Hyperion come out of Stockholm and have been playing melodic black/death metal since 2007. After the demo «Blood of the Ancients» (2010) and «Seraphical Euphony» (2016), their second full-length, «Elysia», arrives on 6 November through Willowtip on CD, double vinyl and digitally.
“`Country: Sweden
Genre: Melodic Black/Death Metal
For fans of: Dissection, At the Gates, Naglfar
Ten tracks, from «Rapturous Overture» to «The Primordial Wellspring», with two singles already out: «Iliou Persis» as the official track and «Fides Novem» as a lyric video. The band has said «Elysia» is more demanding than its predecessor while keeping the elements that define them.
The band started in 2007 in Stockholm aiming at a sound that joins harmonic melodies with an epic, violent bulk — and both earlier albums held that line to the end. In between came a demo («Blood of the Ancients», 2010) and a decade of work, with «Seraphical Euphony» in 2016 putting the name on the map of a scene we also followed through Dark Tranquillity’s «The Gallery».
Listen to «Elysia» on Bandcamp:
The record will come out on CD, double vinyl and digitally through Willowtip — a label that specialises in extreme sound. Pre-orders and both singles are already available, and «Fides Novem» comes with a lyric video.
The Greek element here is not decoration: one track on the album tells the fall of Troy and another one is inspired by the Iliad, themes that fit the band’s epic direction and the Swedish scene that gave birth to melodic death metal — a scene that still holds «The Jester Race» as a reference point, as our piece on «The Jester Race» shows.
To our ears, «Iliou Persis» shows a band that knows how to build tension without losing the melody: the vocals stay at the dark end, the guitars carry the theme and the track climbs like an epic narration. If «Elysia» keeps that balance across ten songs, we will be talking about one of the most interesting albums of the winter.
You can find the band on Facebook, Instagram, Bandcamp, Spotify and YouTube. «Elysia» is up for pre-order, and anyone who wants a taste before the release can play its two singles.
See also
For another album built around the Iliad, see Manowar – The Triumph of Steel.
Source: https://hyperionswe.bandcamp.com/album/elysia
