Band:	NevBorn
Album:	Alkaios · Part II · The Peacock
Style:	Post-metal, Progressive metal
Release date:	March 30, 2025
A review by:	musclassia

01. Elis
02. Stymfalia
03. Knossos
04. Tirida

NevBorn refer to their compositions not as pieces as music, but as chapters of a story, with a narrative focus to their songs akin to a movie soundtrack. With such a self-declared outlook, I’m not sure it’s even necessary for me to specify that NevBorn are a prog band.

To be specific, the Swiss ensemble play a style most aptly described as progressive post-metal, with clear resemblance to the works of The Ocean and several bands on Pelagic Records (with Loïc Rossetti having previously guested on one of their releases, it’s not a similarity that NevBorn are trying to shy away from). Other prog influences come to mind, from the Hypno5e-esque cinematic outlook to the vocal phrasings reminiscent of TesseracT, but with that said, there’s no distracting similarity to any one particular artist, and the group exhibit an enjoyable degree of versatility across their new album, Alkaios · Part II · The Peacock.

The Peacock is the second part of a planned trilogy depicting the twelve trials of Heracles, with one song per trial (the first four were covered on 2023’s Alkaios · Part I · The Eagle); as the band’s only prior releases were 2015 debut album Five Horizons and 2017 single-song EP Daídalos, it seems that this new project has inspired a fresh wave of creativity that NevBorn had been in search of. As might be expected from the descriptions in the review opening, these tracks are long and expansive, with an average track length just shy of a quarter-hour. All four songs are in no hurry, as each opens with some form of atmospheric scene-setting that draws from post-rock and/or ambient music, but things begin to vary more once the tracks getting fully going.

Opener “Elis” takes the longest to kick into second gear; after several minutes of ambience, the song opts for clean guitar noodling and hushed vocals for another few minutes more, pretty much reaching the halfway mark before introducing substantial distortion or harsh vocals. Shortly before this transition, the song weaves in a memorable lead guitar motif, and all of the tracks make good use of similar motifs across their runtimes, especially “Stymfalia” (there’s some impressive tapping in the closing minutes of “Elis” as well). When the louder prog comes, it takes a form somewhat akin to Rishloo, but with extensive layering and texturing.

That aforementioned motif in “Stymfalia” is very welcome; the first few minutes of the song do seem to stumble about a bit struggling to find clear direction, but once it gets into the moodier strumming and passionate vocals (one of the occasions where Matthieu Hinderer brings to mind Daniel Tompkins of TesseracT) alongside the evocative lead motif, it really finds its stride. The song gradually intensifies, then fades back before rebuilding, this time having more in common with moments from Pelagial by The Ocean. While “Stymfalia” is very patient in how it ratchets up intensity and tension, “Knossos” is that track most willing to shift early into crushing post-metal heaviness, and the change in pace is welcome, yet it trades it off with having prolonged gentler, cleaner passages later, notably featuring a saxophone solo at one point from guest saxophonist Elori Baume.

The first three songs have their notable differences, but closing track “Tirida” perhaps has more that distinguishes itself from the rest of the pack. There’s something about the tempo, tone and vocals when it gets in its groove that brings to mind the post-hardcore/post-metal fusions of Devil Sold His Soul, and NevBorn pull it off nicely. They deploy some really ear-catching fast-paced guitar tapping, and also explore quieter dynamics in a more delicate and mellow fashion than some of the other songs, featuring dainty clean guitar arrangements and pacy yet muted drum rhythms. Not to say that the rest of the album is gloomy by any means, but there’s a tonal brightness to “Tirida” that makes it a very charming conclusion to the record.

NevBorn demonstrate themselves to be accomplished musicians and writers, striking a good balance between the complexity of prog and the atmospherics of post-rock/metal. Going into the third part of the trilogy, there is perhaps scope for a tad more variety, or for some more compelling climactic moments to songs (the vocals are also a tad more hit-and-miss in their execution than I would ideally like). However, they’ve laid a very solid foundation with these first two parts ahead of the finale.