Review – Pythia – Beneath The Veiled Embrace

With their debut record Beneath The Veiled Embrace, Pythia attempt to make a mark for themselves as the UK’s equivalent of those seminal female fronted, power metal/symphonic bands that are more often associated with mainland Europe.

Although a spirited attempt, it does fall somewhat short of the mark, although no one can fault them for giving it a go. Opener Sweet Cantation and the album’s highlight, Sarah (Bury Her), open the record more than capably, but as it progresses, it is a little formulaic, and one dimensional. 

Although blessed with an incredible vocal, Emily Ovenden’s voice does unfortunately, at times, grate a little, and the songs lack the killer instinct of some of their genre peers; Nightwish lead the field for this kind of sound, and although Pythia are more than capable of growing on this effort, Beneath The Veiled Embrace sounds weak in comparison to some of the albums their competition have released.

The songs are not at all inherently bad, save for the aforesaid tendency to grate a little in places. The musicianship is outstanding, the riffs, symphonic blasts, orchestral influences, and all you could want from an album in this genre are there; the only real problem is that although at times enjoyable and listenable, it very rarely treads into the spectacular.

It is a solid foundation for which they will undoubtedly build, but they still have some way to go if they are to challenge the likes of Nightwish, Within Temptation, and the rest, whose European sound is so ingrained into the psyche of what fans of this type of music expect.

Ovenden is clearly a powerhouse, with a vocal not far off the talents of Tarja Turunen, but as a unit, Pythia need time to develop, and to hone their songcraft to write killer hooks and choruses. They need time to develop, and progress their song writing skills to incorporate the same into their music.

As a debut though, this is a solid starting point, from a UK band to watch; I’ve never heard a UK band do this style of music as well as they do, so all odds are on them upping their game next time out, and progressing even more.  

5.5/10