11 April 2025
The only songs currently cleared for radio/podcast play are: “The Summoning”, “Blood of the Ancients”, “Dreamwalker”, “Over For You”, “Altar of Moloch”, “The Silence Is Deafening”, and “Lightborn”.
Maryland-based blackened power metal artist EXILED HOPE is excited to announce the release of Apocrypha, the third installment of its ongoing musical narrative, set for release on April 11th, 2025. This twelve-track album follows a new protagonist who seeks guidance from familiar (yet otherworldly) forces as he uncovers the truth about the path to success laid out before him, further expanding the story EXILED HOPE has crafted.
“The Summoning” is the track that opens the album, showcasing the struggles and deep battle ahead for the protagonist, setting a preface for the upcoming melodies. “The Day Will Come” and “Blood Of The Ancients” follow suit, melodically taking inspiration from the likes of KAMELOT and NIGHTWISH to add softer tones of suspense. On a lighter note, “Dreamwalker” introduces variety and balances the album’s heavier songs through a two-part ballad, featuring Metal Matt as the first guest appearance in the discography. “Over For You” swiftly transitions into a unique blend of folk and melodic death metal, featuring rapid guitar riffs and empowering lyrics.
“Altar Of Moloch” is the second song with a cameo, Imperator Mortem, and is the “call to action” of this album, giving a sobering to the protagonist for the second half of his treacherous trek. “The Silence Is Deafening” depicts a lovers’ quarrel, with two conflicting perspectives that create a sense of distance, confusion, and resentment—emotions that drive the protagonist through the second phase of their journey. “Behold My Shattered Skies” takes a complete 180 from the overall nature of Apocrypha, embracing a full folk style infused with hints of synth, drawing inspiration from the video game The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt.
The longest track on the record is “Deathslayer”. At 8 minutes and 11 seconds, “Deathslayer” gives contrast to the vocals, with layers of growls and lighter choral layers, and shows the protagonist’s inner power being used to its fullest extent. “Lightborn” is a love letter to the bands that heavily inspired this album. With sweet synths and hard hitting riffs, this song also serves as an inspiration to choose the higher path and recognize one’s worth.
“Remnants” is a strictly instrumental piece of ambience, the calm before the storm that is the finale, “Forbidden Majesties”. “Forbidden Majesties” closes out Apocrypha perfectly, wrapping up the ambience with notes of both heavier and lighter styles, giving the natural conclusion this album deserves. Sofia, the visionary behind EXILED HOPE, comments on the album “The release of Apocrypha represents 3 years of practice, exploration, trial and error, learning, and a lot of overthinking. I started working on this album in July 2021, then realized that I didn’t have the skills I needed to create the music I wanted to create. After I released “Dreamwalker” as a single in April 2022, I took a short hiatus from working on original music to sharpen up my skills, take lessons, and play around with making covers as practice. During this time, I also started law school, which was such a huge time commitment that I didn’t touch my guitar for the entire fall semester in 2022. I started working on music again during winter break, since I didn’t feel like myself when I completely stepped away from it, and had learned better time management skills at that point. That knowledge resulted in the release of several more singles to generate attention for the album in 2023 and 2024, and I can finally, confidently say that I have a cohesive work that I am proud of, after years of nitpicking it endlessly. The songs each have their own unique character, given the long time span over which I nitpicked and tinkered with them, but they also flow together like chapters in a book or scenes in a movie. That’s what I think makes a great album: songs that stand out on their own while carrying the album through their pacing and placement. Apocrypha feels detailed and relatable, yet larger-than-life, and I hope you enjoy the journey of listening to it as much as I enjoyed the journey of creating it. Creating music is about the journey as much as it is about the destination, or the final product.”
About EXILED HOPE:
Multi-instrumentalist Sofia Frasz established EXILED HOPE in 2019, and draws musical inspiration from the likes of AVANTASIA, NIGHTWISH, KAMELOT and CRADLE OF FILTH to name a few. EXILED HOPE’s releases all take place in the same fictional universe and combine to form a dark fantasy metal opera. Each album centers on a character dealing with both an internal and external conflict in this world, and the lyrics explore how they navigate those conflicts. This is intended to provide some kind of escapism through the lyrical world building, while still keeping the songs grounded in real, relatable emotions despite their fantastical setup. EXILED HOPE is working towards the next album, Apocrypha, due to be released April 11th, 2025. Through EXILED HOPE, Sofia has composed music for two short films, Hallowed Paths and What Happens After Midnight, and has collaborated with UK melodeath outfit STEEL FORGE.
EXILED HOPE is:
Sofia Frasz – all instruments and all vocals
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