ELYSION „Silent Scream”

Music: Gothic Rock/Metal
Website: http://www.myspace.com/elysionmyspace
Country: Greece
Duration: 43:52 (11 songs)
Cool Songs: Erase Me, Don't Say A Word, Dreamer

ELYSION from sunny Greece have been around since 2006. At first they tried to make right with a male singer Maxi Nil, but in 2008 they adopted a female owner of a beautiful voice, Christianna. And with Christianna, it took just a short time and the debut album “Silent Scream” is here.

As soon as the opener “Dreamer” started, I thought: “Wow, this is a sound!” Pretty catchy, interesting and clear, just as it should be within this genre. But to be honest, this feeling disappeared after three or four songs, and was replaced by slight weariness. The sound itself is really great, without a doubt, and probably the most interesting thing to find on this record. But after a while I just couldn't distinguish one song from another. There is some variety provided by the guitar riffs, but still based on the same structure, the same tempo… That's obviously not enough. Maybe I wouldn't perceive this if I didn't focus on analysing the music, because this all is quite unconspicious thanks to Christianna's vocals. She is one of the very few female singers, who can sing really well and own a pleasant and likable voice at the same time, no screaking or shrieking to find here. So although usually I'm not a fan of female fronted bands, this was a nice experience.

But there is one thing that annoys me much more than this mild monotonicity. It's the commerciality of the music. The fact that the genre they play definitly shouldn't be marked as gothic metal though having some metal elements isn't a bad thing at all, just a specific feature. It's the exaggerated catchiness and accessibility that makes the band reminiscent of Evanescence and such. But I guess it's not exactly a bad move for a debuting gothic rock band, it could grant them quite a wide base of young listeners in the beginning.

“Silent Scream” is a solid debut album with an interesting cover artwork to find out. Though there are some things that dicourage me from listening to it, it has a potential and surely will be appealing to many gothic rock fans. A good start for ELYSION.

note: 6.5/10

Tracklist

01. Dreamer
02. Killing My Dreams
03. Never Forever
04. Weakness in Your Eyes
05. Don’t Say a Word
06. The Rules
07. Bleeding
08. Walk Away
09. Loss
10. Far from the Edge
11. Erase Me

Line-up

Christianna – Vocals
Johny Zero – Guitars, Synths and Programming
FXF – Bass
Petros Fatis – Drums