I sometimes wonder why I even bother attempting to write reviews as the record label does a great job of doing it for me. I may not quite agree with all of the following comments but you have to say it’s fun. The most impressive symphonic metal album of 2013 is here. Proceeding in the vein of those good old school fantasy stories, The Crystal Throne offers some truly firmament-touching choruses, challenging atonal-classical solo escapades and horizon-wide orchestrations alike. All this is bound up with a map and the tight chronological lyrics where the party travels through the agonizing caves, spacious moors and mountains, all the way to face their final challenge... Are rats capable of defeating a party stumbling in a cave? Can souls be fettered behind bars? Should were-spiders belong to the Amnesty list of endangered species? Is it possible for a lightning to strike at a stony castle tower? Epicrenel provides the answers to these tricky questions with their shamelessly challenging debut album, filling the gaps and expectations of the genre with uncompromising storytelling and high-flying virtuosity. Warning: Contains no dragon ingredients...”
Get the idea? What we actually have is a young band that have done their very best to bring together Dragonforce with Stratovarius, and for the most part achieved just that. If you want soaring vocals, symphonic keyboards, driving riffs and note density to die for then this is for you. These guys can shred with the best of them and this is quite an album given that it is a debut – when thy hit their mark there may well be no stopping these guys. This is definitely a band to keep an eye out for.
www.inverse.fi
