Reviews

KNIGHTS OF HELIOPOLIS


KNIGHTS OF HELIOPOLIS Cinematic Symphonic Power Metal 4ᵗʰ Single “The River Of Life”

“This new EP is released first as five separate singles. Those single are a bit special compared to what the band usually does. The character of our story, the knights of Heliopolis, in addition to being alchemists and in accordance to this same craft, are what we called « planeswalkers ». That means they can travel between worlds and dimensions. The stories happening in this EP are not happening in the chronology of the main narrative arc of the story contained in the EP ‘The Last Guardian’ and the album ‘Ferrum Fero Ferro Feror’. You can see them as side stories that could happen anywhere in the timeline of the Helioverse.

KNIGHTS OF HELIOPOLIS say on “The River Of Life”, the fourth single from the “The Planeswalkers” series:

“In this song, the knights of Heliopolis are traveling to the world of Final Fantasy VII, discovering the terrific events happening there for the fate of the planet. They’ll discreetely bring their support for the heroes of Gaïa to vanquish evil!

The song was made to celebrate the release of the very awaited game ‘Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’ and is also a love letter to the original game!”

KNIGHTS OF HELIOPOLIS says about “In the Shadow Of The Erdtree”:

“In this song, the knights of Heliopolis are arriving in the Land-Between, being summoned by the Tarnished. They will help the Tarnished in his quest while pursuing the Beast through the dimensions.

The song is a tribute to the famous video game Elden Ring to celebrate the release of the upcoming DLC ‘Shadow of the Erdtree’. It is a game that inspired the whole band so it was fair to do a song about it with the ‘Planeswalkers’ concept of travelling to other dimensions.

The song in itself tries to capture the sense of danger, adventure and mystery from the game with majestic cinematic orchestrations, a bombastic chorus and some references to the main theme of the game itself!”

In those five singles, the knights are going to chase the Beast, the malevolent being they’re fighting for centuries, in the universes of famous video games we love. The Beast is trying to accomplish evil deeds in the shadow of what happens in those worlds and the Knights are going to land their hand to the known heroes of such worlds. As the world of our story is a multiverse, there would be no problem with the fact that the Land Between from Elden Ring or Macragge from Warhammer 40K would exist somewhere in the multiverse, far from our dimension.

Through those singles, we wanted to pay tribute to great work we love and that are inspiring us for our music and our own story. The first song presents the concept of the EP and then, we pay tribute to, in order, Elden Ring, Warhammer 40K, Final Fantasy VII and … La Bonne Auberge! They are a Youtube Channel centered on Role Playing Game where they play together and they have their very own lore. What more natural to work with them on their lore as we could be labeled as a ‘Rolist Symphonic Metal’ band ourselves ?

Musically, this EP navigates in more modern symphonic and modern Power Metal waters to be really in adequation with the universes we are approaching. Paying tribute to those video games and sagas in the correct mindset was really important to us. You will meet a progressive approach in ‘The Planeswalkers’ and ‘The River Of Life’, a more epic, bombastic and melancholic sound for ‘In The Shadow Of The Erdtree’ or even an Industrial Metal side for ‘Adeptus Astartes’. We love to work with other people, so the last song was done in featuring with La Bonne Auberge and is about their lore and you will hear Max singing in it!

Of course you will still enjoy the ingredients of our success: the deep bass voice of Axel, heavy riffing, epic and gigantic orchestrations, thundering bass and hard hitting drums in this new adventure of the

 

PHOEBUS THE KNIGHT comments on “The Scarlet Dance”:
“The ‘Scarlet Dance’ is the first epic battle of the album. Phoebus found Selene in the Darkest woods and they’re going to fight the Beast with a strategy they came with. For this song, we went with the typical Power Metal riffs and verses, made a long orchestral bridge with some folk surprises after it and a chorus inspired by operatic melodies to make it a long, rich and truly epic song!”

When history meets fantasy, when Metal passion meets deepest love for great Classical music, the result is operatic SYMPHONIC POWER METAL at it’s best!

