Hail Spirit Noir - Eden in Reverse (2020)^{Release ID: 21528}

For Hail Spirit Noir, a heavy metal band from a region in Central Macedonia, Greece, they have shown a lot of potential throughout their previous output in the last decade. Starting off as a black metal outfit with psychedelic elements, the band flipped their script with 2016’s Mayhem In Blue as they added progressive/avant-garde elements into their work. Well, maybe that isn’t fair; these elements were always present, but now the band was pushing them to the front of their work.

Eden In Reverse takes this transition another step further as many of the black metal elements have been discarded for more “traditional” progressive metal tropes. The band's biggest selling point is their use of analog synthesizers as melodic framing devices. Some might find this sound alienating, but the implementation is executed strongly. They do provide some very sticky hooks, while the guitars provide some warm chord progressions. I will admit though that they can become overwhelming at points, especially on the closer “Automata 1980”. The bass and percussion work is balanced out pretty well overall in the mix. I will say that the weakest element is the vocalist. There are some decent moments, but most of the time they feel very monotonous.

The band's sound is a little bit hard to pin down. I already mentioned off the top that this band started off with black metal tendencies, and most of those are absent here. But the synths from those early days are still present, providing a spacey environment that is not grounded. The two early comparisons that I made were to mid 2000s Opeth, as well as the same stylistic transformation that Borknagar made in the last decade. Both of these are good sources to aspire to, and the synths once again do provide some originality, but I think that the band could have gone the extra mile to make themselves stand out even further.

As it is, I did like Eden In Reverse. The transition from extreme black metal to psychedelic, progressive metal was pulled off well with some positive rewards. But the feigning identity may be to this band's detriment in the future.