German based Elvellon start out their career with a five track EP, reaching my ears by way of Spotify’s weekly tips. Obviously, Elvellon have taken lots of cues from Nightwish, right down to Nele Messerschmidt sounding like a mix between Tarja Turunen’s theatricality and Floor Jansen’s metalized cleans, but without overdoing it like the former, and without the gruffness of the latter. In fact, Messerschmidt brings her own style, but does sound perhaps a bit too much like those giants. Nevertheless she is certainly a fine vocalist and her style fits the music perfectly. The similarities do not end there, and I’d have full understanding if this was too close to Nightwish for some people. For a full length it might be, but in an EP it works. Elvellon also lacks the male contrasting vocals, but relies solely on Messerschmidt, who handles the responsibility.

Musically, it’s very symphonic and triumphant, with choral arrangements and a keyboard (Pascal Pannen) driven sound that stands to fill the void after Nightwish turned more commercial. Metallic elements are put into place by Gilbert Gelsdorf who adds layers of guitar showmanship, but never goes overboard. His riffs aren’t very experimental, but some leads and solos are certainly not bad, as in opener ‘Oraculum’ or ‘My Wings’. Also worthy of mention are the instrumental parts of ‘Born From Hope’ wherein keys and guitars just complement each other just right. The music, though well written and with no small amount of passion, generally lacks high flying, triumphant choruses. The songs are all epic in sound, but also seems to have something melancholic about them. Not unwelcome per se, but couple it with something uplifting to contrast and it’ll make it so much better.

All five tracks feel somewhat standard, and doesn’t challenge, but still manages not to be boring - actually, standard, but still pretty good. The fifth and closing track, ‘Shore To Aeon’, starts out somewhat reminiscent of something you’d find Serenity’s Death & Legacy (2011) with six minutes of balladry (perhaps just a tad too long), then towards the last few minutes makes an epic finish complete with operatic performance by Messerschmidt and a cool guitar lead that fades out. And it really does feel like it brings it all together; all in all, this EP is not bad, and I’d definitely check out a full length if they get around to putting one out. Fans of symphonic metal should check it out.

Standout tracks: Oraculum, Shore To Aeon

Read the review on the Metal Archives

Lyrikvideo: Elvellon - Oraculum