August 6th, 2014 
Brian Leak 
Artist: Heylel
Album: Nebulae
Genre: Progressive, Gothic Rock
Before being introduced to Heylel, I knew very few bands based out of Portugal, let alone any progressive metal ones. Now, after experiencing all 48 minutes of the band’s 11-track debut, I can safely say that progressive, Gothic rock is alive and well on the Iberian Peninsula.
Following an ethereal, Pink Floyd-ish intro, Heylel start to shred in “The Prophet,” the first full-band track on Nebulae, ultimately urging you to bang your head a tad here and there and/or get slightly hypnotized by the ambient tones in the mix.
Heylel do a good job of juxtaposing heavy and light with plenty of airy synth textures to counter-balance the metal-inspired guitar riffs. Combine that with Ana Batista’s dark vocal approach and you’ve got a very Gothic sounding release in the vein of Lacuna Coil and Within Temptation (or even Evanescence for the more mainstream listener). The band includes beautiful, mellow and melodic piano parts in tracks like “Watcher Of The Light,” or they’ll take it further and tone it down entirely with unexpected acoustic guitar and dramatic synth additions such as in “Deeper,” the album’s midpoint. Before that, with “The Sage,” then again with “Sometimes,” towards the album’s end, though, we’re greeted with purely acoustic offerings containing little to no added elements. Both tracks manage to feel entirely out of place and beautifully cohesive at the same time. How that works is beyond me, but they’re two of the strongest tracks on Nebulae, so take that as you will. These displays of extremes show that the band isn’t a one-trick pony, but are capable of separate facets within the realm of progressive rock.
There are certainly moments within the music that feel entirely overused, or perhaps uninspired. The slow breakdown that makes up a good portion of “Watcher Of The Light,” for example, is something nearly every metal fan has heard countless times. 10 years ago, it might have still felt fresh, but on a release in 2014, it feels a bit tired, and frankly rather lazy. There are several moments throughout Nebulae where Heylel show creativity, so the moments that feel overused stand out in equal measure.
The biggest downfall of Nebulae to me though, is the production. It tends to fall flat in a lot of ways, especially when it comes to the levels and layers of instrumentation against vocals, but you have to credit the band for taking a purely DIY approach and creating this record on their own. For a first attempt, they’ve done a really solid job, and all good things take practice. So with that in mind, I look forward to hearing them improve in that area on future works. That is assuming that they choose to continue tracking and mastering themselves.
SCORE: 6/10
Review written by Brian Lion — (Follow him on Twitter)
- UTG PREMIERE: Hymn – ‘Mouth’ EP - June 10, 2016
- SakkieFTW snaps you out of it with new EP, ‘Experiment 1.3.2’ - June 6, 2016
- The Lost Poets’ ‘Insubordia pt II’ is dark and gritty - June 3, 2016
Posted in 
Tags: 