PHOEBUS THE KNIGHT
“Ferrum Fero Ferro Feror”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

Phoebus The Knight are a symphonic power metal band from France formed in 2020, releasing their debut album ‘Ferrum Fero Ferro Feror’ in 2023.

Written by lead singer Axel De Montalembert, composed by guitarist Adrien Djouadou (Hartlight), and performed by Phoebus The Knight – the band completed by (second) guitarist Adrien Guingal, bass player Noemie Allet (Hartlight), and drummer Guillaume Remih – ‘Ferrum Fero Ferro Feror’ is an incredible sixty minutes and twelve songs of operatic brilliance, dynamic diversity, and epic overtures! For Phoebus The Knight is like no other band I’ve ever heard – yes there’s Nightwish, Powerwolf, Twilight Force, and Marco Garau’s Magic Opera, but ‘Ferrum Fero Ferro Feror’ has much more of a fantasy, adventure, and mystical feel than anything I can immediately think of! Add breath taking orchestral arrangements and movements, a bass voice that would be at home on stage as the centrepiece of any opera, and the inclusion of such diverse musical styles as power ballad, classical, symphonic and melodic death – you have a masterpiece of song writing excellence and compositional wizardry that is simply mind blowing!

The one thing that struck me when I first heard the band, was how deep the singers voice is – Axel De Montalembert displaying the lowest vocal range of all voice types! A bass voice, normally associated with classical music – Axel has placed it in front of a metal backdrop, and the results are astounding. But first – chiming bells, organ keys, and the tension fuelled intro ‘Antelux’ hypnotically draws the listener in, capturing their interest with a steely grasp. And then smacking them round the head with an almighty thwack, courtesy of ‘The Beast Within’ and its majestic head held high swagger – a thundering mid tempo aura filling the air. And that voice! WOW! Over forty years of listening to metal and rock I thought I’d heard it all – but nope, every day’s a school day! The bold and epic nature of the music is absolutely spellbinding, with Axel’s voice the cherry on top. I’m almost speechless!

But that’s soon remedied – for I will always find something to say! ‘The Iron Queen’ takes on the ambience of a solo opera singer standing in the spotlight capturing the audience’s attention with an astonishing vocal performance. And the music, while still metal in feel and nature, could easily be a passage of classical music – the slow burning tension and crawling tempo the stuff of opera. And that growl – was it Axel? I believe so. Bloody frightening – that’s gonna have a few listeners diving for cover! And now for a change of pace – ‘The Scarlet Dance’ picking up speed to become a ferociously fast paced slice of symphonic power metal. For the first minute or so anyway, progressing to become a heavy hitter of the most weighty kind. And with that voice adding a unique slant to the bands sound, ‘The Scarlet Dance’ is a glorious gallop of operatic metal that’ll surely attract opera fans into the Phoebus The Knight universe!

And whether its singing, growling or narrating, Axel’s voice remains low, lower than anyone else I know – the album moving stealthily on with the sinister sounding ‘Semen Pessimorum’. An instrumental that takes the epic and glory nature of metal to an entirely new plane, with the tension and fear climbing to terrifying levels. Even I might retreat a step or two – you know, just for safety! ‘Cause ‘Darkness Will Prevail’ lights up the album with an aura of a child’s fairytale that turns scary, very scary! And with the music booming just as much as the vocal delivery, I imagine many children will seek refuge under the covers. And I know we’re only half way through ‘Ferrum Fero Ferro Feror’ (the album), but I would love to see it performed on stage as a play with costume and scenery changes to add awe to an already awesome story.

Vocal harshness and growls abound freely as ‘Children Of The Night’ foot stomps into sight and marches on with a majestic boldness not heard so far – the band continuing to surprise and delight with unexpected twists and turns. It’s like riding a roller coaster with your eyes closed, not knowing what’s coming next. And the exhilaration levels – simply sky high! At over eight minutes in length, ‘The Queen Of The Black Sun’ is the longest song on offer, exploding into life in a furious frenzy, dramatically slowing down to become a slow burning epic of spoken word narrative – speak singing if you prefer. However, ‘The Queen Of The Black Sun’ has tempo and gear changes aplenty, not to mention the feel and the increasing level of suspense.

To say ‘Ferrum Fero Ferro Feror’ (the album) is a great album, wouldn’t be doing it justice at all – it is a sensational album. An album that moves on with the terrifically atmospheric instrumental ‘Para Bellum’ – the changing mood and feel simply sublime. And the bands mid song take on the French national anthem ‘La Marseillaise’ is just spectacular – utilising a brass fanfare for dramatic effect is pure genius! And if you thought the mood changes within ‘Para Bellum’ were sublime, then God knows what you’ll make of ‘Massacres De Septembre’ – Axel singing in French, his voice at its deepest and lowest! Throughout the album, the story has taken twists and turns, gone this way and that, and now a spoken word narrative courtesy of Noemie Allet – is there just no end to the surprises Phoebus The Knight can pull outta their sleeves! Seemingly not.

The title song ‘Ferrum Fero Ferro Feror’ returns the heavy metal feel to the album, thundering forth at a mid tempo pace, inviting heads to nod back and forward and feet to tap. The band may be a power metal band at heart, but ‘Ferrum Fero Ferro Feror’ (the song) leans heavily in the direction of traditional metal – and as it runs to a conclusion, Axel’s harsh vocals chime in once again. Bringing a fantastic album to a sensational end, ‘The Sword Of Justice’ is moody, menacing, and frightening as it comes to life, adopting a high energy stance as it gets going proper. The fizzle and sizzle oozing from ‘The Sword Of Justice’ is incredible, the symphonic metal side of the song emphatic and dramatic – bringing the curtain down on a glorious performance that has to be enjoyed time and time again. If this was an opera in the popular West End of London, it would be a sold out affair for so many nights I wouldn’t be able to count them all!

Overall, a sensational performance of operatic overtures combined with symphonic metal majesty to create a masterpiece.

TRACKLIST

Antelux
The Beast Within
The Iron Queen
The Scarlet Dance
Semen Pessimorum
Darkness Will Prevail
Children Of The Night
The Queen Of The Black Sun
Para Bellum
Massacres De Septembre
Ferrum Fero Ferro Feror
The Sword Of Justice

https://phoebustheknight.fr/
https://www.facebook.com/phoebus.the.knight/

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

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