The edge of all I know --- Gwyllion --- 2009 (Black Bards)
Now here's something interesting! A band from Belgium whose name is taken from the name of an old Welsh fairy tale. Hmm. A gwyllion, according to Wiki, is an ugly female spirit that likes to mislead unwary travellers. Sounds nice, huh? Of course, like many creatures of folklore, gwyllions were said to be vain, and if one entered your house in disguise and was treated with the proper respect, it would do you no harm. So that makes this band a prog rock band then, yes? Well, no. Not according to the website
Encyclopaedia Metallum, which describes them as “symphonic power metal”. Yeah, they're fronted by a woman, so expect the inevitable Epica/Nightwish/Within Temptation/Insert band name here comparisons.
Worryingly, this being their second album and having been released three years ago now, there seems to have been no recent activity by this band. EM describes their status as “on hold”, and their MySpace page is so up-to-date that it has a “teaser” video for this album! So where are they, and what are they doing? Or have they broken up? They seem to have received rave reviews, toured, and looked ready to break out, but no-one seems to know where they are now.
More importantly though, what's their album like? Well, it only has nine tracks, and none of them are super-epics, the longest being six minutes. It opens with “In silence enclosed”, with a suitably dramatic start, heavy keyboards, choral vocals, not too much of the guitar --- as yet --- that comes powering in as we head into “Entwined”, and we hear the voice of Annelore Vantomme for the first time. Seems she wasn't around for the first album, which I haven't heard, but she certainly adds something to the sound here, even if her voice is perhaps not as strong and commanding as I would prefer. Heavy fast guitar from Steve Deleu and Martijn Debonnet, with the sound pretty much built on the keyboard orchestrations of Joris Debonnet, which I'm going to assume means he and the guitarist are brothers?
It's a powerful start, with plenty of dramatic keyboard, but no real hook as yet I can hang onto, but this is only the second track, so let's not write them off just yet. Annelore's voice gets a bit more powerful and operatic as the song nears its end, then we're into “Void”, a guitar-driven rocker with thunderous drumming from Wouter Debonnet (another brother?) and some male vocals added by, I think, his brother Martijn, who is the only one other than Annelore credited with any vocals. Interesting juxtapositioning of the vocal styles, though not as harshly different as the likes of Leaves' Eyes or Within Temptation. Nice piano piece from Joris as the song slows down to allow Annelore to really show off her vocal prowess, but only for a moment before it all crashes back into high gear and takes off again on the twin guitar rails.
Another nice piano solo there before the end, then “Rage” makes that seem like plodding along, as it hurtles along at breakneck pace, almost too fast in places. Great piano work from Joris --- you'd wonder how his fingers can move that quickly! Well, if I had much hair left I'd certainly be headbanging to this! It all takes a break about three minutes in for a nice harpsichord-sounding solo and some slightly less frenetic guitar, kind of medieval in its way, then it speeds back up again as it goes crashing towards the ending. “Beyond goodbye” starts off on what sounds like a twelve-string guitar, some steady bass and slow percussion, Annelore's voice nice and clear, then the guitars crash in but it's a million miles removed from “Rage”, much more restrained if still loud and heavy. I wouldn't call this a ballad, no, but it's certainly the slowest and most laidback track on the album so far. Some lush keyboard backing helping to create the soundscape, though the guitars of Martijn Debonnet and Steve Deleu really drive this song, which does help Gwyllion, on this track at least, to stand a little apart from the plethora of female-led power metal and symphonic metal bands.
“The night awakes” has a very Scottish/marching to war feel about it, again slower than “Rage” --- though what could match the speed of that track? --- though still heavy and powerful. Kind of puts me in mind of Thin Lizzy's “Emerald” in places. One thing I haven't really heard yet, rather surprisingly, is a good guitar solo from either of the guys. Or a keyboard one, come to think of it. Maybe that's a good thing, as no-one wants to showboat, just concentrate on doing the best job for the band that they can. Still, a guitarist who doesn't solo..?
There's a lot of seventies prog, well, updated seventies prog to “Closure”, with heavy organ from Joris, a rattling drumbeat and chugging guitars, and a really effective piano melody line, which again sounds quite harpsichordal. It's the longest track, and Annelore really gives her voice its head (as it were) on this song, her lungs certainly capable of delivering a powerful vocal punch. Nice sort of “Smoke on the water” riff, too, with the twin guitars really getting into a Lizzy vibe as well. Good stuff. Rolling keys from Joris keeps things going, then it all ramps up again as it hits into the last minute, but it finishes disappointingly abruptly, which I think ruins the ending.
Thought we were getting a ballad there, as “A thousand words” opened with violins and strings, but it quickly kicks into life and launches into another power rocker, not as fast as “Closure”, to be sure, but still nowhere near a ballad. Nice dramatic punch to it though, and then the album ends with “Angelheart”, which opens on beautiful soft piano and could very well be the ballad I've been waiting/hoping for. Would certainly be a nice way to end the album, which hasn't really taken much in the way of a pause for breath all through its length.
Okay, well we're almost halfway through now, so I'm going to go out on a limb and label this the ballad. It seems to feature only Joris and Annelore, and is really nice and laidback, a lovely sort of coda to all the mad frenetic metal that's been going on, and it's without doubt a real vehicle for both Annelore's voice and Joris's excellent and flawless piano playing. A lovely end to what, it has to be said, is a fairly generic album. Not bad, but nothing terribly special.
The problem is that there are so many of these power/symphonic metal bands around now, and so many with female singers, that many of them do sound very similar. There's nothing to really mark Gwyllion out from the others out there, and nothing to raise them to the levels of the likes of Nightwish, Edenbridge or Epica. But that said, they're not a bad band, just not one that leaves you with any sort of indelible memory of them after the music has faded.
The question remains: have we seen the last of this band? Unfortunately, having now listened to their album, I have to say that I'm less bothered whether we have or not.
TRACKLISTING
1. In silence enclosed
2. Entwined
3. Void
4. Rage
5. Beyond goodbye
6. The night awakes
7. Closure
8. A thousand words
9. Angelheart