R3VO – Fireflies EP

By RingMaster Review on December 18, 2022 • ( 0 )

Not to be confused with the UK’s experimental hip hop project REE-VO, Germany hailing R3VO is a progressive metal band which has just unleashed the Fireflies EP. Both propositions are distinctly different in their music but do share one keen aspect in that just one listen of their respective releases was enough to seriously evoke the imagination and, as we found, a few listens more an addiction for their rapacious enterprise.

Taking inspiration from the likes of OPETH, PORCUPINE TREE, MUSE and KARNIVOOL, the quartet of vocalist Leo Lotux, bassist Victor Nissim, guitarist Jan Kurfürst and drummer Altair Chagué has woven that kind of inspiration into their own unique and compelling invention. Calling it progressive metal hides the rich alternative and punk instincts in its design and breath but a term coming closest to its character and imagination.

The Fireflies EP needed little time to make a striking impact on our ears courtesy of opener, Artificial Pleasure which instantly drew ears with a sizzling electro line of tempting to which guitars and rhythms added their flirtatious and almost pugilistic bait. As the guitars weaved a continuing web of sound and suggestion, the punkish tones of Lotux erupted but as the song itself, she soon reveals a great variety and quality in her enterprise. Certainly progressive in its twist and turns there is also an ANIMAL ALPHA meets STOLEN BABIES-esque hue to the track, an atypical enterprise which saw expectations missing in action.

The outstanding start to the release is soon eclipsed by the EP’s title track, Fireflies a virulently infectious piece of creative drama and eventful dynamics led by Lotux’s equally vibrant and busy tones. There is something familiar to the song at times yet for no obvious reason but an aspect which simply added to its glorious manipulation and addictiveness; a success only escalated by the song’s bustling electronically shaped finale.

Dorian Gray is next up, a funk swinging, alt metal nurtured encounter with its own especial theatre of sound and invention. As with its predecessors, every moment is an adventure of sound and craft, a two minute incitement of manipulation and pleasure which ended far too soon while its successor, Darling, sprung an enthralment of beauty and drama which further highlighted the vocal prowess of Lotux and the musical craft and enterprising songwriting of the band. It is a plaintive romance of the senses and emotions with a fire of anxiety and creativity in its design, a seduction with an underlying tempest which partially erupts at certain times.

The EP is completed by the tenebrific delights and imposing shadows of Aluminium, a track which is simultaneously threat and temptation within a climate of unstable almost manic emotiveness. Thickly transfixing and increasingly irresistible just as the release itself, the song is a haunting and richly impressive conclusion to the Fireflies EP; R3vo one of the most exciting new prospects of 2022.

The Fireflies EP is out now; available @ https://r3voofficial.bandcamp.com/album/fireflies