Esprit D'Air - 'Constellations' Album Review

Tracklist:

1. Ignition

2. Rebirth

3. Guiding Light

4. The Hunter

5.Starstorm

6. The Awakening

7. Reminisce

8. Versus

Esprit D'Air have released their debut album 'Constellations', which straight away caught my attention with the incredible album artwork. The album artwork is always the first thing you see when

purchasing albums, and this one very cleverly incorporates the title without displaying any actual constellations. But it also has a futuristic feel to it too, which when you listen to the music you get a greater feel of why that is there.

Going straight into the music itself, I would like to start with how amazing it is! This album is filled with everything a Metal band should bring to the table. It has the highly distorted rhythm, high pitched very fast lead, extra use of cymbals and the harsh extremely loud drum beats. But it also has some bonus features that really bring this band to life and out of the box. These being the additional use of synth, softer Rock interludes and the way their lyrics are performed which bring that flavour out of the box and to life, but the use of the synth really highlights that futuristic vibe you see first within the album artwork.

But this band are even more so not your usual Metal band, they are a London based Japanese Metal band which yes isn't that unusual. But what is, is that they sing the majority of their lyrics in Japanese, meaning that for once im my life I will not be rambling about the lyrics! They do throw some random one lined lyrics sung in English in every now and then, which does spice it up and keep you on your toes. But the beauty to this music is that it is mainly sung in Japanese.

Now my two absolute favourite tracks of the album are;

'Ignition' - Which is the first track of the album, and starts off with some serious rhythm riffs and futuristic sounding lead. The guitars themselves remind me of bands such as Bullet For My Valentine, with the fastness of the lead and the distorted riffs of the rhythm. There is a lot of impressive technique displayed well here and the fingering of the guitar neck/strings is very well articulated. This track is so captivating! The drums in are unreal, filled with highly skilled and extremely articulated patterns, that provide a solid beat throughout. The drums however, are also a combination of Metal and Soft rock, which is achieved by changing the harshness of the beat and the patterns used. Vocals are great, they are very clearly heard, featuring different pitches. The main thing I love about this one, is the transitioning between the genres within Rock, as well as an absolute killer guitar solo!
'Starstorm' - This is the fifth track on the album and starts with some synth which has a quirky dance genre vibe to it. When the guitars and drums start this is then when this synth gets thrown into the Metal world. The synth is faded more into the background the more the song builds and goes on, but you can hear it throughout without a problem. The lead in this track isnt always as quick and metallic sounding throughout, which brings a nice freshness to this track and overall to the album by keeping the interest going. The rhythm still features the Metal distortion, but isnt as harsh which again layers into the vibe of this song. The drums are still quick and well executed, however feature more Rock style patterns than the Metal ones previously heard. The verses sound quite rocky, but the chorus is a bit dancey in the sense it feels lighter and chanty. The inclusion of the lyrics feels breezy and gentle, yet still have that Metal feel to them. So all in all this track is definitely different to your standard Metal track, however it still holds some aspects of it, which showcases the bands take on the Metal world perfectly, whilst showing that they have an awful lot more to bring to the table.

All in all this is a banger of an album and Esprit D'Air are smashing it! 'Constellations' is definitely one of my favourite albums of 2017 so far, and I am definitely gonna keep an eye out for any of their tour dates close to my home town to take a venture too! I highly recommend this band and I honestly recommend purchasing the album as you wont be disappointed. They use a great mixture of drum patterns, distortion, synth and vocal capacity to really mess with the Metal genre and create their very on take on it. It is definitely not something I've heard before, and I mean cruising down the M42 to and from work has never sounded so great until having these guys blasting through my speakers.