitars/bass/keys/backingvocals/compositions) and vocalist Sylvie Boisieux. Their music is pretty heavy and reminds a bit of Gothic-rockbands like WITHIN TEMPTATION, as well as the melodic and progressive metal of, for example, AYREON. They are assisted by Jan S. Eckert (vocals/bass), Heather Shockley (vocals) and Jeroen Simons (drums). The production has been done by Frank Van Bogaert, which always means great quality. Frank is also responsible for some of the stringarrangements & pianoparts. The album opens with ‘Ascension’, a dark opener where a female voice speaks out accompanied by a backingchoir. These choirs return during the second song, ‘Liar’. This part sets the tone for most of the album: Heavy and pounding, great vocals of Boisieux, raw male vocals and strong guitarwork by Vermeersch. Yet not everything on the album is heavy… sometimes it pulls back a bit on the throttle. Like on ‘Forever Angel’ that reminds a bit of MOSTLY AUTUMN. That also goes for Boisieux’ voice which actually sounds like Heather Findlay. Songs like ‘Journey of Sacrifice’ and ‘Legacy’ are deliciously bombastic. ‘The Pirate’ has some cool folky, but also theatrical elements. This actually reminds me of the german folkmetal pirateband CULTUS FEROX. Onto ‘Masquerade’ which has a great build-up: it starts off as a ballad and gradually gains in heavyness. With ‘The Gift’, EPSYLON has delivered an album that can easily be compared with the big names in this style of music. My Compliments! Websites: www.epsylon-music.com ; www.myspace.com/epsylonmusic By Paul Rijkens for IOPages (all rights reserved)
After working together for about 4 years in a different band, multi-instrumentalist Yves Vermeersch and vocalist/lyricist Sylvie Boisieux teamed up in 2007 to form 'Epsylon'. Musically one can hear a lot of powermetal influences as Yves is a huge Helloween/Gamma Ray/Masterplan fan, but also Ayreon is one of his big inspirations. Vocalist Sylvie had a classical balleteducation and definately does a very good job singing here. Not a soprano, but a clean, pure voice, a bit comparable to Heather's from Mostly Autumn. The core duo then went searching for a couple of renowned musicians. And these are not the least either because at the drums we find ex-Epica drummer Jeroen Simons and we're hearing guestvocals by Jan S. Eckert (Masterplan) and Heather Shockley (Rock Ignition). Eckert traveled to the Ace Studio in Antwerp - where the album was recorded and completed by famous producer Frank Van Bogaert - and seemed to enjoy himself so that he even added a few of his own basslines. The result of all this hard work, their debut album "The Gift", is certainly something that will please a wide audience, especially fans of progressive metal and melodic rock, also because of the rich arrangements that bring a constant symphonic background in the music. The album opens with keys and a darkly spoken intro. 'Liar' presents us with heavy powermetal, containing excellent guitarwork aswell as a first contribution of a pretty rough and passionate Jan S. Eckert. 'Broken Dreams' is more mid-tempo with more playful keys and female vocals. Very beautiful is the ballad 'Forever Angel'... After a calm part with fingerpicking guitars and vocals of Sylvie, the powerful vocals of Eckert are very remarkable. 'Journey of Sacrifice' and 'Masquerade' are both co-sung by Heather Shockley. One of the best songs is the folky 'The Pirate', containing dark choirs and great vocal arrangements. About those Helloween influences... listen to the accessible 'Between Darkness & Light'. The guitars sound just like a slightly slower played Helloween song. And by that I certainly don't mean that 'The Gift' copies too much, on the contrary, it's a very diverse album that also includes some lesser stand-out tracks like 'Legacy' and 'Devil Incarnated', but ends again in beauty with the dreamy 'First Cry'. With 'The Gift', the band does not aim to be very heavy or hard metallic, but contains some beautiful music that will be appreciated by a wide range of audiences! This is melodic powerrock from Belgium that deserves a fair chance with the labels aswell as with the public. (Written by Vera for LordsofMetal.nl, all rights reserved)