Whyzdom – As Time Turns To Dust (Scarlet Records)

English:CD-review
  Van Muylem    25 april 2018

Whyzdom is a French Female fronted Symphonic metal (with a real choir) that has been rocking our planet for a while and released some albums (we review the most recent ones), saw them on stage during the last edition of Metal Female Voices Fest in Wieze and really loved them! Soon We will see them at Kraken Metal Rock Fest 5 in Tubize (Ittre), but first let us introduce their new opus:


To start with their new album as more layers as the previous one, the choir sounds more powerful and you need to listen the album many times before you can unveil all the details and the well worked out sound! It’s what they call in French un tour de force!

It all starts with Armour of Dust: slowly building up the tension, letting the music rise, the choir getting stronger and the lead vocals jump in with lots of pathos. When the guitars starts to play it’s like an explosion, but they surprise us a bit by taking down the leash: taking it down, unleashing, taking it down … It’s a very dense and powerful track with a cinematic feel and a symphonic sound that renders the grandeur of this track like it has to be! From This first track it’s clear that the band took another gigantic step forward and got an important upgrade! With this album they join the ultimate bands within this genre! Everything matches: guitar play, drums, vocals, the symphonic instruments, …

Armageddon goes deeper into the cinematic feel and even rages a bit, creating waves and starting fire’s. At some point it slows down and shows a more fragile side of the band and showing off the vocal powers. Fly Away has a certain dramatic feel, with lots of nice changes in the speed and the sound. The choir and the vocals are just great and get their time to show it all off and a majestic way! It feels like as if Wagner was still alive and decided to conduct this band! A more fragile touch comes with The Page, at least until the end that really feels very bombastic and powerful!

Follow Your Heart explodes from the beginning and will be for sure a great one to perform live! Just listen to the hammering drums, the guitar on fire and the magical vocals! Until the break comes and we get a more melodic track. Towards the end it gets an epic feel, getting an amazing climax. Angel of Tears starts very slowly, with an Irish feel until all the instruments jump in and it even gets something catchy. Towards the end we get a fragile passage followed by a big bang. Free as A Bird gets an opera-touch with banging drums and sharp guitars whilst the symphonic instruments are a bit pushed to the background. The song has a certain James-Bond style too. The Mistchild is yet another big bang and an energy driven track. Dust We Are is already the last track: one last blast before we turn to ashes as in ashes to ashes, dust to dust. I feel that this might become their closing track for their upcoming gigs.

Marie Mac Leod (lead vocals), Vynce Leff (guitar & orchestra), Nicolas Chameaux (drums)Tristan Demurger (bass), Régis Morin (guitar), Marc Ruhlmann (keyboards) and Camille (lead choir of the Nereids : Ninia, Azadé, Ségolène and Carole): they all delivered a great job! Of course this was also partially the job of the orchestra and they also deserve shoulder taps and words of appreciation!

Listening to the album feels like sitting in a cinema with full HD, IMAX, … all the modern stuff you can get! Close your eyes and feel it! This album will be in my top 5 of best albums of this year! Their newest album is as strong as their live shows, so don’t miss them!

Kraken Metal Rock Fest