2025 has been an incredible year of music, already! I am finding so many metal bands, it’s like they are growing on trees, abundantly. My newest favorite is a band from the UK, that have been a leading force in UK metal, through four previous albums. Now Pythia, has returned with their latest album, V PT.1: Unhallowed, which was released on May 23, 2025
Pythia is made up of: Sophie Dorman, on lead vocals; Ross White, on guitars; Jamie Hunt, on guitars; Ash Porter, on bass; Marcus Matusiak, on keys; and Marc Dyos, on drums.
Pythia’s 5 song album may seem short…but don’t be dismayed…there are no fillers here. Every song is a supersonic…(we love that word here in Seattle)! V PT.1: Unhallowed is filled with supercharged anthems of metal that take you back to the foundation of the genre. They are definitely near the top of my favorite metal albums of the year, for sure.
Pythia are a UK symphonic metal band founded in London by drummer Marc Dyos and vocalist Emily Ovenden, along with guitarist Ross White; keyboardist Richard Holland, guitarists Ross White and Tim Neale, and bassist Andy Nixon-Corfield. Emily was also a member of Mediæval Bæbes whilst Marc and Ross had been in death/thrash metal band Descent. Pythia formed in early 2007, and released their first album, Beneath the Veiled Embrace, in 2009. In February 2012, Pythia released their second album entitled The Serpent’s Curse, followed by their third album Shadows of a Broken Past in December 2014. In October 2015, Emily Alice Ovenden announced that she had left the band to focus on her new group Khronicles. The band thankfully found an incredible replacement, Sophie Dorman. Pythia’s illustrious debut show was as a main support for Tarja Turunen, at the Electric Ballroom in Camden. They have played some mighty important shows since then.
So, Pythia returns with V PT.1: Unhallowed:
“Unhallowed”, is just the way you want to open a metal album. A soft, choir-like vocal, surrounded by winds from the North Sea, blowing. Then, welcoming you with supersonic guitar, bass and drums, just as we all love it! Sophia Dorman’s first vocals, “The curse upon my house, blackened marks against my name. Retribution for another’s sins. Primal ruin in my blood, an older order brims. Filled with ancient whispers humming from within. Cast aside by those who swore to. Protect me from all this…” Yes, Pythia absolutely made the right choice by selecting Sophia Dorman as their new lead singer. The way she patiently waits for the opening on this song’s performance music video is a treasure unto itself. This is absolutely everything you could want in metal! Jungle level drums, pounding bass, and electrifying and grunging dual lead guitar power! Sophia Dorman’s voice tops off the pinnacle of this mountain high soundscape. She continues, surrounded by a metal soundscape which is impervious to obstruction. Yes, the sound engineering is immaculate on this album. You can hear every note and every word of her clearly delivered vocals. As an experienced band you can hear the professionalism that just drips from all of the band’s performance throughout, V PT.1: Unhallowed. Sophia continues, “I’ve been a prisoner for so long. In my heart a mournful song. We are the blighted ghosts of old. Malignant hate in our souls. Forever reaching forth. To grasp the blade, unclean, unhallowed. Destiny inescapable. Can there be life where we failed?” This song will be a perfect concert opener.
“Path Of Decay”, also has an accompanying performance music video. This one opens with a lone guitarist slowly playing electric guitar chords, setting forth a perfect course for the music that follows. But then it is Sophia’s turn to tell the story, “Torn from slumber. Waking in the light my spirit stirs. Dust and remnants of a long forgotten life. The tales I’ve told, the deeds that stain my soul. Defiant to the last. Truth and wonder. All is lost as empires fall. Pushed through torment and weathered every doubt. Still the light faded out. As I lie alone in dust and grief. Hear me as a whisper through the centuries. Storm is rising. Like a fire inside me. Mourning for the lost I can’t forget. Everything a monument to my regrets. Tear it all down. Sky asunder!” Then, a muscular guitar and drum instrumental fills the stage. You just have to hear this and more importantly feel and hear the experience. No words can accurately describe the power of this music and Sophia’s lyrics. She sings, “Cold and alone. Hiding in the spaces between dreams. From the forest silent to the ocean deep!” Then, something that took me back again to Kansas’ “Cheyene Anthem”. Just a hint of memory. No copies here. But a great memory for me. Thanks. Sophia finishes, “And here I’ll stay, on this path of decay. Claiming my throne. Witness me devour the sun. Take these dreams, take me home! As I lie alone in dust and grief. Hear me as a whisper through the centuries. Storm is rising. Like a fire inside me. Sky asunder. Purify me. Let the sky ignite!”
