PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
This three track E.P. marks the bands first release since the mini album ‘Wilderness’, which saw the light of day last summer.
I remember remarking then, how technically tight and adept this band were, a trait that has been happily brought forward with this new material. Japan, at the moment, seems to be something of a hotbed for Metal bands, and not in the traditional sense either. Elüpia are a very forward thinking band, and seems totally at ease switching tempo and styles, all carried along with Nene’s immense and very striking Soprano vocal.
The E.P. kicks off with ’There We Go – The Hypnotising Forest (Second Movement)’, a song that starts sedately enough with its piano/keyboard intro, before kicking in with a solid Symphonic Metal riff, which then alternates between quieter passages, and, I might add, a rather catchy chorus to cap things off.
Second track, ’Sorceress! – The Hypnotising Forest (Third Movement)’ is an altogether darker composition, generating images of whirling dervishes and spells amid the dark forest, with its swirling and soaring elements, and Nene’s voice belting out notes that I never knew existed. Very much a storytelling track, it compounds the difficulty I have in placing the band in any one particular genre.
The third and final track ’A New Page – Departure Mix’ is possibly, the most accessible and commercial sounding of the three, a much softer vocal approach and a jazz/funk fusion current 
flowing beneath an excellent drum sound and deceptively powerful riff, make it my own personal pick of the three on offer.
Elüpia really are a band worth checking out, a band you almost certainly wont get your head around on the first listen but I urge you to persevere, the end result is well worth the effort.
Elupia are;
Hisa – Piano
Mats – Bass
Nene – Vocals
Louisca – Guitar
Yuvica – Organ
https://www.facebook.com/elupia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPecdszabPI
