Eryn Non Dae have established themselves as a top prospect deep amongst the ever-evolving sub genres of metal. Hailing from France, these talent-plagued prodigies share a lot of similarities with their renowned homeland accolades, Gojira. Meliora is the slower, more atmospheric, haunting style of progressive metal, but loaded with the ear-blasting heavy riffs that Gojira uses, whereas the aforementioned uses quicker, more deadly and dynamic riffs. I also see glimpses of Lamb of God and Meshuggah in Eryn Non Dae’s music, so really any fan of groove/progressive metal would easily enjoy this.

Meliora is loaded with guttural demonic shouts over its heavier than stone mind crushing riffs. The random distortion they play around with which really amplifies the atmospheric qualities. It adds a demo-like quality to some parts and just makes it feel that much more authentic. The drumming is very thrashy but when sections of certain songs start to settle down it carries everything beautifully. There are a lot of transitions between the all-out metal as hell segments and the calmer yet eerie riffs, where Mathieu sings quietly as if he is trapped inside his own mind. The musicianship is absolutely flawless here.

The song “Scarlet Rising” blows me away every time I listen to it. The main riff they blast you with is so steady and just brilliantly simple. The vocals on top are so hellish yet the riff itself sounds just happy enough to create some very addicting contrast. “Hidden Lotus” is another one of my favourites, its resemblance to a Tool song is uncanny until they break things down and crush you with brutality ridden riffs and drumming. An honorable mention to the song “The Great Downfall”, peaking at twelve minutes, this song covers everything you can hope to find on Meliora; a chilling few minute introduction that progressively builds up into a divine blend of string and snare, bass guitar and bass drum, and phobia-inducing screams from hell.

I never get a chance to hear much of the metal that gets pumped out of France but from this day onward that changes; Gojira kick-started it for me and Eryn Non Dae have only evolved my love for France. These guys are gods amongst men and are a force to be reckoned with.