XAON - Solipsis

In 2019, Xaon is back with their 2nd album somberly entitled “Solipsis” available through Mighty Music, bringing the band's grandiose aggressiveness to a whole new level, pummeling their way through a cataclysmic atmosphere while reaching a new majestic apotheosis. This album released in the spring, and after the release, the band toured across Europe with Septicflesh and Krisiun while continuing to prove themselves as an upcoming force around the metal world.

Opening the album with ‘’Monolith’’ I can already hear this is going to be a great album. I am heavily impressed by the vocal range of Rob, the low notes around the five minute part, oof. That's good! The track itself takes a bit too long for my liking, we get to hear the chorus a million times. However the have already impressed me with the first track, I hope it stays the same with the rest of the songs. ‘’Carillion’’ is just as great as ‘’Monolith’’. There are a few more symphonic parts, with clean vocals but I really like the diversity in that. It showcases that the band is versatile!

‘’Solipsis’’ starts with awesome heavy guitar riff, I’m already happy with the simple stuff like that. When the orchestra comes in it is even better, and then with the very, very small bass solo it is finished. The song is awesome, and I think it is my favourite! But there is more to come, ‘’Mobius’’ is next on the list. This one has a very long intro, but other than that it is simply awesome same goes for ‘’Cipher’’. ‘’Eros’’ started off as a ballad type of song, but slowly progressed into the death metal that I am used to from Xaon by now. I do prefer the growling vocals, although the clean vocals are superb too. 

The melody in ‘’Beast’’ is extremely nice, I hear a lot of symphonic metal influences there. But when that double bass comes in, you best believe it is not going to be boring. The combination of these two is pure gold! ‘’River’’ is an instrumental song, with here and there some spoken words. I actually expected a track like that to be a bit earlier on the album. ‘’River’’ fades in seamlessly with ‘’Mask’’. Another great track if you ask me.