On their fifth album, Equilibrium have found a balance between folk metal and a symphonic approach. It makes for a smoothly flowing style that still retains a link to what’s gone before, but also takes the music more into a Nightwish-style mood.
With a lineup now featuring guitarist Dom R Crey, the Germans’ sweeping dynamic nestles thrusting aggression against melodies that wouldn’t be out of place on a HIM album. Erwachen and Heimat typify the substance, as Crey and keyboard player René Berthiaume do battle with uplifting results.
Born To Be Epic, one of three excursions into English lyrics, races along on twin rails of a blazing riff and some progressively intricate undercurrents. There’s also a controlled use of wide-ranging vocals from Robert ‘Robse’ Dahn that gives an extra dramatic frisson to Rise Again, while there’s a black metal fury about Zum Horizont that’s magnetic. Colourful yet dark, this is the most satisfying album yet from a band who have found their niche.
