Orymus were a melodic rock band from Switzerland with a few prog and prog metal tendencies here and there, and this was their second (and last) album, released in 2015. I think the line-up was Daniel Brönnimann (vocals), Yves Linder (guitar), Beni Zahno (guitar), Simon Binggeli (bass), Jan Fürst (drums), but don’t hold me to that as I may well be wrong as although that is a valid line-up of the band I am not 100% sure if that was the one for this album, and their website has not been updated in eight years and their Facebook page in six, and I cannot uncover the full details of this release. One must feel a little sorry for these guys as I am sure geography has much to do with why they are not more well known, as Switzerland is not exactly a hotbed of this style of music yet they are very good at what they do and there is certainly more depth than much of what is released by Frontiers Music who I am sure would have snapped them up if they had been aware of them.

Brönnimann has a great voice, able to be nice and smooth or put on some nice edge, always with nice unaccented English and a powerful range, while musically these guys move in multiple directions, and while I find it interesting that may have been too much for those into melodic rock/AOR as they can sometimes come across as heavy as the likes of Fates Warning, and certainly are never afraid to change tack into acoustic or even crossover prog if it makes sense. The result is something which is bright and interesting while never being truly essential, yet certainly worthy of investigation even all this time after its release. It may not have set the world alight at the time, but both this and their debut, ‘Escape To Reality’, are available through Bandcamp at “name your price” so what do you have to lose?

Rating: 7/10

Links:
https://www.orymus.ch/