Maryland-based blackened power metal artist EXILED HOPE is excited to announce the release of Apocrypha, the third installment of its ongoing musical narrative, set for release on April 11th, 2025. This twelve-track album follows a new protagonist who seeks guidance from familiar (yet otherworldly) forces as he uncovers the truth about the path to success laid out before him, further expanding the story EXILED HOPE has crafted.

Sofia, the visionary behind EXILED HOPE, comments on the album “The release of Apocrypha represents 3 years of practice, exploration, trial and error, learning, and a lot of overthinking. I started working on this album in July 2021, then realized that I didn’t have the skills I needed to create the music I wanted to create. After I released “Dreamwalker” as a single in April 2022, I took a short hiatus from working on original music to sharpen up my skills, take lessons, and play around with making covers as practice. During this time, I also started law school, which was such a huge time commitment that I didn’t touch my guitar for the entire fall semester in 2022. I started working on music again during winter break, since I didn’t feel like myself when I completely stepped away from it, and had learned better time management skills at that point. That knowledge resulted in the release of several more singles to generate attention for the album in 2023 and 2024, and I can finally, confidently say that I have a cohesive work that I am proud of, after years of nitpicking it endlessly. The songs each have their own unique character, given the long time span over which I nitpicked and tinkered with them, but they also flow together like chapters in a book or scenes in a movie. That’s what I think makes a great album: songs that stand out on their own while carrying the album through their pacing and placement. Apocrypha feels detailed and relatable, yet larger-than-life, and I hope you enjoy the journey of listening to it as much as I enjoyed the journey of creating it. Creating music is about the journey as much as it is about the destination, or the final product.”

About EXILED HOPE:

Multi-instrumentalist Sofia Frasz established EXILED HOPE in 2019, and draws musical inspiration from the likes of AVANTASIA, NIGHTWISH, KAMELOT and CRADLE OF FILTH to name a few. EXILED HOPE’s releases all take place in the same fictional universe and combine to form a dark fantasy metal opera. Each album centers on a character dealing with both an internal and external conflict in this world, and the lyrics explore how they navigate those conflicts. This is intended to provide some kind of escapism through the lyrical world building, while still keeping the songs grounded in real, relatable emotions despite their fantastical setup. EXILED HOPE is working towards the next album, Apocrypha, due to be released April 11th, 2025. Through EXILED HOPE, Sofia has composed music for two short films, Hallowed Paths and What Happens After Midnight, and has collaborated with UK melodeath outfit STEEL FORGE.

It was a great pleasure to have Sofia on the Interview to speak on Apocrypha, and much on her works in Exiled Hope and upcoming plans. Check out the complete coverage on the below YouTube video.

The Summoning
The Day Will Come
Blood Of The Ancients
Dreamwalker feat Metal Matt
Over For You
Altar Of Moloch feat Imperator Mortem
The Silence Is Deafening
Behold My Shattered Skies
Deathslayer
Lightborn
Remnants
Forbidden Majesties