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Eidolon > Hallowed Apparition > Reviews
Eidolon - Hallowed Apparition

hollowed apparition - 55%

Demon Fang, April 15th, 2022

Hallowed Apparition has Eidolon show a better understanding of how more pugilistic riffs with a right hard and heavy vibe can lead to a good old headbanging time. Not only is Glen Drover pulling off more invigorating riffs, but he’s added some real proggy-sounding leads here and there, and his brother Shawn Drover’s pulling off some rather hectic percussion that gives life to proceedings. Really, it’s just amazing what a little more dynamic riffing can do to add some excitement to what would’ve just been a brick wall of hard and heavy grooves.

Frankly, once you settle into a… groove with “De-Evolution” and its subtle licks and tempo changes – juxtaposed by its thrashy sort of sledgehammer riffs – the album kicks up quite a momentum. It’s nothing special, it’s something you’ve probably heard done a million times by the time 2001 rolled on by and a million more times since, and the solo is pretty unremarkable – just settling there in the background with surprisingly little virtuosity, melody or energy behind it. That being said, it’s a fun song with an invigorating couple of riffs and an active percussion giving it a kick. For a while, that’s how the album goes – you get a solid, sort of fun groove that drives the song forward, powered up with some speed/thrash riffs and some real kicks. “Feed the Machine” opts for a more mid-paced affectation, and what do you know, it pulls it off pretty well. The following track, “Forgotten City”, has this neat dual harmony in the beginning and in the mid-section, as well as a fairly energetic rhythm section. So far, so good, right?

Here’s the thing – there’s a potentially good, even great album in here. It’s got the right pieces with more carefully-written and executed rhythms. Even if the solos are just kinda there, they’re a nice thought. There are more harmonics and licks, and the grooves have some neat accents here and there. More moving pieces and what have you. Can certainly tell you that’s the best way to describe the drumming as it beats life into everything. Overall, it does fix the issue Nightmare World had by having more discernible melodies that make the songs less of a slog to go through.

Still, when looked at both as a whole and on a song-by-song basis, it doesn’t quite hit the spot like it could’ve. “De-Evolution” has some hooky riffs during the chorus and “Feed the Machine” has the strongest overall groove. But not a lot else could be described as anything above decent or solid. When it’s on, it’s got a beat you can dance to. But it usually settles into a groove that’s simply good enough. Part of it’s on the surrounding elements. The guitar solos are honestly pretty lame. The vocals are these powerless high pitched ones that add nothing to the songs. On the whole, the songs settle on some rather workman-like grooves with a few cool bells and whistles here and there. Hallowed Apparition is fine when it’s on, but it’s not exactly turning heads either.

Eidolon - Hallowed Apparition - 95%

Orbitball, January 27th, 2022
Written based on this version: 2001, CD, Metal Blade Records

What a dynamic piece! Blending in 3 genres all at once. The guitars were amazing and the vocals perfectly drawn out. I really liked this whole album. It's a shame that they're broken up! I cannot get enough of this release. The music itself is that what's captivating. And the energy of it all. What some great musicians for this album! The riffs are so elegant and well played out as were the solo guitar pieces. I just have nothing but good things to say about this release. What musicianship, talent and great heavy/power/thrash metal that goes along with this entire piece of work. The music itself isn't too fast tempos and it's more captivating that way!

Every riff is coordinated to mix amongst-side the vocals as if they were perfectly in unison with them. And given that this is a quite diverse sort of metal album, you have clean areas in small bits mixed with a majority of thick distorted guitar riffs. The solos are sublime in construction. I enjoyed them also. But mostly the guitar and vocals are what's appealed to me the most. Everyone did a great job too in construction of musicianship. Again, it's too bad about their split not long after this album was released. And if it weren't for a friend of mine, I would've never encountered this band/project.

