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Album Review – The Lucidia Project / The Twilight Affliction EP (2025)

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This promising American Melodic Metal band will captivate your senses with their new EP, weaving intimate, confessional lyrics through a massive and atmospheric soundscape, sounding at the same time both crushing and cathartic.

Blending an amalgamation of styles including Melodic, Alternative, Symphonic, Death, and Doom Metal alongside a rich emotional tapestry of confessional songwriting, vocalist and keyboardist Chase Baldwin and bassist Benjamin Jacobs founded The Lucidia Project back in 2022 in Fargo, North Dakota, in the United States, releasing their self-titled demo that same year, followed by the EP Requiem in 2023, and the standalone single Soul Killer in 2024. Now in 2025 the band formed of the aforementioned Chase Baldwin on vocals, piano, strings and drum programming, and Benjamin Jacobs on bass, alongside guitarists Daniel Williams and Garrett Carroll, is set to unleash a new EP entitled The Twilight Affliction, taking a vast array of artistic influences from Tori Amos to Katatonia and Nightwish, and presenting listeners with a sonic identity that is both intimate and momentous. Produced, engineered, mixed and mastered by Danny Meyer at Sunway Studios, with the band’s own Chase Baldwin also working as a recording engineer and co-producer, the six-song EP weaves intimate, confessional lyrics through a massive and atmospheric soundscape, sounding at the same time crushing and cathartic.

Chase already showcases his passion for delicate sounds with his piano in Prophecy, being gradually joined by his bandmates in a lecture in Progressive Metal, with the band’s guitar duo delivering classy yet powerful riffs nonstop. The second song of the EP, titled Bloodlines, brings forward a more metallic version of the band, with Chase offering harsher vocals while Daniel, Garrett and Benjamin fire a striking stringed attack; and the band then goes full Progressive Metal in December, with their stylish riffs, classic drums and enfolding vocals turning it into a must-listen for fans of the genre. Lockdown is a song with a traumatic name for the newest generation, starting in an ethereal manner before evolving into pure progressiveness and electricity led by Daniel and Garrett’s piercing guitars; and it’s time for a beautiful ballad spearheaded by Chase’s stylish vocals and piano titled Lights Out, embracing us all in total darkness until the very end. Then closing the EP we’re treated to In My Sleep, where once again their whimsical but strong sounds fill every single space in the air, blending slower, charming passages with more visceral and melancholic nuances.

In a nutshell, The Twilight Affliction stands as the band’s most cohesive and emotionally resonant work to date, a testament to the band’s growing sonic identity, sounding absolutely moody, orchestral, and unapologetically vulnerable. “This EP is a journey through the darker corners of the human experience -loss, disillusionment, resilience,” commented the band’s mastermind Chase Baldwin. “It’s not just about grief or despair; it’s about finding clarity in the twilight, even when the light fades.” You can get in touch with the guys from The Lucidia Project and learn more about their music, their goals and plans for the future on Facebook and on Instagram, stream their classy creations on Spotify, and purchase your copy of their new EP by clicking HERE. The Lucidia Project are a precious gem of the current American heavy music scene, and their new opus The Twilight Afflicition will most definitely help them reach new heights and keep delivering first-class music to us metalheads in the coming years.

Best moments of the album: Prophecy and December.

Worst moments of the album: None.

Released in 2025 Independent

Track listing
1. Prophecy 4:53
2. Bloodlines 3:59
3. December 4:27
4. Lockdown 5:14
5. Lights Out 4:46
6. In My Sleep 8:30

Band members
Chase Baldwin – vocals, piano, strings, drum programming
Daniel Williams – guitars
Garrett Carroll – guitars
Benjamin Jacobs – bass

Concert Review – Delain (The Axis Club, Toronto, ON, 03/20/2025)

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Three of the best bands of the current Symphonic Rock and Metal scene worldwide beautifully warmed up the city of Toronto on a cold but fun night of first-class music.

OPENING ACTS: Edge of Paradise and Xandria

Despite the cold rain that fell over Toronto during most of the day this Thursday (after a warm and sunny Wednesday, by the way), the turnout at The Axis Club to see EDGE OF PARADISE, XANDRIA and DELAIN during their North American Tour 2025, another excellent event brought to the city by Noel Peters of Inertia Entertainment, was amazing, with over 3/4 of the venue taken by metalheads eager for some Symphonic and Melodic Metal, plus of course some of the city’s best metal photographers like Keith Ibbitson of Metal Paparazzi. Not only that, now that pretty much all the snow has already melted, the time needed to get in and out of the city, as well as to find a parking spot, has improved considerably, allowing fans to get to the venue in time for all attractions. Doors opening at 6:30pm and the first show starting only at 7:15pm also helped a lot, giving people time to grab some merch and drinks before the shows started.

