What a cool discovery I’ve made last month !!! Have you ever heard of “Anthropia” ??? I remember to have vaguely heard the name of that band before, but not knowing exactly what metal style they were playing and not knowing their work yet. How I regret I never did ! After I heard “The Ereyn Chronicles: Part I” for the first time, I couldn’t believe my eyes…(and still do every time I listen to it). This band has a wealth of talent !!!!
“Anthropia” is a brilliant progressive metal band from France, formed by Hugues Lefebvre (vocals, guitars, bass), Damien Rainaud (drums), Nathalie Olmi (vocals), Julien Negro (bass), Yann Mouhad (guitars) – all musicians ONLY aged between 21 and 25 years old !!! – and some more guests. But Hugo (Hugues) would be the one who composes and records everything. And this is without to forget to mention that he has AMAZING vocals and instrumental aptitudes, a real prodigy in my opinion !!
It’s VERY difficult for me to find HOW the Hell I could describe the music of this CD as everything is quite complex – it takes more than one spin to really can notice everything and even then...“The Ereyn Chronicles”, more than an hour long, is a fantasy CD filled with magical and mystical creatures. About a personal quest. In an imaginary realm. It’s coloured, original, it stimulates your mind. But I don’t want to tell you too much about the story and what is the concept about, I let you discover it by yourself… It’s EXTREMELY interesting, you can be SURE about that !! A very well-thought concept…
Not only the lyrics, vocals and back vocals, riffs, solos and melodies are great, but what’s original and what I like very much here is that the album is a mix of many different music styles, all PERFECTLY well mixed and blended together: the arrangements are really brilliant !!! And so the “ambiance” is perfect too !!!
All through the CD, along with progressive, you can recognize some power,
neo-classical, melodical, old rock, symphonical and classical influences...with all the moods that every different musical style has. For example, if you like bands and artists like Ayreon (one of my fave !!!!), Symphony X, Iron Maiden, Dream Theater, I’d even go till saying Mistheria in some cases and so on, you will love “Anthropia” for sure, too !!! Everything is perfectly well balanced, it’s awestrucking !!! That’s what I liked the most from this album. Under all its musical aspects, this album has absolutely no imperfections. Its complexity is amazing…and you probably don’t hear the same beat twice…
This little wonder was a great pleasure to discover and I liked every single second of every single track !! I could tell you about the tracks individually but really, no words can describe the music translated in “The Ereyn Chronicles”. Only your ears will be able to…
So what are you waiting for ????
For more information about the band, the plot and to read very interesting interviews, go to their website, you’ll get more details about everything. But above all, get the album because all the story’s richness is there…and you really CAN’T miss the chance to listen to that fantastic CD in order to find out all its subtleties !!!! More you listen to the album, more you discover details that you hadn’t perceived before… “The Ereyn Chronicles” is addictive, believe me !!
Honestly, this piece of work was the “surprise of the month” for me and I can be proud of my French “cousins”, haha ! I already can’t wait for the next part of the story…
What about you ?! I cannot rate it differently than 10/10 for its musical aspect !!!
Reviewed by Vikie Martel on May 12th, 2007
