Band: Wilderun
Album: Epigone
Genre: Symphonic Progressive Metal, Folk Metal
Year of Release: 2022
Country: United States of America
Formed In: 2008
Years Active: 2008-present
Format: MP3 CBR 320kbps
Lyrical themes: Folksongs (early); Isolation, Paranoia, Neurosis (later)
Label: Century Media Records
Biography
Wilderun is an American folk metal band, formed in Boston, Massachusetts.
In the fall of 2012, Wilderun released their debut full-length “Olden Tales & Deathly Trails”, followed up by “Sleep at the Edge of the Earth” in 2015. Wilderun has completed multiple tours in the U.S. in support of these albums, and plan to continue that touring in 2016.
“Wilderun lives in the best of many worlds, balancing orchestral, epic metal with folky strains and wandering—with a gusto—into black metal territory, or even thrashy melodeath….'Sleep at the Edge of the Earth' is imperious….something so majestic that I can already confidently assert that it will be jostling for first place in my Top 10 o’ 2015.” - Angry Metal Guy
“Vast instrumentation, insane playing and enough hooks to go fishing with” - Metal Injection
“('Sleep at the Edge of the Earth' is) a totally out-of-nowhere progressive metal masterpiece and in my mind a strong contender for album of the year.” - Arctic Drones
“Wilderun has given us a magical ride through progressive metal and symphonic folk metal” - Headbang or GTFO
“'Sleep at the Edge of the Earth' is nothing short of breathtaking, and should be required listening for any and all fans of extreme metal.” - Dead Rhetoric
“There are few moments more satisfying as a music writer (and fan) than being blindsided and absolutely floored by a previously unknown musical entity bursting out of the woodwork and delivering an album of the emotional depth and magnitude of 'Sleep at the Edge of the Earth'.” - Teeth of the Divine
“How ('Sleep at the Edge of the Earth' ) is only their second album I don’t know, and frankly I don’t believe it. That a band on album two can put something like this out really leaves no excuse for bands with an extensive back catalogue. The young bands of today are offering up some serious competition and bands like Wilderun are high in the pack.” - Sound The Charge
Epigone (2022)
Review by "ijy10152" from Metal Archives:
Quote:
Wilderun is a special band to me, a friend of mine from college showed me Olden Tales and Deathly Trails in 2013, he was in love with that album. I enjoyed it, but I’m ashamed to admit I kind of forgot about it.Then in 2015 when they released Sleep at the Edge of the Earth I was instantly hooked and very impressed. I had remembered them more for silly sea shanties than what they were actually creating; progressive death metal in the guise of symphonic folk metal. Then when Veil of Imagination came out, I was more than hooked or impressed, I was blown away. They had blossomed into a full symphonic death metal opera, with surprisingly good narrations. They had seized the potential I saw in them in their first two albums, the production quality improved of course, but moreso the songwriting and arranging improved in leaps and bounds and even taking this album into account I think Veil of Imagination is still their most memorable album. I had the good fortune of seeing Wilderun open for Swallow the Sun in November and I got to see them play the song Passenger. I had already heard all the singles, but hearing it live was something completely different. With this album I think the band has taken that dreamlike quality of Veil and the emotional, darker atmosphere of Sleep at the Edge of the Earth to create something truly unique. Obviously I’m quite biased here, I adore this band and from the moment I heard Passenger I knew this album was going to be something special.
Where to start with an album like this, it’s not that long, but it feels massive. I’ll be up front with the few minor complaints I have; this album is completely front loaded. Tracks one through 4 contain the bulk of the album with 40 minutes of legitimately the best progressive death metal I have ever heard. The second half is... more debatable. I definitely think the structure of the album is not as sound as their other three albums, the flow is strange and unfortunately I think it’s because of Ambition. The only interlude is just strange and interrupts the flow of the album, at first I was curious to see where the song was going, but it just doesn’t really go anywhere. I’m getting that out of the way because the rest of this review is going to be nothing but unabashed praise and I’m basically going to be swooning as I write this.
Exhaler is an absolutely gorgeous orchestral prelude, the acoustic guitar works so well with the rest of the strings and the chord progressions are very interesting to say the least. This is an album that goes a lot of places, but at its core Wilderun has always wanted to be a folk metal band that can elicit emotions of grief, of love and of hope. I think Exhaler and WoolGatherer together really emblemize that desire. The melodies are just so moving, at first WoolGatherer is pleasant and airy, but throughout it strange chords enter the mix, some half diminished chords, sudden shifts in key, lots of modal scales, but really embracing their progressive and melodic impulses at the same time. They create this sense of journeying through a dreamscape, where strange and fantastic things happen around every corner. Of course I’ve hardly talked about the musicians yet; I actually had the pleasure of meeting the whole band at the aforementioned concert and first I want to say they are wonderful human beings, dedicated musicians that are incredibly skilled. Take Evan Berry for example, the guy started as a percussion major, and yet he’s got one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard. I listen to a lot of power metal, to progressive and symphonic metal and some opera, but I just want to say I’ve never heard quite such a voice. I know a lot of people are going to be disappointed that there’s even more clean vocals than the last album, but I encourage everyone, whatever genres you prefer, to listen to this man's voice and tell me it’s not incredible. The vocals really ended up being the star of the album for me, the vocal melodies are exactly as moving as they should be, the harsh vocals are perfectly executed as always and the way they use death metal to accentuate the darkness innate in their sound, perfectly contrasting against that sweet and happy introduction. Woolgatherer feels like a descent into sadness and pain, but as it reaches the bottom, that tunnel inclines again and the whole thing ends on a hopeful note; it really is a thing of beauty that has to be experienced to be believed.
