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Pride & Joy Music
Released: 24.08.2018
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 22.08.2018
I must admit, I did a double take when presented with the debut album from Norway's Eunomia. Certainly I reviewed their album earlier this year. But no, I was thinking of Eynomia, the female-fronted melodic power metal band from Minneapolis. With a mere change of one vowel you have a completely different band (sort of). Eunomia was formed by vocalist and keyboard player Peter Danielsen in 2011 who, later in 2013, dropped the demo EP The Crystal Sword. With brother and guitarist Marius, the duo have completed their first long player, The Chronicles Of Eunomia Part One.
The album is the musical expression of a tale from the fantasy world of Eunomia written by the Danielsen brothers. Essentially, think Tolkein meets Avantasia who joins Rhapsody Of Fire to fornicate with Blind Guardian. The Eunomia heavy metal is basically classic melodic heavy metal dosed the speed of power metal and grandeur of symphonic metal. (And there's a lot of it: the album is nearly 72 minutes long.) To help them along, the Danielsens are assisted by many guest musicians and a fellow to do spoken word narration. If all this sounds familiar, you'd be right. As wise King Solomon once said, "There's nothing new under the sun."
Nevertheless, The Chronicles Of Eunomia Part One is both epic and bombastic, the very definition of European power metal hyperbole. There's layers of synths, reams of riffs, lavish choral vocal arrangements, and thrilling guitar and synth solos throughout. The story is rather typical fantasy fodder of good versus evil, that requires a magical instrument, in this case The Crystal Sword, to vanquish the Dark Lord. Yes, the Dark Lord. Can we not come up with another name for the bad ass evil guy? Nope. Epic and overwhelming cuts include Freedom Call, Glory Of The King, Stand Up And Fight, and Last Stand. Finally, apparently since there's a Part One, we can expect a Part Two to come. Will you hold your breath?
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With Eunomia, think Tolkein meets Avantasia who joins Rhapsody Of Fire to fornicate with Blind Guardian to birth another epic and bombastic album of fantasy power metal.
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