ARRAYAN PATH bite back with album number-seven, "Archegonoi", their third in three-years and follow up to well-received "Dawn Of Aquarius" from 2017. Though not taking a breather between albums can hamper creativity by bands, here luckily the spew of epic-metal is pushing forward from ARRAYAN PATH and not dying in stagnation. The songwriting and themes may perhaps lie steeped in Greek mythology however, the sound is certainly nothing ancient.  Across the eighty-plus minutes the album does lose a little focus at times, it is both heavy in sound and concept, although the band does have enough talent and a well honed style to pull it back together for the listener.

A better way perhaps to enjoy this release is to envision it as a journey more so than an album, ARRAYAN PATH lays this album out as a momentum-building exercise in feel good epic metal that borders on progressive rock, shortening it may have ruined the impact for the listener or even the initial storyboard. "Weaving The Web Of Destiny" is the rebel-rousing opener, not shy on the brothers into battle cry we get from a cinematic movie of the same scale and theme. "Rod Of Asclepius" is a more straightforward rocker, keeping that atmospheric vibe in check with the choral vocal effects, it is that very atmosphere created by the band that stops this slipping into one monotonous drone.

As "Sins Of Pandora" detonates well, with the eastern touches of PAGE AND PLANT from their nineties moment, although this music is uplifting it is so well melodically constructed that it never becomes boring, edge-of-the-seat stuff at times with some classy power riffs layered on top. The opening to "The Words Of Menelaus" is staggering, the vocal somersaults of singer Nicholas Leptos are astounding, the listener may have a basic gist of what the song is about or even the protagonist for that matter.   The heart of the enjoyment here is that organic eastern flow against the electric instruments, hypnotic to the point of pulling you into a different dimension.

"Blood Of The Sphinx" does have an echo of NWOBHM to it, galvanized with some old-school guitar work by Socrates Leptos and Christoforos Gavriel which is top-notch throughout. "Nemesis" follows the same riff-Heavy and straight laced rocker, whereas "Where The Hydra Hides" is again the mini-operatic sound which is vast in its design, the clever use of synthesizer sounds to create extra drama to the theme is a stunning example of how it can work meshed beneath a power framework.

The epic closer, by no means is that word understated, as the finale "Thermopylae 480 BC" runs shy of a hefty ten-minutes, delivering a climax of gigantic proportions.  This song has it all from grooving bass-lines to a familiar  Ronnie James pronounced vocal-line, ARRAYAN PATH throw every ounce of passion into the last hurrah of "Archegonoi".  The track roars, twists and turns as if a caged beast of sound has been caught. By no means should you be put off by hefty run-times or even lengthy track-lists, there is a good deal of enjoyment here, as I stated at the start this is journey more-so than simply an album of tracks running through the motions, here they run with a purpose that does not stop until the music fades.