Byron – The Omega Evangelion

Byron
The Omega Evangelion
Goatmancer Records
March 26, 2021
41:42

There is something new from Finland. The melodic Heavy Metal band Byron was founded as a one-man studio project. In the meantime, however, a full line-up has come together, at least for the studio recordings. And they are established musicians who have previously played with Church of Void, Horna and Battlelore. The band is so new that it has not yet been included in the Encyclopaedia Metallum. But what is not, can still become.

Byron mixes its eclectic sound with influences from various genres, such as occult rock and doom, topping it with themes and imagery of the arcane and the occult.

That’s what it says in the email I received. And of course that makes you curious.

The sense or nonsense of intros can be argued about. The nameless intro of “The Omega Evangelion” is certainly far less annoying than so many others, but is it necessary? I don’t know. The singer already starts here. And the absolutely seamless transition to the first regular song on the track list “Through The Eye Of The Nightingale” suggests that this was just artificially created. Actually, this is ONE song. Speaking of the singer. Already at the first hearing I thought, you know this voice. Right, Johanna Eteläkari is also the lead singer of Neon Angel (“Neon Light District“, 2020).  Unfortunately, the e-mail didn’t mention that. A nice classic metal song with a slight alternative touch. But doom was also promised. And that follows on the heels of “Amalthea”. Calm, almost majestic, with lower tuned guitars. Harsh growls (Christoffer Frylmark?) instead of the singer’s snotty rock voice. I like the guitar solo towards the end. “Corn Drought And The Lord” is more rocking again. Johanna shows a slightly different voice colouring with her clean vocals. And the constant change between rock and doom continues with “October”. Epic Doom of the brand in the footsteps of Candlemass. Here the female singer is accompanied by male clear vocals (Magus Corvus?). The contemplative and beautiful doom ballad “Oasis Of Tranquility” follows, where the tempo picks up a bit in the middle section. “Night’s Watch” starts with a strong bass line and rhythmic drums. But shortly after, the lower-tuned guitars, which accompany the clean male vocals, are roaring here as well. Reminds me a little of early Black Sabbath. The finale is the instrumental doom rocker “Over The Wall”, which ends with a classic fade out.

The colourful album cover actually suggested something bad. Obviously, a painting. It is supposed to represent something secret or occult. However, the music on the album is much better than the cover artwork. Byron want to revive the times of classic Doom Rock/Metal. And the first attempt, i.e. the debut album, sounds very promising.

Byron – Corn, Drought And The Lord (official single): https://youtu.be/Z2XihFNIFGc

Lineup:

Johanna Eteläkari – Vocals
Christoffer Frylmark – Vocals
Jaakko Puusaari – Guitars
Jyri Vahvanen – Guitars
Johannes Lahti akak Byron Vortex – Bass, Guitar, Drums, Piano
Magus Corvus – Guest Vocals

Track list:

• Intro
• Through The Eye Of The Nightingale
• Amalthea
• Corn Drought And The Lord
• Oktober
• Oasis Of Tranquility
• Night’s Watch
• Over The Wall