Album Review: Orpharion - Debut full-length album "A Faraway World" // All Time Metal \\

Orpharion released debut full-length album "A Faraway World" on May 9th, 2025 via Sleazy Rider Records

Band: Orpharion

Country: Turkey

Formed in: 2012

Genre: Symphonic Metal

Album: A Faraway World

Label: Sleazy Rider Records

Format: Digital / Physical CD

Tracklist:

01. My Heart Draws A Dream

02. Lurking Truth

03. Fire Mountain

04. Sleep Well

05. Majestic Lights

06. Song of the Exiled Ones

07. The Storyteller

08. Dead Marshes

09. The Broken Seal

Album Review:

"A Faraway World" is the debut album of the symphonic metal band Orpharion.

The band originates from Turkey and is the only metal band with female vocals in their country. It is also noteworthy to say that the name of the band is taken from the Renaissance musical instrument Orpharion, an ancestor of the guitar, which flourished in 16th century England and the Golden Era of Elizabeth I, as well as in the rest of Europe and which is believed the name to be a combination of the words "Orpheus" and "Arion", the two legendary musicians of Greek mythology.

Their debut album "A Faraway World" with which Orpharion is introduced to us consists mainly of 9 wonderful symphonic metal compositions. But it does not stop there.

The setting that unfolds in these compositions are 9 epic stories in a faraway world, as the album title states, with immense beauty, as we hear in "Majestic Lights" which has a wonderful and special melody on the synth, "Sleep Well" which is a different lullaby, from what we know so far, wrapped in symphonic metal and "My Heart Draws A Dream" a classic symphonic composition framed by a wonderful riff of classical and heavy guitar and intense fast drums.

"Lurking Truth" which personifies the truth as a sad entity that hides, starting as symphonic rock and ending in symphonic metal with a wonderful, skillful and fast guitar solo that does not hide.

The journey to the distant and fantastic world continues with "Song of the Exiled Ones" which begins as an opera with piano and evolves into a symphonic metal composition with a sound effect of waves on a beach. "The Storyteller" differentiates itself by giving alternative elements from the guitar with an amazing solo and piano at the end, while "The Broken Seal" is a wonderful classic symphonic metal composition.

The trilogy of the ten-minute "Dead Marshes" is a whole music world. "The Invasion" begins in symphonic metal as crows caw and the landscape looks ominous with rain and lightning for sound effects, it is an amazing cinematic depiction that draws you into the setting and throws you into "Losing Control" in symphonic progressive metal with a fast tempo, virtuoso guitar solo and double solo. However, it does not leave you there, it takes you to the desperate "Raise the Dead of the Marshes", the last act of the trilogy wrapped in rich symphonic elements, with sound effect a bell ringing from afar and the crows continuing to caw as it rains and lightning strikes. This cinematic trilogy framed by symphonic progressive metal will remain unforgettable for many listeners.

I left "Fire Mountain" for last, which I consider to be the gem of the album. Three-speed symphonic metal with a wonderful riff that sticks in your head, with an amazing melodic guitar solo that seems like the Queen is crying and the mountain is engulfed in flames that we hear at the end of the song.

Orpharion, skillfully managed in 49 minutes to capture with cinematic aesthetics, 9 epic stories taken from fantasy, framed by symphonic metal, with alternative touches and progressive elements, with wonderful operatic vocals from the talented soprano Ariané Imtholiel (Ebru), fighting drums, bass that filled the composition and rich in sound effects that stimulate the human imagination even more.

The production is excellent with a clean sound and the cover art is representative of the album title.

Orpharion's debut album "A Faraway World" is aimed not only at metal music lovers but also at all those who love symphonic music and opera, it is a timeless symphonic metal album!

Excellent!

Complete! 10/10