ARRAYAN PATH – Thus Always To Tyrants (2022)

Even by power metal standards, ”Thus Always To Tyrants” is really nerdy. The ninth album by veteran four-piece ARRAYAN PATH is a huge concept record that may be the most challenging the genre has produced this year. It’s based on the life of Evagoras I, the ancient ruler of Salamis and is a dense, intimidating piece of work. This is an album that speaks of pitched battles between massed ranks of spearmen, pre-Christian heroes and epic deeds.
It’s not that we are fans of ARRAYAN PATH epic metal previous albums – however, ”Thus Always To Tyrants” is different. The band never sounded so melodic, in fact most the songs are midtempo tunes with very interesting arrangements.
And then there’s the story; this is ARRAYAN PATH first concept album, and in many ways captivated us in a similar fashion Iron Maiden’s ‘Powerslave’ did back in time.

”Thus Always To Tyrants” should be listened as whole – at least the first time you press play.
The album is blessed with the most important feature that a record should have: The songwriting. I can assure you that in this one, ARRAYAN PATH have delivered some of their greater songs.
They have actually focused on the mid tempo -and even slower- epic compositions based on conquering vocal melodies. This is a formula that pretty much highlights the classic ARRAYAN PATH sound but now actually has been augmented.

But there is much more to be heard on the album: The faster pieces are riff based, leaving enough space for the lead instruments to generate some serious miracles. I also enjoyed very much all the preludes, the outros and the spoken parts on this album. Everything has been placed so wisely, serving the overall structure of a concept album.

Another feature that I would like to point in here is the orchestration. The band must have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours working on the orchestration of the new material. They have generated a perfect balance between the symphonic and -in many cases- neoclassical parts of their songs that are co existing with the overall ancient Greek, East Mediterranean and near-Eastern scales that are the basis of their music.
Favorite tracks? “The King’s Aegis…”, “The Battle of Cnidus”, “Artaxerxes II Mnemon “, “Raid of the Achaemenids”, “Army of the Myrmidons – Return to Troy Pt. II (Origins)”

ARRAYAN PATH hit the spot this time. “Thus Always To Tyrants” is an intriguing album, that challenges the listener to follow an epic tale. Don’t miss one of the highlights of the year for this genre.
Highly Recommended

01 – Oh Dark Tears (Aftermath)
02 – The Usurper
03 – The King’s Aegis… They Came from the Taygetos Mountains
04 – The Battle of Cnidus
05 – Artaxerxes II Mnemon
06 – Crossing over to Phoenicia
07 – In Salamis
08 – Raid of the Achaemenids
09 – Of Royal Ancestry
10 – The Legend of Evagoras
11 – Army of the Myrmidons Return to Troy, Pt. II (Origins)

Nicholas Leptos – Vocals
Miguel Trapezaris – Bass
Socrates Leptos – Guitars
Christoforos Gavriel – Guitars

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www.pitchblackrecords.com/store/ARRAYAN-PATH-Thus-Always-to-Tyrants-p505643114