ALBUM REVIEW: The Solace Of Ancient Earth – Pythia

When you think of symphonic metal, it’s all too easy to cast a mind towards Scandinavia and mainland Europe, but the UK has its own artists who want in on your thoughts as well. Step forward PYTHIA from London. Formed in 2007, May 17th sees their glorious return after five years without a record and with three members making their debut studio appearance – bass player Ash Porter, guitarist Jamie Hunt and lead singer Sophie Dorman. Entitled The Solace Of Ancient Earth, it is the band’s fourth studio album and comes to the world via Golden Axe.

With so much time away from a genre that can feel over-saturated, it goes without saying that PYTHIA need to hit the ground running again to ensure people take note. With this in mind, it’s a shame that the opening two tracks – An Earthen Lament and Spirits Of The Trees – don’t quite hit the mark. There’s nothing particularly bad about them, per se – the former is an atypical symphonic metal track with driving guitars, the latter incorporating a decent stomp with regular crescendos – but it’s nothing particularly spectacular. However, it’s Ancient Soul which cranks things to the next level, adding a healthy dose of power metal with some gorgeous twin harmonies courtesy of Hunt and founding member Ross White and thunderous showing behind the kit from Marc Dyos; the epic feel of the song adds to the overall picture well too. Black Wings and Your Dark Reign are darker in tone, the closest PYTHIA sound to genre kings NIGHTWISH and the fist-pumping tempo combined with an overriding feeling of triumph from the grandeur of it all works well.

Dorman, up until this point, has performed well, although in a genre that is dominated by female vocalists she’s naturally got a bit of a climb if she wants to fully break through into the conscience of listeners. Dawn Will Come, therefore, is going to be a showcase track for her, cutting loose with impressive note control and finally offering a window into the talents which landed her the position in the first place. The second half of the album is much like the first, but the IRON MAIDEN-esque leads on Ghost In The Woods and Dyos‘ pummelling stick-work on Hold Of Winter are more than enough to prevent the record petering out and giving the impression that PYTHIA are going through the motions. To finish, Crumble To Dust is pacey, rhythmic and provides a nice foil to the grandiose, bombastic closer Soul To The Sea, a powerful ending and backed up by another fine Dorman showing.

There isn’t so much of a gap between the likes of NIGHTWISH and WITHIN TEMPTATION and the rest of the symphonic metal genre as there is a chasm, but acts like EPICA and DELAIN are helping to narrow that void and provide serious competition for the bands out in front. On the basis of The Solace of Ancient Earth, it’s clear that PYTHIA will be underestimated at your utmost peril, because they’ll be leapfrogging bands left, right and centre if people aren’t careful.

Rating: 7/10

The Solace Of Ancient Earth is out now via Golden Axe.

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