Empyrium - Über den Sternen | Review

It begins softly, with the somber plucking of strings as many hundreds of folk records have begun before. Über den Sternen’s opening guitar line is understated and gorgeous, bolstered by subtle violins after several measures. Immediately a comparison to folk/doom legends Agalloch springs to mind, but it doesn’t last. Whereas Agalloch have always maintained an earthy human edge to their folk passages, Empyrium build layer after layer atop what could have been conventional German folk tunes until they blossom as bombastic neofolk meets heavy metal. Über den Sternen evokes nature aplenty, but compositionally this is a work of style and flourish and flair. Perhaps that’s antithetical to the purpose of folk music in some way, but when it’s done with this much aplomb no one can say it isn’t at least fun.

Thankfully, it’s more than fun. Über den Sternen is, start to finish, an album of expert, layered songwriting that never seems to fold up into a single dimension. Soft acoustic guitars effortlessly give way to apocalyptic climaxes and they to dense instrumental dances. The vocals are an operatic baritone, sometimes drifting into a husky higher pitch or even a snarly growl over the most metallic portions, but always the perfect complement to the music.

Opening cut ‘The Three Flames Sapphire’ is classic neofolk played to its fullest, but it swiftly gives way to ‘A Lucid Tower Beckons on the Hills Afar’, which spends its first half on anthemic epic metal. ‘The Oaken Throne’ is neofolk at its most cinematic and vocally driven, a track that could easily underpin a scene in many an epic fantasy flick. By the time the title track closes out the record we’re deep in a ten minute dark doom behemoth and we’re none the wiser to what should be the absurdity in such a stylistic shift. Empyrium effortlessly compose all eight tracks with a profound eclectic consistency that we can arrive at such disparate places without even noticing.

Empyrium are not newcomers and the prowess they show on Über den Sternen can only have come from a band that’s been honing their craft since the mid nineties. To be sure, it’s a far cry from the more metal-centric fare of those days, but the wild, spreading roots of their career is plain to see in these songs. This is a record that can only have been made by a band either near or at the apex of their artistry. Woe be to thee who would follow in their footsteps. (9/10)

Brett Tharp

Band info: www.facebook.com/Empyriumfans