voila_la_scorie It’s only been a couple of days since I received my copy of “Abyss” and I am sure without a doubt that I haven’t properly heard the album yet. Nevertheless, I’ve been reading reviews and interviews and watching videos with Britney's commentary in order to get an idea of exactly how monumental this album is supposed to be and to prepare myself.

Unleash the Archers released their fourth full-length album, “Apex”, in 2017. It was a concept story about a character named Immortal and a nemesis named the Grand Matriarch and I think something about a battle for the souls of people. I first heard about the band on a video on Banger TV’s YouTube channel. I checked out a couple of songs, thinking UtA was pretty good. Then I heard “Awakening” and I was blown through the stratosphere. I hadn’t really shown much interest in power metal until I heard that song. Even now, after picking up a few of power metal’s classic albums and bands, that song remains my favourite.

So, “Abyss” is the sequel to “Apex”. Immortal’s saga continues and the Grand Matriarch is still out there. I’m afraid I haven’t really followed the story, but I heard there’s a graphic novel series in the works. The first track I heard was “Faster Than Light”, which I heard while enjoying the humorous but a little dark video of the four runners and their race against death. The song exhibits the high speed, high precision playing of guitarists Andrew Kingsley and Grant Truesdell as well as the incredible drumming of Scott Buchanan while Britney alternates between tension-filled vocal deliveries for the verses and a melody that will have you soaring amidst towers of cumulous clouds for the chorus.

That’s enough preamble. Let’s get on with the album.

“Apex” has been praised by many, calling it that album that delivered a solid but non-exemplary heavy metal band of mixed subgenres into the eyes of the global power metal community. Indeed, that album seems to have so much praise on the Internet that it could be an album UtA could never top. Whether they did with “Abyss” or not is up to the listener, but the band has certainly pushed themselves and their sound even further. While the charged, high-tech, power metal style they executed so brilliantly on “Apex” is here is spadefuls (I’m already considering “Faster Than Light” to be on equal grounds of excellence with “Awakening”), the band has approached this album as a big production. They even brought in Flesh God Apocalypse’s Francesco Ferrini to add orchestral contributions for the closing track, “Afterlife”.

You’ll certainly notice the addition of keyboards, sometimes quite subtle as a supporting instrument, other times very much to the forefront as in “Through the Stars”, which sounds like a late eighties track by some Swedish band like TNT or Europe or perhaps a bit like Queensryche with keyboards. There’s a hefty use of keyboards in the title track too, though that one still keeps a power metal pace and feel to the music. Tracks like “Legacy” and “Return to Me” have such a big production quality that I’m really reminded of Devin Townsend Project albums like “Epicloud” and “Sky Blue”.

Probably the biggest surprise here is the second last track, “Carry the Flame”, yet another late eighties-sounding track like one of Whitesnake’s or Lita Ford’s melodic mid-tempo power rockers except that this track is a duet between Britney Slayes and growler/screamer Andrew Kingsley (guitars) who is singing with clean vocals. Seriously, if you love late eighties/early nineties melodic hard rock like Joe Lynn Turner, Harem Scarem and the likes, you’ll be in heaven. Me, I’m not totally keen on it usually but I can’t deny that they have pulled it off extremely well.

There are some reasons why fans of the older style of Unleash the Archers might not like this album and for those same reasons, some power metal fans and even metal fans might not like this album - big production and keyboards being stand out features. My opinion is that all the work and effort they put into making this has really paid off. I like a band that pushes themselves in new directions and doesn’t shy away from trying new things. I wouldn’t want a whole album of “Through the Stars” or “Carry the Flame”, but songs like that nestled in between other tracks like “Legacy”, “Faster Than Light”, “The Wind That Shapes the Land” and “Afterlife” make for a diverse album with lots of texture and atmosphere.

I’d love to give this album five stars but something is holding me back. Will the synth wave influence in a couple of tracks eventually taint my opinion of this album? Or will I tire of the big production sound? Maybe or maybe not. When the dust has settled a little more, I might just come back to this review and tweak my rating a half star this way or that.