Apocrypha‘s time has come for Exiled Hope.
Created by multi-instrumentalist Sofia Frasz, 2025 is her third album as an independent project.
We start with the piano of The Summoning, first calm and then overdriven before welcoming the vocals and finally transforming into Gothic Metal-infused riffs when the screams appear too. The contrast between the two vocals is highlighted by a duet that finally leads us to The Day Will Come, where the Symphonic touch is very present, as are the Heavy influences on the leads, making the track quite accessible. There’s barely a hint of saturated vocals as Blood of the Ancients is immediately more aggressive thanks to a frantic first approach, but the track is again more subdued and ultimately jerky before Dreamwalker takes over. The vocalist is joined by Matthew “Metal Matt” Cousins to accentuate the melancholy touch of the ballad thus created, in complete contrast to the majestic Over For You which retains its orchestrations even as it becomes more aggressive and saturated. Brendon “Imperator Mortem” Moran joins the project for Altar Of Moloch, which exploits Black Metal roots with a rather grimy mix, then The Silence Is Deafening again anchors itself in a soaring softness before placing a relatively simple rhythmic to accompany clear vocals and keyboards. The sound becomes wilder before leading into Behold My Shattered Skies, where the musician explores Progressive Metal-oriented tones to accompany her voice and differentiate herself completely from the previous track, with a peak of intensity that slowly descends into Deathslayer. Piano and orchestration occupy the first part of the track, but are eventually reinforced by Black Metal roots for a wave of fury that subsides, then flares up again before giving us a moment’s respite to rejoin Lightborn, which takes up the catchy Power Metal keys and offers them piercing harmonics. The vocals remain predominantly clear, creating an interesting contrast with the energy of the riffs, while Remnants offers a rather moody, albeit melodic, tone that remains entirely dominated by keyboards. The final track, Forbidden Majesties, brings back the violence and other instruments, with a recognizably tortured gothic feel, while the vocalist gives us the full benefit of her vocal range before a final solo.
Exiled Hope‘s diverse influences ensure that no two Apocrypha tracks sound alike, and that’s a good thing! A few wavering moments occasionally break the established rhythm, but the musician always manages to revive the machine.
70/100
A few questions for Exiled Hope’s creator and multi instrumentalist Sofía Frasz for the release of her third album Apocrypha but also the collaborative EP Realm Of The Exiled with the band Steel Forge.
Hello Sofia, and first of all, thank you very much for your time! How could you introduce the band Exiled Hope without using any musical label, such as “Power Metal”, “Black Metal” or “Melodic Metal”?
Sofía Frasz: Thank you for your interest! I would introduce Exiled Hope as a vessel for sincere, multifaceted storytelling that makes universal themes feel personal.
Where does the name Exiled Hope come from, and how do you link it to the music you play?
Sofía: “Hope” is the name of the main character from my 2020 debut album (Exiled Hope). Much of the story follows her exile from her city after she leads an uprising against the tyrants who rule it. The story focuses on different characters and different sub-stories across each album, but Hope is the central catalyst behind the events of the following albums, whether she appears as a folk hero or as an actual character. The name “Exiled Hope” also subtly calls to mind themes of returning to the innocence, fantasies, and escapism that we exile from ourselves as we get older and life progresses. I want my storytelling-focused music to remind my listeners not to “exile” those parts of themselves, and to hold onto the art and stories that make us continually hope for a better world. Hope’s character represents this longing that people try to banish from themselves, believing it’s unrealistic or futile to hope for and work toward something better. This is ultimately what my music is about, on a macro-level.
2025 will mark not only one, but two releases: the collaborative EP Realm Of The Exiled with the band Steel Forge, but also your new album Apocrypha. How do you feel about it? Do you already have any feedback?
Sofía: I’m very excited for both releases, and I want both of them to get the attention they deserve. It’s difficult to do that when releasing two albums in close succession, but each release builds on the other and draws more attention to previous releases. Both albums are far and away my best work released to date, in terms of songwriting, production, and performances. To my knowledge, both albums have already received very positive feedback. I expected them to be polarizing albums that you either love or hate due to the genre-blending, so I’m happily surprised to see that they’re already receiving positive feedback. Not everyone understands my music since I play with a bunch of styles that may not immediately seem like they work together. You either get it or you don’t, and I completely understand if people don’t get it and take some time to warm up to it.
How would you sum both releases’ identity up in only three words?
Sofía: Realm Of The Exiled – adventurous, fierce, proud. Apocrypha – meticulous, shocking, sincere.
How did the creation process happen for Apocrypha? Did you notice some changes by creating alone, compared to the EP Realm of the Exiled?
