Elegy of Madness – XI
Release Date: 20th October 2023
Label: Scarlet Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Symphonic Metal, Industrial Metal, Modern Metal.
FFO: Rammstein, Arch Enemy, Cradle of Filth, Rotting Christ, Eleine.
Review By: Mark Waight
Italian modern Symphonic Metal band Elegy of Madness have been completely reborn with the addition of superb soprano vocalist Kyrah Aylin to the fold, and XI is the stunning result of this union. XI is the fifth album release of Elegy of Madness’ catalogue, following on from Bridge of Sighs (2009), Brave Dreams (2013), New Era (2017) and Invisible World (2020).
XI is a melancholic and atmospheric musical experience of modern metal, bringing something very fresh and exciting to the table. Elegy of Madness coin XI perfectly themselves with the phrase “A sun ray can always break through the darker clouds. It’s time to rise again from your own ashes” and they have indeed risen again.
Elegy of Madness is Kyrak Aylin (vocals), Tony Tomasicchio (guitars), Marco Monno (guitar), Larry Ozen (bass) and Francesco Caputo (drums).
Instrumental opening track 11:11 introduces us to a futuristic sounding symphonic tune that immediately grabs your attention and heightens your anticipation for what is to come.
Broken Soul is a moody and atmospheric song where we get our first glimpse of vocalist Kyrak Aylin and boy does she deliver right from the off with a very powerful and emotional performance. Some growling male vocals add just a bit of darkness to this brightest of shining starts.
Industrial and futuristic sounding track Hybrid Love offers a bit more grit in terms of vocals with a Maria Brink style sound, fully demonstrating Kyrak Aylin has plenty of ability in her arsenal. A fantastic modern metal song with a twist. Revelation is a full-on Symphonic carnival of sound with a little bit of an eastern flavour to it. The vocals are dreamy, the bass is heavy, leading us to a thrilling climax.
Slow burning and melancholy song Insanity builds and builds with haunting vocals, insane changes of pace and musical depth producing something truly spectacular. The cleverly blended in guitar solo is wickedly cool, too!
Goddess is a more traditional symphonic fare in its setup, with growling male vocals and operatic female vocals opposing each other across a battlefield of mighty fine music. Symphonic metal was built on this stuff!
A lovely strings arrangement opens the curtains for Moon, a soft and gentle song with silky smooth vocals that will completely melt your heart. This song is just so beautiful, it will move you to tears. Portrait of a Ghost is as black as night, with its wailing melody slowly reeling you in and drawing you down into the crypt. If you like something with a touch of the Gothic about it, then this is right up your street through your Iron gates and straight into your cold mausoleum.
Short instrumental interlude A.I. Slavery brings a touch of things to come for us all as we leave the real world for the virtual world. A totally wicked hook kicks off Crawling, a fast-paced and dynamic track with a full-on metal theme continuing throughout plus some sweet operatic vocals. What is not to like?
Final track Legion is just the sort of uplifting composition you need to close an album of this quality out and leave you baying for more. It’s a real firecracker with a super tight band performance. Elegy of Madness have for me succeeded on all levels.
XI is what I would call a black wedding of an album with something old, something borrowed and something new to just about entertain everyone with even the slightest passion for this fantastic genre. It maybe won’t surprise you to know that I already had this album on pre-order, as I have been following Elegy of Madness’ progress for a while now, and I really like the direction they are going. On a more personal note, I would like to hear Elegy of Madness produce some more of the Futuristic/Industrial Metal style tracks which are so much in vogue right now. Highly recommended!
(4.5 / 5)
