Album Review: Daidalos – The Expedition (Extreme Metal Music)

German one-man symphonic dark metal band Daidalos founded in 2020 by drummer/pianist Tobias Püschner (former drummer of the technical thrash band Revolt) will be releasing the debut album “The Expedition” on the 29th of July 2022 via Extreme Metal Music.

The album was inspired after reading a book on Captain Sir John Franklin’s Lost Expedition, a British voyage of Arctic exploration that departed with 129 men from England in 1845. Both ships, called Erebus & Terror, became icebound and after being trapped and suffering in eternal coldness for over a year, the remaining sailors decided to abandon their ships. Trying to survive, they set out for the Canadian mainland, but disappeared.

Says Püschner:

The Expedition is a musical journey through the Arctic Ice, on board with Sir John Franklin’s crew. The different moods the sailors had to experience at that time probably went from heroic and enthusiastic to absolute hopelessness and daily mortal fear. I composed these atmospheres musically and told them as a concept album / musical story.

The Expedition is so very grand. Capturing a story, crafting the world and placing the listener slap bang in the middle of it. The concept has been well and truly realised, and that it plays out to the sound of blistering and brash symphonic black metal is even more appealing.

It’s a clash of style that has worked for many bands and artists before Daidalos and the solo artist certainly draws from that experience. Creating his own lavish and luxurious sound that has a harshness akin to the winter wind that is so prevalent in the story that is being told here.

It’s an album that really captures the imagination but more impressively than that, it’s an album that balances a beautiful and grandiose symphonic sound against a blistering and intense style of blackened metal. To call this a wonderful marrying is to underplay just how impressive the overall sound is.

Yet, it’s not the only aspect that makes The Expedition such a memorable release. The aforementioned story-telling is integral to the overall enjoyment. It is a necessity to give this album the space needed to breathe and to give it the time needed to permeate the senses. On initial listens, it does sink in deeply but the more time you spend as part of this frigid and dark journey, the more you feel part of it.

It’s a journey well worth being part of too. It’s something that has girth and weight. The emotional stakes are high and the constant sense of being part of something keeps the mind focused where it should be. On the impressive output of Daidalos.

Daidalos – The Expedition Full Track Listing:

1. The Expedition
2. Icewind
3. Sail into The Stars
4. Stormwind
5. Married to The Sea
6. The Empress
7. Poem in the Snow
8. Northlight
9. My Melancholy (Bonus Track)

Links

Bandcamp | Facebook