Review Summary: Coming from France, Empyr gives off a great first impression with The Peaceful Riot.
Empyr is a French band united by varioius artists in 2007. Empyr is
Benoit Poher (vocals) and Florian Dubos (guitar) coming from Kyo,
Benoit Juillard (bass) of the French group Pleymo,
Fred Duquesne (guitar) of Watcha and
Jocelyn Moze (drums), a former member of Vegastar. For Empyr's first album, The Peaceful Riot (May 2008), Empyr made the choice to translate all its tracks in English. The Peaceful Riot very hard to categorize in a genre because of the variety of the songs, but ultimately deals around all types of rock. From the sullen and depressing “ birth “ to the extremely fast paced and heavy
Voice Of The Lost Souls. Empyr gets off to a good start in the states with The Peaceful Riot, and is sure to attract a number of fans with their variety of rock
The Peaceful Riot kicks off with
God Is My lover. An adrenaline filled song with a guitar solo leading to a heavy downpour of bass guitar, drums, and heavy vocals. The song keeps you interested with variety in vocals, and seldom repetition. New day has a very strong vocal start leading to a setting of tempo by the drums. Empyr is really blessed with Benoit Poher at vocals, his ability to change his voice to accommodate any song is truly amazing. At points in The Peaceful Riot you may even think there are two vocalists the ability to change from a very high pitch to a screaming low is one of his gifts.
Birth is a very strong in its lyrics, stating “ it's time to build a new nation “ towards the beginning half of the song. Then proceeding to “ you are my vaccine, you are my disease “ and “ wave the flag of change “ to create a powerful statement. Peaceful Riot then sends us into a very fast song, filled with fluctuating lyrics mirroring some of Four Year Strong's work.
Tonight keeps the album very interesting and shows Empyr's versatility with their music.
Reaching the fifth song you may be tempted to ask if the rest of the album will follow suite to the sound of the first couple of songs. It won't. This is one thing Empyr does well, exploring many styles and keeping their music interesting with a hodgepodge of genres.
Water Lily is the only song that goes with the song preceding it, sound wise. The only problem being with
Water Lily being that it follows one of the best songs on the album.
The Voice Of The Lost Souls is the first song I heard of Empyr, it completely entranced me in such a blending of heavy and soft rock. The song has two sets of vocals going on at once, one being a darker sounding and one lighter throughout most of the song. The lyric “ I can't trust myself anymore, I am some one else “ almost makes it seem like he has split personalities through this song. The effect creating an amazing song that tells an interesting story in the meantime.
After those three or so heavy rock songs you will need a recovery song, which
forbidden accomplishes.
Forbidden keeps it relatively slow paced, the song is comparable to
birth with its focus on lyrics and the tempo of the drums.
The one starts off like a indie/rock song and doesn't pick up until quite late, this song is one of the most boring in the album. Lacking any real ups or downs until late into the song ( 2 minutes or so) this is one of the weaker threads in The Peaceful Riot. It is a average song ,but by comparison it is weak.
The Fever comes up and reassures you with a very catchy lyrical guitar combo and a very dark and sullen vocal performance by Benoit. Empyr gives another good performance during
My Empress, but the song is overshadowed by the brilliance of the last 2 songs of the album.
March on is a complete setup for
Join us, giving us a little soft rock before we go head first into a dark metal song.
Join us starts off with a spooky feeling of what sounds like a high pitched keyboard. The song itself would not be too interesting by itself. After following 11 great songs however it puts the icing on the cake.
Empyr has had a great first album filled with great songs. Even more impressive they had all their tracks translated into English, and in my standpoint, this turned out to be a great decision. Empyr's album adds up to 50 minutes, there is definitely no lack of content here. Their variety leads to a great playback album, that can stand the test of time. This “ super group “ of sorts definitely has some chemistry and I am looking forward to future albums.
Recommended Songs
New Day
The Voice Of The Lost Souls
My Empress
Join Us
4 / 5 Excellent
