SYMAKYA – Project 11: The Landing

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After more than thirteen years of silence, the French symphonic prog metal band Symakya is back with its second album Project 11: The Landing. The quartet from Lorraine presents a mature and multi-layered work that builds on the qualities of the debut and even surpasses it. While Majestic 12 - Open Files still had a few rough edges, Symakya shows a much more mature side on Project 11.

You have to fight your way through a short but unspectacular intro before you are really spoilt with the first real track The Height Of Endymion. Despite a length of more than seven minutes, it runs at a fast pace without a break. The anthemic beats are reminiscent of bands such as Fates Warning and Queensr˙che, enhanced with well-made orchestral passages. This quality is maintained throughout almost the entire album. The somewhat more dramatic Eleven and the solemn Horses Of Apollo are clearly among the album's highlights. The rousing Land, which is great fun to listen to, also deserves a mention. Moon, which is somewhat inspired by German power metal bands of the 80s and 90s, again shows Symakya from its best side. Only the somewhat colourless Lunar Obsession can't quite keep up with this high standard.

As expected, Symakya have once again written a concept album. Project 11 was inspired by the Apollo 11 space mission and is about whether there is life on the dark side of the moon. Mathieu Morand, the man behind Symakya, has always been interested in fantastical themes and philosophises about topics such as evolution and the pursuit of truth.

Project 11: The Landing is an amazing album and took me less time to get to grips with than its predecessor. Hopefully development will continue in this direction. If the countdown continues, there are still 10 albums to be released. However, you shouldn't wait 13 years between two releases, otherwise all the musicians will have died before reaching the number 0.

10 songs

65:35 minutes

***** ***

Genre: symphonic progressive metal

Label: Fantai'Zic

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