HELIOSS - FRANCE

Antumbra – 2017 – Apathia
Devenir Le Soleil – 2020 - Satanath
Contre Ma Lumière - 2022 - Satanath

Helioss image
  
 
Members
Vocals
Disgraved, Celestial Swarm, Dirtyprotest, Apostisy, Hoeverlord, Wrath From Above, Imperiator, Kalmhain, Gravefields, Chestcrush, Thermonuclear, Digital Prison, Lycantrophilia, I’ve Got Worms, Dangerous Mutation, Morthibus, Zetar, Abysm Obscura>>DM [THOMAS BLANC]>>Celestial Disgraved, Celestial Swarm, Dirtyprotest, Apostisy, Hoeverlord, Wrath From Above, Imperiator, Kalmhain, Gravefields, Chestcrush, Thermonuclear, Digital Prison, Lycantrophilia, I’ve Got Worms, Dangerous Mutation, Morthibus, Zetar, Abysm Obscura

Guitar
NICOLAS MULLER


Bass
NICOLAS MULLER

Drum





History & Biography
This Paris-based “symphonic” band has been around since 2009. A demo called Confessions was issued in 2010 featuring one of the Metallian Towers’ serfs on the cover. The Forthcoming Darkness was another independent release this time in 2012. Singer Pierre Jourdan-Gassin left the act at this juncture. His replacement is a mere voice-for-hire thus leaving Nicolas as the sole member. The band issued a demo called One With The Sun in 2015. France-based Apathia Records issued a record for the band at the beginning of 2017. The second album arrived three years later. It too was planned for Apathia, but the label went bust and so the project was moved to Satanath. Devenir Le Soleil featured an actual drummer. The drummer and singer DM knew each other from Nullentropy. The band was working on a demo in 2021. Instead, the Contre Ma Lumière album emerged in 2022.

Helios was the Greek god of the sun.


Reviews

HELIOSS – DEVENIR LE SOLEIL – SATANATH  
We at Metallian Towers are not about to disagree for once when Helioss claims to be a “symphonic” band. There is one too many bands whose only notion of being ‘symphonic metal’ is to have synthesizers (or two) and shy away from the music of the gods and actual metal. France-based Helioss can justifiably lay claim to the term. It does not make the band a decent option for metal fans or even metal, but Devenir Le Soleil (‘To become The Sun’) is as legitimate as it gets in its chosen sub-genre. It is not difficult to see and hear the band’s dedication, detail orientation and toil to its art.

Opening track Et Dieu Se Tut immediately makes the listener reference Dimmu Borgir with all the fancy instrumentation that goes with it, but Helioss has a thing or two on the more famous Norwegians. This song, and its follow-up A Wall Of Certainty, begin with speed and on a war footing before diversifying, slowing down, drenching us unfortunately with the synthesizers. The latter track especially has adept guitar work. Scoot forward to Let The World Forget Me and you will hear a melody cloned from Eliminator’s Last Horizon. La Lepre Des Hommes begins with a chant reminiscent of the dark monks of yore. The album’s coup de grace is the 24-minute long title track, which throws anything and everything at the listener. This opus features instruments of different varieties, symphonic passages, rapping vocals, Classical music and that is just a sample of what is in store for you.

Three more things worth noting: it is obvious by now that Helioss is about all things related to the sun. The band’s monicker, album title and even conceptual cover artwork do a fabulous job of bringing everything together. As well, you may have noticed by now, that the lyrics and titles mix English and French at random. Finally, the album introduces a real-life and actual drummer to the mix. That is an improvement over a soulless drum machine any old day. It is ironic, however, that the drumming sounds as sterile as a drum machine. The toms, in particular, may actually be the result of a computer recording. Oh well.

Devenir Le Soleil is hardly the stuff of metal dreams, but it sure is the stuff of symphonic rock dreams. – Ali “The Metallian”


Interviews







Helioss