Aephanemer: Utopie

French act Aephanemer release their new album Utopie via Napalm Records on 31 October. I’m not overly familiar with this band's past work, however, it took no time at all for this symphonic/melodic death metal band to make an impression on me with this new album.

The album gets underway with "Échos d'un Monde Perdu", which is an epic and cinematic sounding orchestral style piece which immediately has my attention. This leads into "Le Cimetière Marin" which sees the band showcase their orchestral & melodic death metal approach. I’m enjoying everything I’m hearing here. Epic melodies carried by the guitars, grandiose chordal structures, hard hitting pummelling drums, and quality high-pitched death/black metal vocals. Musically (to my ears at least) Aephanemer sits somewhere between the sort of folk metal / Viking Metal sound of bands like Moonsorrow, Symphony X’s most orchestral leaning works, early In Flames, and Blind Guardian style epic Power Metal. The vocals and song titles are all written in the band’s native tongue, and whilst I don’t speak French, I do prefer when bands stick with a language they feel confident in articulating their vision & message.

The subsequent run of tracks "La Règle du Jeu", "Par-delà le Mur des Siècles", "Chimère", & Contrepoint" all follow suit. I’m impressed at how consistently good this album is. Every track has a strong melodic foundation, and the guitar parts always seem to have a heavy neoclassical and symphonic influence, which gives the album a strong identity.

"La Rivière Souterraine" is a really great instrumental track which strikes me as the sort of piece that would sound great even if unaccompanied, such is the strong emphasis on arpeggiated chordal and melodic approach in the lead guitar arrangement.

The album is closed by the two-part "Utopie (Partie I)" & "Utopie (Partie II)". This is essentially a ‘side-long epic’ and title track cut into two stand-alone tracks. As you might imagine, these are fantastic pieces and close the album out in style.

I often review albums from bands I’ve never heard before, but rarely am I impressed to the extent that I am with this album. If melodic metal with top-shelf playing and composition is of interest, certainly give this album a try, even if extreme metal vocals aren’t usually your thing.

1 Échos d'un Monde Perdu
2 Le Cimetière Marin
3 La Règle du Jeu
4 Par-delà le Mur des Siècles
5 Chimère
6 Contrepoint
7 La Rivière Souterraine
8 Utopie (Partie I)
9 Utopie (Partie II)

Added: October 31st 2025
Reviewer: Chris Reid
Score:
Related Link: Band @ Bandcamp
Hits: 103
Language: english

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