Amiliyah - Beyond the sea

Bands like Amiliyah can be a hard sell in the West. In Europe and the Americas, perceptions of such otherworldly groups have long been coloured by the likes of GWAR, a gang of scatological scumdogs from outer space (via Virginia), and Lordi, the Finnish demons of Eurovision fame. Despite appearances, the contrast between these campy outfits and Amiliyah is stark.

Led by vocalist kimi, a princess of the land the band is named for, she and her monstrous entourage have always sought to maintain a certain air of dignity about their work. Not that they’re a bunch of misery merchants, although Amiliyah’s early output was about as gothic as it gets. Still, over the course of multiple albums, their sound has steadily evolved.

The biggest change to date came in 2019, when a health emergency forced vampiric guitarist Ambii’s departure. While her predecessor, the witch Blago, had also been a guitarist, her successors were elven violinists Eschika and Moel. Besides adding a new chapter to the band’s mythos, the duo’s arrival added a new layer of complexity to what was already a multi-faceted musical style.

Released in November 2019, the band’s fifth album Beyond the sea was the first we heard from this latest incarnation of Amiliyah. In case any fans thought the addition of two fiddlers might signal a move towards folk metal, the tantalising introductory instrumental Torch well and truly sets them up for disappointment.

The opening track Eternity turns out to be a slice of relatively orthodox power metal. Violins crop up here and there, including for a synchronised solo, but like robotic keyboardist River’s synths, it feels like their role is to complement rather than impact the melody. The same is true of The enemy inside me, where troll guitarist Gacci’s riff work gets even crunchier.

It’s not until Rondo that Eschika and Moel are afforded the same prominence they enjoyed on Torch. All this fiddle work comes at River’s expense, who has rarely felt so peripheral. The contrast is especially acute when compared to 2018’s Departure, where the recurring issue of him dropping EDM beats into midtempo numbers like David Guetta gate-crashing a funeral march had been more or less fixed.

On the whole, whatever teething issues Amiliyah had while integrating violins into their sound didn’t make it onto the record. That’s not to say the album isn’t without its stumbles. For instance, the climatic title track betrays an old tendency to overstuff songs to such an extent, the sheer busyness winds up distracting from kimi’s reedy vocals. On the other hand, the days of letting an insistence on moody atmospherics get in the way of a good song seem to be behind them.