Not to overshadow the other members of the band, Daniel Muller on bass, John Teachy on Drums and last but not least Wayne Ingram on lead guitar. This album is absolutely a group effort and if you guys are reading this, you guys are masters of your craft and you have created a lifelong fan.
Passenger is much more of a prog song, the chordal structure twists and turns in fascinating and often unexpected ways. Every part of this song elicits different emotions, but what’s truly fascinating is how the whole song comes together and feels like a cohesive whole despite the crazy transitions. At just over nine minutes, Passenger uses every bit of it’s runtime without becoming too indulgent or filling space just for the sake of it. It really is brilliant how despite the length of these tracks, I never feel like any moments are wasted or unnecessary. The finale of Passenger is one of the greatest moments across their discography. If Passenger is the most memorable song of the album, the best song of the album has to be Identifier. This is where the band has truly ventured into the depths of prog and just started letting themselves make it as weird and unpredictable as possible. In fact some of the guitar work in this song reminds me of Alex Lifeson, which is always a great thing. The eclectic nature of this song is aided by some well timed electronic inclusions to provide a little bit of psychedelia. This song ends on less of a happy note than the previous songs, overall this song comes off as even more introspective than the previous songs and reflective of this Identifier ends on a much darker note. Earlier I said Ambition ruins the flow of this album and just in the course of the last few hours I think it’s growing on me. I still think it’s way longer than it needs to be, but everytime I hear Ambition it makes me think of that scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail when John Cleese is running towards the castle guards from across a field, but everytime the camera shift back to him he’s the same distance. It’s hilarious and so I find Ambition pretty amusing now, not to mention it provides a nice break in the middle of a very dense album. I don’t blame you if you want to hold the emptiness of Ambition against the album, I did at first, but sometimes you can get used to things in music you otherwise really like, with time and exposure, fortunately I’ve had 2 weeks with this album.
I'm going to be real honest with you, I don't know what to think of Distraction. It's certainly interesting, even if I don't think it holds up with the first half of the album, but they try some different things and I really like what they're trying. One thing that's really interesting is that Part Three seems like it should be the real ending, but Wilderun isn't afraid to go in a shall we say a very different way. What in the whole rest of the album would indicate that the whole thing might end with a very noise laden black metal song. That's what Distraction Nulla is. When I first listened to this album I was bewildered by the ending. If you need your album to have a neat and tidy ending that's completely satisfying, this will probably bother you, but honestly I'm intrigued. Distraction is technically the band's first song over 14 minutes and I find myself fascinated by this song. Even if Veil of Imagination has the better album structure and the better ending, I think I like this album a tad better. The way the band wrote the transitions in this album, is literally unlike anything I've ever heard in metal. It almost reminds me of How Coal by Leprous created a sound I've never heard any other band replicate. Including Leprous themselves.
This is a special album, everything about screams that I should love this album, in fact this album is probably going somewhere in my top 50, maybe even the top 20. I'm still trying to grasp Distraction fully, and Ambition is still a little long, but giving an album a 10/10 doesn't mean it has no negative aspects, it just means that any of the negative aspects are miniscule compared to the sheer enormity of this album. I could say I wish the album was shorter, but I would never want to curb a band's creative impulses. This album is as close to perfect as I've seen in many years. It is most definitely front loaded and the first forty minutes are the best part of the album, but Distraction is still fun to listen to and the Radiohead cover is actually really good. So give Wilderun all of your love, your affection and your money for this outstanding musical achievement.
This album is dedicated to Tim Smith (1961-2020), an epigone of none.
Recorded at More Sound Studios in Syracuse, NY, Jan-Feb 2021.
Electric Lap Steel, Resonator Guitar, Baritone Guitar and Mandolin recorded and engineered in Norwalk, CA.
Members
Band members
Evan Anderson Berry: Vocals, Guitars (rhythm), Guitars (acoustic)
Daniel Müller: Bass, Synthesizer, Dulcimer
Jonathan Teachey: Drums
Wayne Ingram: Guitars (lead), Guitars (resonator), Mandolin, Baritone, Guitars (lap steel)
Joe Gettler: Guitars (lead)
Guest/Session
Katie Müller: Vocals (female)
Miscellaneous staff
Jens Bogren: Mixing
Tom Couture: Photography
Tony Lindgren: Mastering
Justin Spaulding: Engineering
Jocko: Engineering
Andrew Greacen: Engineering
Brendon Flynn: Layout
Kim Keever: Cover art
Official music video for 3rd song on the album, Passenger, form official Century Media Records YouTube channel:
Tracklist
01. Exhaler
02. Woolgatherer
03. Passenger
04. Identifier
05. Ambition
06. Distraction I
07. Distraction II
08. Distraction III
09. Distraction Nulla
10. Everything In Its Right Place [Bonus Track] (Cover Version)
11. Exhaler [Bonus Track] (Synth Mix)
Further informarion on the band and this album can be obtained on Discogs
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