PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Scythia are a folk metal band from Vancouver, Canada. The band released their debut album “…of war” in 2009, and this, their second album – “…of exile” is due to be released on 23rd September 2011.
The music has a strong folk influence, and at times a medieval sound, but also has some powerful guitar work blended into it. The use of an Oboe helps give the band’s music a fairly unique sound – there are plenty of folk metal bands around but while several use violins, Scythia is the first one I’ve come across to use an Oboe, and I think the Oboe works really well in the music as well as giving them a unique sound.
“..of exile” would have been described by many bands as a concept album as it is more than a collection of songs – the songs on this album fit together to tell an epic tale. This is definitely an album best listened to as a whole in the right order as you get so much more out of it that way than you would by listening to individual tracks.
As the tale unfolds the pace and intensity of the music changes to fit the story, and as the tale reaches its climax the songs are far heavier than the early songs, and once the climax is reached the music then slows the pace slightly as the tale comes to an end.
“Spirit of the quest” starts with a Deep Purple style organ sound which works quite nicely.
“Voice of the sword” is one of the heaviest tracks here, with a powerful wall of sound from the guitars right from the start of the song. “For the king”, “Fortress” and “Dies Irae II” complete the heaviest part of the album
This is definitely a very good album – well crafted song lyrics tell an epic tale to tie the whole album together. It blends different musical styles – medieval, folk and metal together extremely well. I can certainly see the album appealing to prog fans as well as fans or folk metal.
Rating: 8.5/10
Scythia are:
Dave Khan – Lead Guitar, Vocals
Terry Savage – Bass Guitar
Scott F. Thompson – Keyboards
Morgan Zentner – Oboe
Celine Derval – Drums, Vocals
Track Listing:
1. Prelude
2. Spirit of the quest
3. Sleeping village
4. Forgotten forest
5. Fallen king
6. Voice of the sword
7. For the king
8. Fortress
9. Dies Irae II
10. Hobarth’s Inn