Production sound was adequate with making this an above average release. Quite into the genius in musicianship. I couldn't be happier with the outcome of this release and just wish that they would've stayed together. But I'm sure it was a mutual consent to end their effort in the making of albums within this scope. Their guitarist Glen Drover is in many different bands-past and present. What a diverse musical career he's had. He's been a part of many different successful bands-Megadeth, Queensryche, et al. So that's probably the reason why the band has taken a split mutually concerned in the way of metal.

I heard this first on Spotify and then decided to get a copy in the mail via in the form of a CD. It's just such a great album that didn't get enough press in my opinion. These guys know how the hell to make some great songs. And what a great band! I was wondering what the score would be and I thought "next to perfect." They really did some great work throughout the album. All the songs were strong! I didn't experience any lack thereof in songs each one was not greater or lesser than in any respect. They tore it up musically here covering 3 different genres stomping all of them! Check them out!

Reduced speed, increased heaviness ! - 86%

Nightrunner, May 27th, 2006

One year after the cool “Nightmare World” Eidolon released this monster, it’s really hard to say which Eidolon-album that’s the best, but “Hallowed Apparition” is a really strong candidat for that title, the same goes for Nightmare World. As always we get crunching and heavy power/thrash metal that is impossible not to bang your head too, as always we have the monotonous voice of Brian Soulard, but what has changed is that the choruses has turned for the better since the last time. Lyrical-wise drummer Shawn has come up with some cool and twisted lyrics. Maybe not the best lyrical skills ever, but still just fine for me. The band is tight-played and the production is heavy and really “metal” and does the songs just well, and here they come:

DE-EVOLUTION: The album opens with this speedy one, really awesome, and even if the chorus is simple it works great. The interlude with a calm acoustic part fits well, and the solo is OK, but they’ve done better.

LORDS OF DESECRATION: Heavy song, though has lame verses, they sound too monotonous. What lifts the song is the interlude + solo passage. Great solo in true Glen-way.

FOREVER BE FREE: Opens with a splendid monster riff (which goes through about 80% of the song). Has a melodic and great chorus, where Brian doesn’t sound too tedious. Even the solo feels kind of “melodic” and somewhat emotionial. One of the best songs on the album

FEED THE MACHINE: Heavy stomper this one, not a single bad part on it. The solo is wicked, and cool. One can’t really say though what’s the chorus on this one, I don’t think that exists actually, but a great song it is.

FORGOTTEN CITY: Heeeeaaavvyyy mid-tempo again, killing track, also a cool chorus. I really like the lyrics on this one. A huge plus also for the riff-change in the ending of the song, bang the head-ending with graduating drums from slow to faster. Excellent.

PRELUDE INTO FEAR: This is the only weak track on thr album. It just feels boring and not at all in the EIDOLON-way. Brian does a horrible job on this one, doesn’t suit his voice at all. But just as the previous song, this has a KILLER ending, even better. Awesome riff-passage, sad that the song’s other parts suck.

MIND ALTERATIONS: Boring intro, but awesome song in general. It’s calm interlude maybe feels kind of lame. But as I said, the verses are great. That is also the guitar solo, as always.

YOU WILL BURN: Double bass drumming, but not in the speedy way. Another one with heavy verses and cool chorus.

HALLOWED APPARATION: Heavy mid-tempo song, with a simple but splendid riff. The whole song is great, the solo is possibly the best of the album, really wicked, but beautiful ;) It ends with a nice acoustic ending. Fits awesome, actually.

ATOMIC RAGE: Double bass again, in the same vain as “You will burn”, this one ain’t as good though. But as always – yes you guessed it – the solo is awesome. But in overall this song feels like it just goes in circles, and it gets really boring after some listenings.

As you maybe has noticed, Eidolon reduced the speed with this album and has done a more “basic heavy metal”-album. This works really good, since the guys know how to write killer metal. Some people maybe says “i’ve heard this before”, well, no. Eventhough some riffs are “metal riffs” we’ve heard before, Eidolon do make something own of it, and also, there’s not that many vocalist out there that sounds like Brian. Anyway, if you like Eidolon, this is a easy buy, and it should be for anyone that’s into this genre.