Vermilion Eclipse

After Obscura, I had pretty much completely given up hope on Semblant. It was a step-up from Lunar Manifesto in some areas, but a massive backpedal in others. Seeing as how six years had gone by with some elements outright deteriorating, I figured Semblant was a lost cause. Cue me being on a call with my friends at three in the morning, having expressed my agony for Holographic Universe by Scar Symmetry, which I described as a waste of an hour and a half of my life. It was so agonizing that even my friends who don't listen to metal wondered what the fuck that band did and said that it clearly wasn't melodic death metal. I then decided to go over my less savory reviews to torture myself some more, as the highlight of that day was Soulcalibur VI and frozen pizza. Lo and behold, I found that Vermilion Eclipse had come out a month ago. I braced myself, began silently weeping over the hour long album length, and I joked around with my friends that I'd review the album that night if the single I was going to listen to, "Enrage', was good and sideline it for the next day if it was shit. They took me seriously, and I gave "Enrage" a listen.

The song was fantastic. What the fuck.

Regardless, I simply couldn't stay awake through my listen of the album, so I gave it another go from start to finish in the morning. Make no mistake, the album has its flaws, but it actually does everything right that both Lunar Manifesto and Obscura did- The band had made the album that I desperately them wanted to, and I can safely say that Semblant now seems to have a bright future ahead of them.

While the vocals overall are still (In my eyes) not as incredible or dynamic as they were on Lunar Manifesto, they're still a massive step up. Sergio's mid screams are still a low point, but when he gets high pitched (Like on the closer, "Day One Oblivion", where I actually threw my fist into the air in excitement), it's fucking awesome. His clean vocals are consistently incredible, providing a nice low-pitched contrast to Mizuho's vocals in a more complementary way than the application of his harsh vocals contrasting her clean vocals. There's much more of an emphasis on Sergio being the main vocalist on this album, which is something that can be a bit of a give or take depending on who you are. While I prefer this to Mizuho being the main vocalist, given the massive range of what he can do, I really wish there wasn't a main vocalist dynamic at all. Not only does Mizuho get sidelined aside from the choruses and some verses here and there, but she always goes for much more powerful and pronounced vocals (Aside from on the closer, where she gets much softer, which sounds simply angelic), which was an issue I had with Obscura. Thankfully, her vocals never sound forced at any point, and I'd say that her contributions really go to elevate the choruses, and the album as a whole. The other complaint I'd have about their vocals is that there's a bit of an overreliance on harmonized clean choruses with the two. That being said, they sound absolutely incredible together, with a power metal/symphonic metal feel dominating each chorus that gives off an irresistibly empowering feel. Admittedly, I'm really picky with power metal, as it tends to feel a bit too saccharine and cleanly powerful for my tastes. Vermilion Eclipse gives me a power metal feel in a way that I never knew I wanted so much. Make no mistake, this isn't a Scar Symmetry or Soilwork moment where the songs are built around the choruses, therefore have rather neglected verses. The verses here are generally fantastic too.

If anything, I'd say that the feel of the entire album in terms of sound is one of more energetic power metal with symphonic and gothic tinges, along with a return to form of rather aggressive, high octane melodic death metal. This couldn't be more evident than in "Bloodred Monarch (Legacy of Blood, Pt. VII)", which is probably the high point of the album for me. It is a fucking rush right from the opening keyboards, which admittedly may make a few be mistaken for Amaranthe for a moment. It easily has the most powerful and infectious chorus of the bunch, but Sergio's vocals in the verses have a very power metal timbre to them as well, carrying the energy and flow of the song even when the chorus isn't going. It's easily my favorite song in a sea of incredible tracks.

Juliano Ribeiro delivers yet again on guitars, with nearly every track having inspired, soaring melodies carrying the leads, as well as rhythm sections that chug here and there, but never in a way or a length that feel too generic or core. The solos are phenomenal as well, with the band bringing in session musician, Diego Bittencourt, to help out. I'm not sure if he wrote them or performed them, and my searched lead to what appeared to be leads but ended up being dead ends. I'm not particularly sure what his sound is or what his prior works have been, save for his work as a drummer in a death metal band in the 90s. Pulling a Jesper and Bjorn there, I see. That being said, the guitarwork is just as good as on Obscura, even if there aren't as many clean guitar moments on here. That isn't to say there's a lack of ballads though, which are all pretty damn good.

Thor on drums returns to his greatness on Lunar Manifesto, and it's so nice to see. There isn't all too much to say, just to say that his playing is great, and that whole kit sounds really powerful. J. Augusto is just as incredible on keyboards as he was on Obscura, and even if he isn't quite as prominent here as he was on there, the range of synth sounds he plays and smart placement of each piece both show a great deal of understanding in regards to the entire band's musicianship. Now for something I didn't really talk about before: The bass! Holy fuck, bassist, Johann Piper, is way more prominent than he's ever been. I counted five songs where I didn't even have to try to listen for the bass yet could still hear it, and on nearly all of the rest of the songs, I could still hear the bass when listening in a bit. It has a thick, yet smooth tone that makes me feel like he's using a slap bass. If he is, that's fucking awesome- Regardless, it's fucking awesome, and it's so nice to see that his contributions are finally seeing some love here.

The production and mixing are phenomenal here, with each element getting the proper room to breathe that they all need. Each instrument (And the vocals) sounds powerful and full in the mix, which is rather remarkable. I genuinely have no idea how vocal/bass compression doesn't fuck the album. The only complaint I have there is the guitars getting a bit overshadowed by the vocals in the chorus due to the volume and range of them in the mix, but that's something I can easily get over, as I can still hear them nonetheless.
Edit: So, I was mostly right when first reviewing this, but I didn't realize that yeah, the vocals are far too loud in the choruses. They overpower everything, most notably the guitars, leaving them with a rather squashed feeling. The drums get the least of it, but the rhythm sections are a bit lacking because of it. Despite this, I will not be lowering my rating. It isn't something that's hampered the experience for me, but I can understand why it would do so for you.

