SELENE
“THE RAVAGES OF TIME”
Album Review By Iron Mathew

9/10

Selene are a symphonic metal band from Northern Ireland formed in 2013, releasing their debut E.P. in the same year. The band released ‘Paradise Over’, a six song mini album in 2014 with their debut full length effort, ‘The Forgotten’, released in 2015. The bands second album, ‘ The Ravages Of Time’, was released in 2017.

Showcasing a much heavier sound than their previous releases, Selene still deliver symphonic heavy metal with a soaring vocal display. ‘New Era’ opens the album in a fast paced galloping style, immediately catchy and infectious with a faultless vocal delivery. Foot tappingly heavy and head bangingly addictive, ‘New Era’ launches the album in superb style. ‘The Great Heart’ brings a more melodic feel to the album, with the vocals turning in an operatic style performance, soaring so high they’re simply breath taking. Bustling and brash, ‘Ashes’ rattles along at pace, much more heavy metal than the opening two songs, featuring buzz style guitar riffing, and then all of a sudden the bustle stops, and a thundering mid tempo stomp takes over. This trend repeats itself as ‘Ashes’ strides on to a conclusion. ‘Calm Before The Flame’ is a loud and proud, very hard hitting melodic hard rock stomp. Buzzing guitars and keyboards working in perfect harmony with a flawless vocal performance. I have never really been a fan of the symphonic genre of metal music, especially the higher pitched and screechy vocals that can shatter glass, but with Selene, the vocals are spot on and hang at just the right level for me…

…plus the music is exciting too, breathing fresh life into the genre. ‘Burning Bridges’ is out and out power metal, with the vocals soaring lower than heard so far. Chugging relentlessly, ‘Burning Bridges’ is actually a head bangers dream and will have die hard heavy metal fans the world over vigorously banging their heads to this one. Infusing touches of the progressive metal genre, ‘If Tomorrow Never Came’ swaggers effortlessly on, with the vocals soaring high once again, really high on occasions too. Pace and speed return with the savage onslaught that is ‘Our Regrets’, with a much more “heavy metal” vocal delivery. Enter the chorus break and the vocals spear off in the direction of symphonic once again, but boy what a versatile voice lead singer Shonagh Lyons has. ‘Our Regrets’ straddles a number of genres and will appeal to fans of many different styles of metal and rock.

As ‘Kingdom’ rolls in, there is a folk metal twist giving it life, before the punch and power of heavy metal takes over once again. Racing at speed, ‘Kingdom’ is a savage romp of vigorous enjoyment as it storms on, the soaring vocals at just the right level. Selene deliver passionate symphonic heavy metal with gusto, and quite rightly they should be proud of ‘The Ravages Of Time’ for it is a belter of an album. ‘Wonderland’ brings a much different vibe to the album, keyboards leading the atmosphere, a vocal delivery more in line with the hard rock genre and a rumbling mid tempo stomp that will have you tapping your feet. Heavy on the keyboards and a mellow, wandering feel, ‘This Life’ showcases the exceptional singing voice of Shonagh. Faultless and flawless is about the only way I can describe the vocal performance across the entire album. The ten minutes plus epic ‘The End Of Time’ brings the album to a close and features the highest soaring vocal performance. Beware glasses and windows don’t smash as Shonagh hits the heights that only an operatic soprano can reach. Simply outstanding. As ‘The End Of Time’ progresses, a melodic heaviness kicks in and pushes the song along a mid tempo pace.

Overall, a powerful and passionate album of hard hitting symphonic metal with a soaring and faultless vocal performance.

TRACKLIST

New Era
The Great Heart
Ashes
Calm Before The Flame
Burning Bridges
If Tomorrow Never Came
Our Regrets
Kingdom
Wonderland
This Life
The End Of Time

http://www.selene-theband.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/SeleneNI/

This review is the property of Iron Mathew, Frenzy Fire and Metal Gods TV. It is strictly prohibited to copy any part of this review, unless you have both of the parties’ permission, or are the band/record label/PR company in question. Failure to adhere to these instructions will be considered as Plagiarism and you will be reported to the appropriate authorities.

---