The first band to hit the stage was Los Angeles, California’s own Hard rock band EDGE OF PARADISE, spearheaded by the beyond stunning frontwoman Margarita Monet. They sounded absolutely amazing live, driving the energy level up and properly prepping all fans for the upcoming attractions. Having just released their sixth album Prophecy, the band played a few new songs as part of their setlist, including Prophecy Unbound, Death Note and Falling Light, and the crowd’s response to their new songs couldn’t have been better. This was not the first time the band played in Toronto, and definitely not the last, as I’m sure Maragarita and the boys will return to the city with their Rock N’ Roll attitude sooner than later, and who knows, maybe next time as headliners of their own tour.

Setlist
Prophecy Unbound
The Other Side of Fear
Hologram
Death Note
Falling Light
Give it to Me (Mind Assassin)
The Unknown

Band members
Margarita Monet – vocals
Dave Bates – lead guitar
David Ruiz – rhythm guitar
Kenny Lockwood – bass
Jamie Moreno – drums

From all three bands playing Thursday night, Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany-based Symphonic Metal act XANDRIA is by far my favorite one, in special after the Greek goddess Ambre Vourvahis joined the band back in 2022, with their 2023 album The Wonders Still Awaiting and their 2024 EP Universal Tales being used as the base for their setlist. Songs like You Will Never Be Our God, Reborn and Universal sounded powerful onstage, plus of course the fan-favorite closing song Nightfall, proving they’re more than ready for a headlining spot in Toronto in the near future. As mentioned a few times in other reviews for Xandria, the band’s founder Marco Heubaum nailed it with their new lineup, with Ambre of course being the icing on the cake in their recent “rebirth”, and that translates into sheer admiration, screams and horns high in the air every time they hit the stages of Toronto. The volume of the vocals during the entire night for all three bands, not only for Xandria, was a hit and miss mainly due to their high range, but nothing that would make any of the shows less enjoyable, and of course Ambre killed it as usual for our total delight.

Setlist
You Will Never Be Our God
Reborn
Universal
200 Years
Two Worlds
Live the Tale
Nightfall

Band members
Ambre Vourvahis – vocals
Marco Heubaum – guitars, keyboards, programming, backing vocals
Rob Klawonn – guitars
Tim Schwarz – bass
Dimitrio Gatsios – drums

DELAIN

Diana Leah had big shoes to fill back in 2022 as the replacement of the iconic vocalist Charlotte Wessels for Dutch Symphonic Metal/Rock band DELAIN, but after seeing her live this Thursday in Toronto I must say the Romanian kicks some serious ass and the band was spot-on in choosing her as their new frontwoman. The drumming by Sander Zoer and the grinding riffs and solos by Ronald Landa also sounded fantastic during the entire night, while Diana sounded superb on both new songs like The Reaping and Dance With the Devil, from their new EP Dance With the Devil, and old songs such as April Rain, Not Enough and We Are the Others. The lighting was also on point the entire night for all bands, and in the case of Delain that only made their show even more special for their fans. Just like what happened with Edge of Paradise and Xandria, I’m beyond certain we’ll see Delain again in Canadian lands sooner than later based on the smiles on their own faces and on the faces of all fans at the venue, proving Symphonic Metal indeed has its place in the heart of Torontonian metalheads.

Setlist
The Cold
Suckerpunch
The Reaping
Dance With the Devil
Burning Bridges
Creatures
Sleepwalkers Dream
Stardust
Get the Devil Out of Me
Your Body Is a Battleground
Queen of Shadow
The Gathering
Don’t Let Go
Moth to a Flame
April Rain
Not Enough
We Are the Others

Band members
Diana Leah – lead vocals
Ronald Landa – guitars, harsh vocals
Ludovico Cioffi – bass, harsh vocals
Martijn Westerholt – keyboards, orchestrations
Sander Zoer – drums

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Album Review – The Astroplex / The Chronicles of Azhul’Tar (2016)

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In the distant world of Azhul’Tar, who will reign supreme in the battle between the young and brave Satis and the tyrannical emperor Zarkhonn? Only this excellent Canadian band can answer you that through their cinematic blend of Melodic Death and Black Metal.

Rating4

the-astroplex_artwork“Way beyond our stars, lies a world in ruins. Kingdoms where people are left fighting over basic needs. Independent groups of space explorers, named Travelers, are hired to look for such resources throughout the different planetary systems.

One band of Travelers, led by the young Satis, has struggled for years to find such scarce goods. Flying an old war vessel, the Astroplex, Captain Satis and her crew are about to see their fates changed.

A monumental event that will take its toll throughout the entire galaxy…”

Deeply rooted into science fiction soundtracks from the 80’s such as the masterpieces Alien, Blade Runner and Terminator, creating a cinematic blend of that vintage sound with contemporary extreme music, Canadian Modern Melodic Death/Black Metal act The Astroplex will take you on an exciting journey to a world far, far away in their debut full-length album The Chronicles of Azhul’Tar. From the opening credits to its climatic ending, The Chronicles of Azhul’Tar tells a compelling and epic post-apocalyptic story of survival and death, all embraced by high-end metal music.

