Time Signature Slavonic power...

Genre: symphonic metal

Released in 2009 as a follow up to WinterMoon Symphony from 2008, Апейрон, or Aperion is a bit of a mixed bag EP from Russian sympbonic extreme metallers Welicoruss.

Welicoruss take the listener on a journey through quite different and varying landscapes of sound ranging from lush symhonies to industrial dance metal and whatever might lie between. The title track 'Апейрон' is pretty much a melodeath tune with with elements of dark power metal as well as melodic black metal and features some nice guitar harmonies as well as some blastbeat sections with atmoshperic keyboards in the background and melodic guitars on top. 'Blud Flower' is a lush symphonic metal instrumental while 'Flower of the Universe' is an epic symphonic peice featuring a bit of electric guitar. There is also a heavy metallic version of 'Knight's Tale' and 'Слава Рус' combines symphonic metal with Slavic folk metal, and 'Славянская Сила (Elias remix)' is a techno version of 'Славянская Сила' from 2008's WinterMoon Symphony, which is otherwise stylistically similar to 'Слава Руси'.

While casual symphonic metal listeners might enjoy 'Апейрон', 'К Дальним Мирам', 'Blud Flower', and 'Слава Руси', this EP is probably primarily aimed at people who are already fans of the band, who are likely to be more interested in the remixes that it contains than non-fans are. Fans should definitely check this EP out, while a better introduction to the band for non-fans is probably the 2008-album WinterMoon Symphony or perhaps the 2011-maxi Карна.

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)

Time Signature Slavonic power...

Genre: symphonic metal

I am very cautious when it comes to symphonic metal, because it can very easily end up being very, very cheesy. Specifically bands who blend symphonic metal with extreme metal have a tendency to come up with music that just does not appeal to me. However, despite the fact that I am not a big fan of symphonic metal, I know good symphonic metal when I hear it.

And Russian symph metallers Welicoruss' 2008-album WinterMoon Symphony is definitely an instance of quality symhonic metal.

One of the main attractions to this album is the combination of symphonic metal with extreme metal, Slavic folk metal, and power metal. I know, this sounds like a potential cheese-fest, but it isn't. Instead, Welicoruss deliver powerful metal tunes with lush keyboard arrangements as well as layers of symphonic effects combined with strong guitar riffs – some of which are aggressive and potent while others are melodic and appealing. There are also plenty of guitar leads and twin guitar harmonies, and this is not one of those albums where the guitars take the backseat which the keyboards and symphonic effects steal the limelight. Everything is quite well balanced on WinterMoon Symphony (my only beef here is that, in the blastbeat sections, the snare drum is virtually inaudible), and, weaving in and out of different passages, tempi and metal aesthetics the album even has a quite progressive character to it. Also, while featuring both harsh male vocals and clean female vocals, Welicoruss do not fall into the beauty-and-thebeast trap, as the female vocals tat are featured on the album are more of a traditional Russian character than the pseudo-operatic female vocals often head in beauty-beast metal.

Fans of symphonic metal who are interested in hearing a Russian take on the genre – which infuses Slavic music elements into it – should definitely check out this massively melodic yet metallically dark and evil release.

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)