Æxylium - Myth Of Mankind - review
Æxylium - Myth Of Mankind - review
Tracklist
01. Fontes Et Omnia02. The Queen
03. Hexe
04. Into Oblivion
05. In Sorrow
06. Myth Of Mankind
07. Eclissi
08. Wild Hunt
09. Surrender
10. Northern Lights
11. Eternity
A review by
tominator May 27, 2025
Some of you might not know Æxylium all that well — and to be honest, I didn’t either until a couple of weeks ago. I saw their latest release pop up in the review list, and was quite intrigued when I saw them advertised as a folk metal outfit; given that I’m on a bit of a folk streak in terms of reviews, I thought this one would fit in perfectly.
Now, I have probably never listened to as much folk metal as I have done in the last couple of months, between the reviews I did for Trold and Elvenking, and in revisiting some of their previous work as a baseline, I have been listening to quite a bit of Eluveitie as well.
One of the first things you’ll notice when listening to Myth Of Mankind is that Æxylium have chosen a stylistic approach very reminiscent of the latter band I mentioned. This is not only due to a similar approach in terms of vocal styles, but also the music itself. This is most obvious when you listen to some of the choruses. Compared to bands like Trold and Elvenking, Æxylium tends to lean less on that power metal approach, instead opting for choruses that have a good flow to them, but aren’t as 'in your face' catchy (“In Sorrow” and the title track are probably the best examples), similar to how I would describe quite a few of the choruses on albums like Slania. That said, this record doesn’t reach the level of quality of that album.
There are moments on this album that deviate from that style though; it’s the reason why I mentioned that the stylistic approach is only one of the first things you will notice. The opening track, for example, already deviates from the overall style mentioned above. It’s the kind of intro you’d expect on a symphonic metal record; in fact, it wouldn’t feel out of place on an Ancient Bards album, and the first fifteen seconds of the second song kind of reinforce that feeling. Shortly after that initial start, the album starts showing its folk influences; however, the third track “Hexe” is another exception to the standard, as it opts for the happy/playful style associatedd with a lot of folk metal.
I realize I’m talking about this album on a song-by-song basis at this point (which I don’t like to do); in my defence though, I feel like these first three tracks are kind of confusing. It takes until the fourth track before you see what I would describe as the overall vibe of Myth Of Mankind begin to solidify. It very much feels like the transition piece between those first three songs and the rest of the record.
That all being said, the more I listened to Myth Of Mankind, the more I came to appreciate that first half. It offers variety and builds up to the highpoint of the album, which I found to be “In Sorrow” and “Myth Of Mankind”. Everything that comes after those songs is good-to-solid, but by then you have heard all that the band has to offer on this record, and they don't use that formula as effectively as on the highlights I mentioned earlier.
Where does this bring us overall? Well, the numerous listens I've given this album are a testament to how easy it was for me to give it prolonged attention. Is this one of the most memorable folk metal records you’ll ever find? No. Does it lose a little bit of steam throughout the second half? Yes. Nevertheless, it is very enjoyable, and I think its biggest strength is that it doesn’t really feel like you need to be in any specific mood to really appreciate it for what it offers.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 7 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 8 |
Comments
Comments:
2
Visited by
73 users
 Posts: 8260 |
Posts: 8260
Purely by coincidence, I started playing this album, and when I got to "The Queen", I stumbled upon your review. I agree in how the album seems to progress song-by-song, and I think they spent some time deciding on the sequence. This is not a style I generally enjoy, but I found a few tracks to be fairly listenable, most notably "In Oblivion", which you correctly call a 'transition piece'.
Loading...
|
 Posts: 1101 |
Posts: 1101 Written by nikarg on 28.05.2025 at 11:09 Yeah, I'd say they must have put some thought into ordering the songs into a logical sequence to make sure that it flows pretty well. I think it cannot be emphasized enough how important that order is, because if the first 5 songs are ordered randomly throughout the album, it would be quite a jarring mess to listen through. "Into Oblivion" is definitely one of the more interesting songs on the album, specifically because it's a transition piece and as a result blends the style of the first couple of songs with the style of the songs that come after it. It still has that more lighthearted sound from the first couple of songs, as well as that more "epic" sound thanks to the female vocals and overall structure of the chorus. But the darker flavours of the later tracks are already seeping into it as well (like in the transitions and bridging sections). It's a pretty fun blend of all those styles, in my opinion.
Loading...
|
Hits total: 2234 | This month: 6