Ithilien - Shaping the Soul (2017)^{Release ID: 65307}

One of the things I love about metal is the diversity. When different genres come together, they bring some uniqueness to the table, creating a sweet feast. And one band that kinda do that is Ithilien. In their second album Shaping the Soul, these Belgians decide to do something that was unusual at the time, mixing together folk metal and metalcore to make... folk-core! And this album came out 4 years after their more melodeath-oriented debut.

Throughout this thunderous 10-song 50-minute offering, expect some Eluveitie-esque epic folk metal with more hardcore riffing, bass, and vocals. There's still some of their earlier melodeath here and there, only in smaller chunks, leaving most of the heaviness to their modern metalcore side.

"Blindfolded" starts the album with a slow march of guitars and Celtic instruments, then when the screaming vocals enter the picture, the drumming tempo really speeds up. This is basically the kind of soundtrack Game of Thrones needs for their enemy-slashing battles. And when the mid-paced folk sections come back on, they're for getting hammered, partying, and simply headbanging to the loud heaviness. "Lies After Lies" continues that pace with added flute. It's more emotional while still having that heavy energy. The title track may be the closest we have to their melodeath roots. Everything's so frantic with bursts of melody and the usual background Celtic instrumentation. This killer opening group of tracks reaches its peak in the next track...

My favorite track here, "Walk Away", is the band's longest song at nearly 8 minutes. Slow folky melancholy is its main purpose, sounding epic without having to resort to much metal. The emotion is sadly lost in "If Only", which has nothing but hollow filler. The interlude "Emma" nice and relaxing but doesn't do much either.

"Edelweiss" is named after a flower in Switzerland, though the song's relation to Switzerland has more in common with Eluveitie, complete with heavy raging fire. Another exceptional track is "Hopeless". There's more variation in the vocals and atmosphere, and maybe they can have more of that in their possible next album. "The Dive" explodes in melodic rage, though I feel like there could've been slightly more to ignite. "The Bear Dance" is a fun instrumental worth a LOTR-style victory dance party.

All in all, Shaping the Soul is a better Ithilien album. This folk-core sound with small melodeath doses is quite fun and unique. And there's barely any of the repitition the debut has, other than that small mid-album slump. This should get metalheads interested and on the edge of their seats for their next album to come. Very soon, I hope....

Favorites: "Blindfolded", "Shaping the Soul", "Walk Away", "Edelweiss", "Hopeless"