Detailed Reviews [Cymoryl - 2003 - "Strange Evocation"]

Prolusion. To all appearances, "Strange Evocation" is the debut album by the French band Cymoryl.

Synopsis. I am very much pleased with Cymoryl's first effort. The music on "Strange Evocation" is original, complex, and very interesting and is filled with a wide variety of essential progressive features typical for genres, within the framework of which the band works. The predominant stylistics of the album is Classic Prog-Metal with pronounced elements of Symphonic Art-Rock, though there are only three tracks here: Futile Things, Eternal Being, and Soldier of Shame (1, 7, & 8) where the quantity of heavy textures notably exceeds that of mild ones. Purely symphonic arrangements are featured on each of the eight songs presented on "Strange Evocation", though the core tracks of the album: the two parts of Strange Evocation, My Duty, Lunacy, and Exile (2 to 6) are especially rich in them. Also, each of these five songs is notable for light shades of music of the East and contains episodes where there are only the interplay between passages of piano and those of either acoustic or semi-acoustic guitar with and without vocals. Cymoryl have a passion for the odd meters and complex stop-to-play movements, so they use them practically everywhere on the album.

Conclusion. It's always great to hear a contemporary band playing an original simultaneously complex Progressive Rock. And even though "Strange Evocation" is quite a long album, there is almost nothing superfluous on it. Recommended.

VM: Agst 6, 2003