Sofía: Apocrypha took several years to put together. I took about a year to refine my vocal and instrumental skills before resuming songwriting and recording for Apocrypha because I had hit a wall after Angel Of Greytown (2021) and couldn’t perform at the level at which I wanted to perform on the next album. From there, I used my newly-developed skills to rework most of the album from scratch until I had something that accurately reflected my current abilities and somewhat matched them to my end goal for the album. Realm Of The Exiled was recorded after most of Apocrypha was already done, so there was no learning curve in the way, and my parts were all finished in just a few months. The only roadblocks we really hit on Realm Of The Exiled were coordinating recording schedules for the Steel Forge members and deciding on a mixing and mastering engineer. Of course, when you’re working with a band, everyone needs to agree on the final product, so that took some time as well.
What about the artwork, what were the guidelines you gave the artist, and how does it fit with the music you created?
Sofía: The artwork is an 1834 painting by John Martin, titled The Deluge. It perfectly captures the dark, stormy, chaotic atmosphere that my music creates on this album; this album is a storm of different styles, competing emotions, and deals with the tumult of choosing your own path and finding the truth when the world has set out to deceive you.
About the album itself, your project’s sound is both anchored in Black Metal and Power Metal but how would you describe your own touch? Which bands would you consider as your inspiration?
Sofía: As a person, I feel like a walking contradiction, and my music reflects this; it’s full of stylistic contradictions that sound like they shouldn’t work together, but they do. It really doesn’t seem too out of the ordinary for me because my biggest influences (including Avantasia, Iced Earth, Kamelot, Nightwish, Wintersun, Unleash The Archers, Swallow The Sun, The Foreshadowing, Cradle Of Filth) blend genres very frequently and have often changed their styles over time, so I always laugh when people are surprised by the genre-blending I do. It’s never a surprise to me when bands do this, because it’s perfectly logical if you want to keep your music interesting; wouldn’t it be boring if every band stayed in their own box all the time?
Do you have a favorite song on this album? Or maybe the hardest one to achieve for the album.
Sofía: My favorite song on the album changes all the time, but Deathslayer and Forbidden Majesties might have been the most difficult to record. I couldn’t decide how I wanted all the pieces to fit, so I redid those songs several times before I found a solid stylistic anchor for them.
Where do you find your inspiration to create music?
Sofía: I listen to a LOT of music and think, “how would this song change if it took some elements from this other song, or this other song”? Most of my song ideas start as some iteration of “what if this Power Metal band wrote a Black Metal song” or “what if this Thrash Metal band wrote a Symphonic Metal song”, mixing and matching different styles and techniques until I get something interesting that I would have liked to discover myself as a listener. I don’t understand artists who never listen to new music, because my best and most original ideas come from expanding on and experimenting with all the fantastic new music that’s out there.
Do you think you improved yourself as a musician and songwriter with this new record?
Sofía: Absolutely, yes. I spent almost a whole year just taking lessons and working on my technique as a vocalist and musician so that I could bring my new ideas to life. There is no comparison at all to my previous albums; I’m still proud of those because they’re part of my history, but this is a complete rebirth of Exiled Hope. If you thought you knew my work before… I promise you, you didn’t.
As Exiled Hope is a one-woman band, it sounds hard for you to play live. Do you consider hiring musicians to bring your songs to the stage?
Sofía: No, I don’t see this ever happening. I know other solo projects have done it, but I hate touring and I don’t remember most of what I record because there are so many layers, so it would be impossible to teach these songs to other musicians. It would be a logistical nightmare.
What would be the next steps for Exiled Hope’s future?
Sofía: Album 4 is recorded, a covers EP is almost complete, and album 5 is about halfway through being recorded. I also have another short film soundtrack, Hallowed Paths, that has been complete for a while and will hopefully be released sometime next year or in 2026. And of course, I am constantly refining my skill set and drawing from new influences.
Are there any musicians or artists you would like to collaborate with? Whether it is for one song, or maybe more.
Sofía: It would be really neat to collaborate with some of the influences I listed in my response to question 7 for a song or two, as well as some of the smaller bands that have influenced me.
What do you know about the French Metal scene? Are there any bands you know and like?
Sofía: Steel Forge recently toured with Aephanemer! I’m very proud of them for that, Aephanemer is probably my favorite band from France.
If you had to organize a concert for Apocrypha’ release show, which bands would you love to play with? I let you create a poster with exiled Hope and three other bands!
Sofía: I think I’d choose Vintersea, Aversed, and Seven Spires for that. They’re all close to my style, and I count them among my very long list of influences.
Last and funny question: which dish would you compare Exiled Hope’s music with?
Sofía: Exiled Hope is a salad with a million different things mixed into it; you can distinguish each ingredient, but it’s clearly still intended to be cohesive.
That was the last question for me, so thank you very much for your time and your music, last words are yours!
Sofía: Thank you for your thoughtful questions, I had fun answering these! Please follow me on the following corners of the internet:
Instagram/Threads: @legally_metal
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/024Bd5ViU3F8gRFe9lnCth?si=_P9bXfGqRVS-dSxTk5Nmpg
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/apocrypha/1773669832
My newsletter on Substack: https://exiledhope.substack.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@exiledhope
My online merchandise store: https://www.bonfire.com/store/exiled-hope-virtual-merch-booth/