The lyrics are much better than the 'vampiric' themes they had, (mostly) going for more of an existential quandary, wondering how one should really live their life if there's no salvation is to be had. Vermilion Eclipse much more 'sentimental' than past albums, for the most part. There are still some of the edgy lyrics of old, which are relegated more towards the back half of the album, but they don't ruin the experience. That being said, their more emotional and sentimental lyrics are far better than the extremely laughable and cringeworthy mystic/vampire/vaguely anti-faith lyrics.

Right from the start, the album fires on all cylinders. "Purified" and "Somber Concern" may be two front half ballads, but only the latter really lets up on the gas a bit. They're both pretty damn good, but I can understand if you're somewhat who hated their hit, "What Lies Ahead". Even then, they get right back into it with "Neverending Fall". "Enrage" pretty much encapsulates what you'd expect to hear on Vermilion Eclipse, and it sounds awesome. "The Human Eclipse" feels like the band's take on the Gothenburg sound (Particularly In Flames, but with riffs), and it sounds fucking intense. Sergio's vocals here have a bit of an operatic feel that is slightly strained and lacking in power, but that isn't enough to make them not carry me away. "Neverending Fall" has an intro that, with the synth lines and Sergio's vocals, gives off a seriously 80s vibe. Then the crushing, somewhat down-tuned guitars come in and make it feel like Vermilion Eclipse's take on "Dark of the Day" from Lunar Manifesto. I would've liked more of that 80s-styling that the song started off with, but Mizuho is more prominent in the verses, sounding a bit like a more operatic Cristina Scabbia, and Sergio gets the chorus to himself, sort of inverting the 'beauty and the beast' formula typically seen in gothic metal. It's certainly more gothic metal than power metal when compared to the rest of the tracks here. "Through the Denial" has a bit of an Amaranthe-styled core chugging, but it works in conjunction with the subdued verses. Sergio's clean singing have the cadence of a late 90s-early 2000s vocalist that I can't remember for the life of me. Meanwhile, his harsh vocals absolutely shine here, taking the form of the rabid screeches of Dave Hunt of Anaal Nathrakh. The two songs after this are unfortunately weaker than the rest of the album, and don't have all too much to note on any front. Thankfully, "Bloodred Monarch (Legacy of Blood, Pt. VII)" picks the album back up how I explained earlier. It is fucking awesome, and as the shortest track (The only one under four minutes), it shows that the band could see that less can be more. This really should've been applied to the last two songs, especially given the album's runtime going above an hour. The closing track, "Day One Oblivion" has an intro that sounds a bit like "Everything is Nothing" by Sentenced and "Heart Like a Grave" by Insomnium (The former of which was more or less taken when the latter as a tribute for Miika Tenkula, the former guitarist of Sentenced, along with the song "Weighed Down With Sorrow" being a tribute to Sentenced as well). They do enough to not only make it distinct, but to adapt it to their sound, and I could very well chock it up to coincidence. And if it isn't, it's still something that makes me happy to see, as it's nice seeing musicians give little nods to other musicians. The track also gives more prominence to Mizuho, with her actually getting to give softer performances in this track. The softer melodies sound fantastic, and it makes me wish even more that she had other softer performances on the album. Sergio's vocals also harken back to how awesome they were on Lunar Manifesto, with him finally giving some more banshee screeches that I fucking loved on that album. I know most people hated those, but I fucking loved them. Hearing it the first time made me throw my fist in the air out of sheer excitement, as I have been seriously hoping to get some of that again since Obscura. We finally did, even if it's just for a couple instances in one song.

Lunar Manifesto set my expectations to a rather middling point, as I loved how dynamic and awesome the front half was, but hated how boring and phoned in the back half was.. Obscura put my expectations to an unbelievably low point, as while they fixed up the issues I had with Lunar Manifesto, the vocals seriously suffered over the six years. Vermilion Eclipse took my despair from those two albums and shattered it, delivering not just the strengths of both albums while avoiding the pitfalls both had, but also adding even more positives to go on. While I couldn't care for at least half of both of those albums, I absolutely love ten out of the twelve songs here, and "Heretic" and "Black Sun Genesis (Legacy of Blood, Pt. VI)" are still better than the middling tracks on both prior albums. It feels like the band honed in on the best aspects of them and what they wanted to do, and they went and did just that. Do they rely on a clean chorus crutch a bit too much? Sure, but I can excuse that, as the other parts of the songs don't go neglected or wanting. Each verse feels distinct, with each one having enough variety when comparing them to each other and to the choruses. They've proven themselves to be more than just the mallcore hacks they were accused of being with Lunar Manifesto, and they've proven themselves to be much more of a complete package in terms of excellent musicianship than what Obscura implied. There's a single pitfall on this album, and you know what? I can accept that. The band completely delivered exactly what I wanted from them when I had absolutely no hope for them to do so. That's enough for me to be happy.

Songs To Recommend: "Enrage", "The Human Eclipse", "Neverending Fall", "Through the Denial", "Bloodred Monarch (Legacy of Blood, Pt. VII)". "Day One Oblivion"
Songs To Avoid: I guess "Black Sun Genesis (Legacy of Blood, Pt. VI)" and "Heretic", but honestly, they're not bad at all. I'd say at least listen once and shelve them if you're not satisfied.