Successfully funded with a Ulule Crowdfunding, “Ferrum Fero Ferro Feror” was made with the 11.400 Euros collected there, thanks to the fans! It is then signed and will be released on Renaissance Records US

Each track of this truly fantastic debut album is a chapter of Phoebus’ story, the knight alchemist:

from the forgotten dimension of the “Darkest Woods”, going through the gates of Hell, to the crucible of Terror in Paris, you will follow Phoebus and his friends the Knights of Heliopolis, in an epic quest to defeat The Beast and his desire for eternal war.

To put all the events in a dramaturgic vision, this collection of songs is a blend of several musical moods, combining heavy ballads, Metal tracks with majestic orchestrations and instrumental parts.

Lyrics are for the most part in English and a bit of French, all performed with the beguiling lyrical bass voice of Axel, in clean and screamed vocals.

And what a solemn stroke of luck master Axel is for the music of the band:

All too seldom has such a noble sublime voice been carved out of such an inconceivably gigantic vocal talent with such immeasurable dedication and downright unearthly diligence!

So you can enjoy classical Symphonic Metal, Melodic Death Metal, musical, medieval pieces and even passages in the style of great masters like Bach, Mozart or even Rachmaninov!

Witness the legendary fight of Phoebus and his friends against the Beast and the vampire knights! To guide you in this quest, the master drawer Mohamed Aouamri (Sylve, Mortepierre) illustrated each chapters and gave life to this world of Fantasy and History.

“Ferrum Fero Ferro Feror”, Phoebus’ first adventure with his companions, the Knights of Heliopolis, is waiting for you!

Go on an epic and original musical adventure, mixing Symphonic Metal, Heroic-Fantasy and History, written by Axel de Montalembert, composed by Adrien Djouadou and performed by the one and only PHOEBUS THE KNIGHT!

PHOEBUS THE KNIGHT was born in the mind of Axel de Montalembert. Passionate of music, heroic-fantasy, esoterism and history, he created the story of Phoebus and his companions, the Knights Of Heliopolis, melting together heroic-fantasy and history.

To translate his great tale into music, he needed a composer that could write for a Metal band and a full orchestra to give to the story the epic breath it needed. That’s how he met Adrien Djouadou, a classically trained opera singer active on established stages and together, they created the whole concept of PHOEBUS THE KNIGHT.

Axel would write the lyrics and naturally, sing them and Adrien would compose the whole music, play the guitar and do the backing vocals. But PHOEBUS THE KNIGHT needed musicians, so they found a great team to play with them on this journey:

Noémie Allet on the bass and vocals, Adrien Guingal on the guitar and Guillaume Remih on the drums. Each member of the band would represent a character in the story of Phoebus and his companions.

Naturally, PHOEBUS THE KNIGHT became a Symphonic Metal band with a whole conceptual and visual universe. They value quality in music, production and work invested by involved parties. PHOEBUS THE KNIGHT finds its roots in bands like Nightwish, Epica, Within Temptation, Powerwolf, Rhapsody Of Fire, Cradle Of Filth …

Pic: Faallaway

KNIGHTS OF HELIOPOLIS!”LINE-UP:
Phoebus • Vocals
Oswald Croll • Guitars, Backing Vocals
Hadrian • Guitars, Backing Vocals
Arkeuid • Bass, Vocals
Robin Of Locksley • Drums

TRACKS

  1. The Planeswalkers 05:22
  2. In the Shadow Of The Erdtree 05:47
  3. Adeptus Astartes 04:42
  4. The River Of Life 07:07
  5. Les Merveilles de Mijin 07:07

total: 30:05 min.

Knights Of Heliopolis – The River Of Life (GMV) Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Remake (Tribute song)

Knights Of Heliopolis – In The Shadow Of The Erdtree

Knights Of Heliopolis – The Planeswalker

Knights Of Heliopolis – The Black Dungeon

Knights Of Heliopolis links:
Band/Artist location – France
Website – Facebook – You Tube – Soundcloud – Bandcamp – Merch – 
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