March of Scylla is aiming for the stars with its debut album.
Following their two EPs, the band made up of Christofer Fraisier (guitar, ex-Taman Shud), Gilles Masson (drums, ex-Ashura), Robert Desbiendras (bass) and Florian Vasseur (vocals) signs with Klonosphère and unveil Andromeda.
We get straight to the heart of the matter with Ulysses’ Lies, a heavy groovy composition for which a video clip has been created, alternating between clean and saturated vocals to strengthen the rhythm’s intensity or on the contrary help it to calm down. Heady harmonics are also present, and are transformed into keyboards on Death Experience, the following track, which doesn’t hesitate to redouble its efforts and bring a more raw touch to the vocals. The jerky riffs easily accommodate the leads before a furious finale, but The Royal Way temporizes with a bass/drums intro that leads into its saturated hurricane and catchy waves of energy. The choirs appear to make To Cassiopeia a very ethereal and almost futuristic floating moment before Dark Matter, where the sound is definitely heavier, even if the rhythm isn’t always violent. The atmosphere becomes tense again with Storm Dancer, which accelerates and sweeps us away in its devastating fury, and will undoubtedly be one of the most unifying live tracks thanks to its massive touch and haunting lead guitar, before BlaAst gives us a moment’s breath. The respite is short-lived, however, as the track once again flares up and remains fairly constant, enjoying a burst of energy before the final that leads into Achilles’ Choice and its explosive energy that becomes rather mysterious from time to time. The drums literally lead the whole band on this track, especially thanks to some more technical touches, while Myrrha follows up without delay with a lively rhythm that is most effective and which the band uses to good effect. We finish in space with Cosmogony and its long introduction, which joins the musicians’ rage, while the vocalist alternates his parts to offer an interesting diversity, as hypnotic as ever.
Inspired by the masters of massive French Prog Metal, as well as other big names, March of Scylla‘s Andromeda delivers the thick groovy sound we love. The riffs are skull-shaking, and I have no doubts about their live effectiveness!
85/100