Elusion is one of the newest bands that you have to discover: expect cool melodic symphonic and female fronted metal from Belgium. This first EP has only 3 songs; but the word only says it all: can’t wait for more!
Let’s first have a look at their bio: after Domingo Smets left his former band Ancient Rites after almost 15 years, he felt the need for a new project to put in all his energy and inspiration. With the first songs written he started to look for the right vocalist, realizing that he was searching for a more melodic and powerful voice to fit the symphonic parts and heavy guitars. So, February 2015 Domingo decided to team up with Evy Verbruggen for this new musical project: Elusion. Other musicians were easily found: Frederik Van Mieghem (drums) and Kristof Degreef (Bass) had been playing together with Domingo over the past years in different projects like Gracefallen and Persephone’s Blade and they too were looking for something new, something different… When hearing the first Elusion songs, they were convinced and as of that moment they are contributing members to the band.
If we listen more carefully to the music we can say that Elusion brings captivating songs with heavy guitars, filled with symphonic melodies that lure you into the different stories told by vocalist Evy. Her pure voice fits perfectly with the music and enforces the atmosphere of each song, while bass player Kristof takes care of the more brutal grunts. The Serpentine Trail reminds me a bit of Delain, Epica,Mercy Isle and a few other great metal female voices bands: it’s raging, melodic, with a cool piano with a women who can sing and reaches easily high’s and low’s. The song has enough variation and proof’s their quality in shaping and crafting a perfect balanced track!
Desert of Enticement starts with Arabic and Japanese influences. I even hear a sound that reminds me of the epic manga called Naruto, where you hear this typical Japanese instrument a lot. Once the grunts jump in and the drums explode it goes into another direction, proving once again their strength! With their last track we even get an introduction by some bagpipes. Façade gets even some effects on the vocals (from time to time some mechanical and cold touch) as for the rest we hear a nightingale that reminds a bit of our pagan goddess from Inkubus Sukkubus but suddenly changes into a more opera minded level and from then on goes back and force between the two styles. It’s incredible and almost impossible: but Evy does it! Wow, what a blast!
It’s clear that Elusion has a bright future ahead and I can’t wait to hear more from them or see them in live action!
