Album Review: Empyrean Fire – Deliverance
Reviewed by Richard Oliver
As we approach the Winter Solstice we hit the halfway point of the winter season and things should start brightening up and warming up. One band that aims to heat things up are Empyrean Fire with their self-released debut album Deliverance. Empyrean Fire hail from the alluring forest of the Northwest or Portland to be more precise and are a three piece symphonic black metal band.
Deliverance is an album that is conceptually based upon the works of Milton specifically Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained after both were read by frontwoman Tricia Myers. Musically it is a melodic and symphonic black metal album with nods to bands such as Dimmu Borgir, Emperor, Dissection and Dark Funeral. It also has influences from thrash and death metal especially in some of the riffs whilst also owing a lot to gothic and doom metal especially in the atmosphere and some of the morose melodies throughout the album. The vocals by Tricia are a mix of reverb laden blackened shrieks as well as a healthy use of clean vocals with both vocal styles being very effective in their uses. The majority of the music is performed by Jason Yorke who performs guitars, bass and drum programming whilst the synth work is handled by Brian Rush. The album itself is spread across seven songs with opener Proclamation being a synth led intro before the band unleash their full force on Gathering Storm which is a heady brew of savage riffs, dense synths, blackened screams and alluring atmosphere. The most effective songs are those which play to the more melodic and atmospheric side of the band such as the fantastic Descent and The Siege both with a heavy use of clean vocals whilst album closer Final Battle is a sprawling epic which plays to both the savage and symphonic elements in the bands sound.
Deliverance is a extremely confident, well composed and well produced debut album and certainly had me impressed. Empyrean Fire play to their symphonic black metal influences whilst also incorporating a number of different sounds from other metal genres. Songs such as Descent and The Siege definitely had me wanting to hear more and Empyrean Fire are definitely a band to keep an eye on. A very impressive debut.
