‘Fenrir‘, which features Snowy Shaw (ex King Diamond, Therion, Dimmu Borgir, etc.) as additional singer, is Lycania‘s attempt of writing pagan metal. It starts with a quiet bass intro and later keys. The melody is nicely catchy and I very much like the eeriness of Snowy‘s vocals in contrast to Sarah’s vocals. I am though a bit torn on her vocals, some parts are very well executed, while others just sound kinda off. Her longer notes sound surprisingly great but on the shorter notes,  especially during the line “hunger, carnage, death in wolven form” I get thrown off every time. I’ve noticed this before in other young singers attempting to sing in an operatic style, so I assume it’s really difficult to learn the proper technics to pull this off. Overall it’s a very pleasant song though and I can hear that there’s lots of thought put into all the small details. I also very much like the key heavy bridge part of the song, that turns from fast and a little quirky to calm and mystical and then to epic. Also noteworthy is the fact that a big part of the lyrics are in Swedish.

The intro of ‘Eclipse‘ gives me extremely strong Sabaton vibes that continue through several parts of the song. The lyrics by Philippa Sztencel (Lost Dawning) who also provided additional vocals are about a star-crossed romance between the sun and the moon, but I’m sure it’s the best choice for Sarah, it just doesn’t feel like it’s at really at a range where her vocals shine.  I do appreciate the guitars by Connor McCray (Vis Mystica) a lot though.

Lastly their ‘Can’t Fight the Moonlight‘ cover (originally by LeAnn Rimes) featuring James Delbridge (Lycanthro, Witchkiller). They did a great job putting their own spin on the song and added two very fun guitar solos. Overall it feels way faster than the original, maybe just a tad too fast, it feels just a tiny little bit rushed at some points. One thing that adds a fun sprinkle of craziness to the song is James’ insane laugh.

The EP was mixed by Mattias Sippola (Atavistia) and mastered by Jack Kosto (Seven Spires)

Lycania are:

Sarah Gorzelitz – Vocals
Julian Körner-Schuchardt – Guitars
Peter Lenz – Keyboards
Jan Schöngarth – Bass
Samuel Karres – Drums
Daniel Engström – Additional Vocals & Guitars

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