EP Review: Exiled Hope/Steel Forge – Realm of the Exiled (Self Released)

Blackened power metal soloist, Exiled Hope, has partnered up with melodic death metallers, Steel Forge, for the release of their mythical EP, Realm Of The Exiled, available January 10th.

While Realm of the Exiled is a collaboration, the EP exists in the universe created by Exiled Hope following the journey of the protagonist of Exiled Hope’s previous albums. The EP introduces a new character, The Forger, as Hope travels through a cinematic battle as they look to return to the mortal world. With the skills of Exiled Hope and Steel Forge poured into this 6 track EP, prepare for an expansive and inventive musical experience blending melodeath, black metal, doom metal and folk influences.

Exiled Hope is a solo blackened power metal project imagined by the talented multi-instrumentalist Sofia Frasz in 2019. She draws musical inspiration from the likes of Avantasia, Nightwish, Kamelot and Cradle of Filth to name a few. Exiled Hope’s releases all take place in the same fictional universe and combine to form a dark fantasy metal opera. After this EP, the story will continue in April 2025 with the release of the next chapter, Apocrypha.

On the EP, Sofia comments:

“On the musical side, this EP was cathartic and challenging at the same time. I love melodeath as a genre, but I don’t make much of it in Exiled Hope, even though I’ve wanted to for a long time. Realm Of The Exiled became my way of exploring new songwriting and playing styles, while trying to keep the sound consistent with what listeners can expect from both Steel Forge and Exiled Hope.”

Born in Liverpool, UK, Steel Forge have been drawing inspiration from the likes of Amon Amarth, Wintersun, Ensiferum, King Diamond, Children of Bodom, and Iron Maiden. Since their creation in 2015, Steel Forge released their debut EP Forged from Darkness in 2019 and their album As Nightmares Descend in 2023. With a passion for live performances, Steel Forge have played festivals like Metal 2 The Masses, toured cross-country in the UK, supported the likes of Battle Born, Aephanemer, and Tailgunner, as well as headlining multiple shows in the UK. Steel Forge is a 4 piece with Danny Hell on vocals, Ryan Thomson on guitar, Luke Hanvey on bass and Sean Roberts on drums.

Speaking about Realm of the Exiled, vocalist Danny comments:

“Sofia wrote the music to the EP, which surprised me as she managed to capture not just the Exiled Hope sound but also, my band, Steel Forge’s sound as well for an amazing blend of both bands while maintaining consistency throughout. I had the dream job of creating and visualizing the world in my head of what we would create whilst staying true to Sofia’s character/mascot I.E. Hope and mine, The Forger, which led to me writing the majority of the lyrics, apart from a verse in “The Calling’” and the song “Beyond The Veil.””

With 6 tracks and a hefty 28 plus minute runtime, you are definitely getting your moneys worth. We get underway with A Light In The Darkness, quickly getting a sense of what Exiled Hope and Steel Forge are looking to deliver. Epic orchestration takes pole position working well with a bed of strong riffs and drums. As the song progresses, switches in tempo set the scene before harsh, blackened vocals add a layer of extremity you may not have foreseen based on the music alone. The combinations of orchestration, guitars and blackened vocals certainly deliver, transforming the song to something more akin to symphonic black metal. Packing an absolute cracker of a solo too, it’s a very strong start to Realm of the Exiled.

The Calling, and Fate’s Design follow and keep the quality high with the former ramping the pace up at the start to get the adrenaline flowing with a really cool guitar line leading the way through the story. Orchestration still adds a powerful and depth providing backing while snarling vocals deliver a punch of blackened metal. The latter delivering a massive dollop of groove along with the punchy riffing, harsh vocals and backing orchestrals.  The intro is such a headbanger and the song stays fresh thanks in part to the little changes in timing and tempo, in part due to the fact that there is actually quite a lot going on with different moments being found on multiple listens.

I really like the quite technical section in the middle of this track that sees the vocals pick up pace, guitars drop in melodic treats and drums raining fire – it feels important and dangerous. Another fiery solo stands out in the mix too before we head into a chunkier, and chaotic instrumental section. It’s cool, but turned great due to the clever transition back into vocals. It’s a stand out track on a strong EP to this point.

Beyond The Veil comes at the right time because while I am really enjoying what I have heard so far, the opening three tracks have a lot of stylistic similarities. Not enough to make them sound repetitive or anything like that, it’s just nice to see a band flex a bit and that’s what happens here. Gentle melody takes our hand and leads us onwards with soothing clean vocals settling us in. A nice bass line and a slow, melodic intro turns into a chunkier, doom like track with nice clean vocals, a lot of echo, and slow thumping drums and riffs. The vocals are great – really listenable and the song packs a very catchy chorus. You will struggle not tap along, or be nodding your head along with the slow and chunky rhythm.

A nice gentle slow down signals time for a change as the music comes back in with a harsher edge, more drums and harsh blackened vocals. That lead sus into another solid solo before the song prepares to close out fading back to the sounds of the intro intelligently. Yeah, that’s the stuff. That’s an amazing song but on to the penultimate track now with Approaching Resurrection where we see the pace pick up as we get a blast of quick drums and fiery guitars. Harsh vocals lead us in through a fast and fiery song that brings us back towards the black and death metal stylings of the opening tracks but with that symphonic tint.

It’s probably the most straight up heavy track on the album but still shows off some neat tricks to make sure it still stands out and of course it comes with another banging solo. Something that seems to be a given now. So we reach the closing part of our story with the track Epilogue. It’s a 2 minute long instrumental piece that is predominantly symphonic and closes our Realm of the Exiled with class and confidence.

Realm of the Exiled is a really strong release showcasing two different sets of artists that have come together to create a unified body of work. An EP that delivers an immense amount of creativity and quality, delivering stunning melodies and atmosphere yet plenty of fire and fury too.

Exiled Hope Links

Instagram – YouTube – Bandcamp – Spotify – Merch

Steel Forge Links

Facebook – Instagram – YouTube – Bandcamp -8 Twitter/X – Spotify