Album Review: Pythia – The Solace of Ancient Earth
The problem with symphonic metal is that it almost insists on a massive budget from the offset – orchestras, strings, choirs…they don’t come cheap y’all. Pythia may not have the London Philharmonic on speed-dial like Nightwish and co but that has never got in their way of producing some genuinely epic power metal and conjuring some haunting atmospheres. Their anticipated fourth opus ‘The Solace of Ancient Earth’ only serves to solidify their position as one of the leading lights in the British symphonic metal scene.
Leaving only drummer Marc Dyos and guitarist Ross White as original members, it was all the way back in 2015 that Sophie Dorman replaced Emily Ovenden as vocalist. Anyone experiencing Pythia on the live circuit will have been assured that Dorman is a worthy replacement with her higher register not too dissimilar from Ovenden’s herself. The rest of us have had a lengthy, almost half-decade wait since their last album release but fear not – Sophie certainly does not disappoint. Not only do her vocals fit beautifully with the new songs (as well as the back catalogue, one would imagine), her lyrics also fit the Pythia style perfectly and the record sits as a logical progression from their 2014 release ‘Shadows of a Broken Past’.
That isn’t to discredit ‘The Solace of Ancient Earth’ as more of the same, it’s refined and it’s improved. Some of the bands best work sits within this record – the enchanting verses of ‘Ghost in the Woods’, the immediate stand-out ‘Ancient Soul’, and whilst ‘Hold of Winter’ could be one of their most epic tracks yet, ‘Black Wings’ breaks up the record in bringing some harsh, crushing riffs to the fore.’Shadows of a Broken Past’ cemented Pythia’s sound and took them to the next level musically and yet many fans were left worrying it may have been their swan song. Returning after a number of years, establishing themselves with a new vocalist…the path to this records release can’t have been easy but in offering up their strongest release to date, Pythia have proved that the wait was worth it all along.