REVIEW: ELYSION "Bring Out Your Dead"

The Greek Gothic Power Metal band returns after around 9 years with a new effort “Bring Out Your Dead”. The core of the band has returned for their third full-length album.

Since their last album, there’s probably ten times as many bands playing a similar style with a female lead. So how do you stand out nowadays? In my opinion you write great songs and the rest will take care of itself. That’s exactly what ELYSION has done on “Bring Out Your Dead”.

The term “Gothic” and the album cover might give the impression the album is heavier and darker than in actually is. While it is quite heavy at times, there’s beautiful and powerful songs like “Brand New Me”, “This Time” and “As The Flower Fades” that show the bands abilities to write radio-friendly songs.

Christiana Hatzimihali sounds amazing again as she proves to be as strong of a vocalist as anyone in the genre. Great voice control, she knows when to belt it out and when to pull back, very emotional singer who could most likely have success in any genre. But we’re glad she’s doing Metal!

The band as a whole is amazing, they really sound like a cohesive unit. Lyrically one of the stronger efforts I’ve heard lately too, they avoid the cliché stuff but still make it relatable, it’s sometimes difficult to do but they sound smart and accessible at the same time.

Musically too, a similar situation, they have some complex material on the album, but generally the songs are very easy to listen to and follow. As much as I love Progressive Metal, sometimes the genre forgets to write great hooks. ELYSION has managed to write songs that are musically pleasing, but choruses that you remember as well.

The stronger tracks in my opinion are the opening song ‘Blink Of An Eye’, the first two singles ‘Crossing Over’ and “Raid The Universe’. ‘This Time’ could be on Active Rock radio in the States right now. ‘Eternity’ closes the album out and it’s probably the most epic song on the album.

All things considered I’m giving the 8 of 10 “Flaming Fists”. The production is superb, the writing and musicianship are amazing. There’s a slight lack of creativity on a few of the slower songs, but they could end up being fan favorites in the end, and this is only mild criticism at best. Overall, excellent album that extends beyond the boundaries of the genre, I think they’ll find a wide variety of music fans appreciating their work.

Album track listing:
1. Blink Of An Eye
2. Crossing Over
3. Far Away
4. Buried Alive
5. As The Flower Withers
6. Raid The Universe
7. This Time
8. Brand New Me
9. Blue Seasons
10. Eternity