Born inside the minds of two former band mates in 2014, Herr Nox (lead singer, lyricist, keyboardist, graphic designer and instrumental composer for the project) and Commander John Steele (guitarist, bassist, drummer and the one responsible for the background story in The Chronicles of Azhul’Tar), The Astroplex aim at blurring the line between science fiction and heavy music, bringing forward a fresh and exciting experience to the listener. As the third member of the project we have the charming Lindsay Schoolcraft, keyboardist for British Extreme Metal titans Cradle of Filth, who beautifully portrays the story’s main character Satis and, consequently, makes you more and more attracted to the events happening in the distant world where the story takes place.

Just like in any good sci-fi movie, The Astroplex provide us all the Opening Credits, an instrumental intro from outer space (sounding like the iconic Terminator theme at times) informing the journey is about to begin, before Prophecy explodes into a modernized version of Melodic Death Metal led by the bestial growls by Herr Nox. At this point, the story already starts to take shape and form (“The world is changing / The suns are rising / Light fills the empty ship / Darkness is gone / There may be hope, there may be One / Time is running out / Life is running short / ‘Tis Azhul’Tar that you’ll behold”), and the music itself couldn’t sound more perfect for the whole concept proposed by the band.

In the atmospheric instrumental track Travelers, our brave captain Satis leads her crew in pursuit of a spacecraft named Xenova-2, guiding the listener to A Dying World, with additional elements from Groove and Progressive Metal giving the song more stamina and heaviness. Herr Nox has a precise performance, blasting some deep guttural vocals while the guitar riffs by Commander John Steele pierce your brain until the song’s ferocious ending. Modernity blended with old school Death Metal is offered once again by the band in The Red Emperor, where Commander John Steele and the stunning Lindsay beautifully craft the futuristic ambience needed for Herr Nox to tell the story through their magnificent guitar riffs and solos, potent beats and operatic backing vocals, turning this into one of the best compositions of the entire album.

the-astroplexVa’Hel (The Prison Moon) is another sci-fi movie-inspired instrumental track that shows us Satis became a prisoner to Zarkhonn (also known as the Red Emperor, ruler of Azhul’Tar and its three moons, master of the Life Stream, to the people of Earth), an exotic voyage through space and time in the form of music with highlights to the crisp sound of its keyboards and synths; whereas the epic and gripping composition The Rise and Fall of Satis presents a melodic approach of Extreme Metal with the exciting guitar lines by Commander John Steele guiding the musicality, while Herr Nox continues to translate the world of Azhul’Tar into words.

And as the story advances to its ending, we have Battle for Azhul’Tar, another epic hymn where you can feel the agony and pain of all characters of the story being told and the perfect soundtrack for an intergalactic war, with its lyrics depicting the brutal devastation caused by this sanguinary battle (“The sky is burning, bombs are droping / Lazers blazing, who’ll get out of here alive / Such suffering, greed is causing / People dying, who will see the next sunrise”). Moreover, Commander John Steele lets his beast arise through his Black Metal-ish blast beats and sick guitar solo, only making things even more exciting. Lastly, the cinematic outro The Heir (End Credits), highly inspired by classics such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Blade Runner and many others, leaves us questioning what will happen next to the newly crowned empress Satis, to the fallen emperor Zarkhonn and to the entire world of Azhul’Tar. If this will become a trilogy, only time will tell.

While we all wait for the next episode of such metallic saga (if it happens, of course), you can go check The Astrpolex’s Facebook page, YouTube channel (where you can listen to The Chronicles of Azhul’Tar in its entirety) and SoundCloud page to know more about the band, their music and their plans for the future. You can also buy this movie in the form of heavy music through their BandCamp page, and if you don’t do that, well, I have a special message from Zarkhonn himself (wherever he is now) telling you what he will do to you in case you “forget” to buy your copy of The Chronicles of Azhul’Tar. He seems to be a very reasonable guy, don’t you agree?

Best moments of the album: Prophecy, The Red Emperor and Battle for Azhul’Tar.

Worst moments of the album: None.

Released in 2016 Independent

Track listing 
1. Opening Credits (instrumental) 1:53
2. Prophecy 4:29
3. Travelers (instrumental) 0:56
4. A Dying World 5:17
5. The Red Emperor 5:51
6. Va’Hel (The Prison Moon) (instrumental) 4:00
7. The Rise and Fall of Satis 6:14
8. Battle for Azhul’Tar 6:11
9. The Heir (End Credits) (instrumental) 3:26

Band members
Herr Nox – male vocals, synthesizers
Commander John Steele – guitars, bass, drums, additional synthesizers
Lindsay Schoolcraft – female vocals and voices