New Finds – LXIX
Yes, this is another rushed post in this series, but at least it includes one actual new find and all three bands are once again from the same country, which in this case is Greece. And I also had a quick look for some other Greek bands, but rushing meant that I only added one more on the list… Which, if I was to stick to the idea of only including bands with new songs released within the past year, I should have probably included here instead of the third one that I did include, since their recently uploaded video is actually for an old song, but I remember wanting to include them in such a post quite a number of times, so I decided to make it easy for myself and go with it this time around. And I guess that can even be said to be a decent balance, one actual new find, one band that was already on the list that has new material and one that doesn’t.
To start with the actual new find, that’s Empty Mirror and, since they only have two lyric videos uploaded separately, Of Man and Elf and Luminous Child, one from each album, the latter being the recent one, those will be my two picks… And they’re the only ones that I listened to right now, so I don’t know anything else, the obvious reason for concern being the growls… But on Luminous Child they’re tolerable and on Of Man and Elf they actually don’t bother me at all, and may even fit. And the overall sound is pretty nice, as are the clean vocals, both female and male. So, while I obviously think that they’d have been much better without those growls, they may be worth listening to even so.
The second band is Fortis Ventus, and my first pick is Chaos, which is their most recent release and apparently also their only actual video. The beginning definitely sounds familiar and I think I should know what it’s probably “inspired” by, but I can’t quite remember at this point. Either way, it’s a good song. And I actually like Shadows and the Soul, which is the one old song that’s officially uploaded and therefore my second pick, somewhat more, mainly thanks to that part with a faster pace, even if the vocals seem a little less secure if you pay attention.
As for the band that doesn’t actually have new material, that’s Elysion, and my first pick obviously has to be that recently uploaded video, for The Promise, even if the song is actually from their second album, released back in 2014. And their most recent album was released in 2023, so the second pick will be from it and I’ll go with Crossing Over. I’d call them a much more mature band than the other two, with a noticeably more polished sound and confident vocals that leave me little to complain about. And, like I said, I’ve been meaning to include them in such a post for some time and now I finally got around to it, even if I didn’t “catch” the moment when they actually had recently released material. But I do wonder why aren’t they listed on Metal Archives…