“A Curse In The Blood”, opens with those jungle level drums and some of the best grunging electric guitar you could summon. What an opening! Best on the album! Sophia sings, “Hear the tales of ancient bones, secrets in our souls, fear that makes us blind. Hearts that should be sure and fair, if we can’t find strength there, then what makes us alive? Cursed, a sickness in the blood, noise becomes too much, drains us of belief. Mourn the paths that we have seen, what we could have been, a life in endless grief. Oh they say the healer is the one who’s stained in blood. Still the wound cuts deeper, suffocates the light above”. Hopefully you are reading these deep and emotional lyrics like I do when I hear them from Sophia. She concludes this powerhouse with the words, “Arises to the call. Break the chains, destroy the cycle. I won’t let you fall. But on the winds a change is coming. The earth speaks!” Wow, thank you for the music and words. There is also an excellent performance music video for this song.
“Muses Of The Night”, also has a wonderful performance video supporting it. On this one, the band takes off quickly with electric guitar, bass and drums, with Sophie following closely. She sings, “Fate once gave me your hand. Pride and passion in our souls. Now the bonds of love. Are sick and so I sing my anguish. I gave everything for you. Lies, cruelty and betrayal. But love was never enough. I lost you to your lust for power”. Sophie sings the closing, “Who will bathe you in their light. All the gods will scorn your spite. Now I turn from you. Sing for me, muses of the night”.
Everything on this album has been superb, so how will they close it, right? Well “Bright Flame”, opens with brilliant drumming. Danny Carey level drumming, which is always welcome on any heavy metal album. Then those double lead electric guitars which have been generating supersonic rhythm and cosmic melodies, throughout. Finally, the reason I will buy this album, beyond the music…Sophie Dorman. Her vocals and lyrics are some of the best I’ve heard all year. She is definitely a contender for vocalist and female vocalist of the year, for me. There is no supporting video for this song. But, hopefully that is in the making, as I write this. After the initial welcoming stormscape, Sophie sings, “Oh never will I fear all the horrors you bring. Poison you will spread. Oh what made you think, I would submit to your call? I’ll take fire instead. There was a time, when I felt hope in something. Freedom was mine, in the quiet the night brings. Out of the dark, festering in your malice. Veiled with a golden mask. (“Just like a greasepaint mask”, Marillion fans). A warlike stare. Grasped by desire like a storm. Now blinded by your arrogance. Searching for fear but you’ll find none here. Leading me to the fire that burns so bright. You won’t prevail with each threat unveiled. Sending my soul ever closer”. But you’re messing with Sophie Dorman, and that is a big mistake. She sings, “Hidden below, broken but still defiant. I will not bow nor my will be silenced. Though you may breathe all of your honeyed words forth. I can see deep in your soul. Quiet with my mind at peace. Beyond your reach. I withstand. A strength that you will never know. Sending my soul closer to the light. Now hear my word, it’s all you deserve. Boldly I raise a shield of fallen stars. This radiant flame still brings me no pain. Soothing my wounds healing my scars”. Then, she completes the closing, “I will not break I will rejoin the light. I will take all that’s mine. Cursing your name in ash and fire. Soothing my wounds, carries me home!” Yeah…of course it is an epic closer!
Pythia’s V PT.1: Unhallowed, is absolutely one of the best metal albums you will hear, and hopefully buy this year. Pythia have the professionalism and recording quality standards that should be the caliber expected throughout this genre and industry. The double lead electric guitars is always one of the most brilliant decisions a metal band makes when they are forming. Metal fans want to hear plenty of grunging and grinding electric guitars. Well, Pythia gets that, completely. Then, it’s the absolutely encompassing drumming. Danny Carey level drumming, that is coming from Marc Dyos. But the candle top of the cake, and the best decision this band made, was choosing Sophie Dorman to write the album lyrics and sing for Pythia. Look through this review and read some of those lyrics. No, better yet, buy V PT.1: Unhallowed, like I have, and experience it. Pythia’s V PT.1: Unhallowed is absolutely everything you want in a metal band and album, all the way down to the album artwork by Remy Cooper. Stop reading this and go buy it!
Track Listing:
1 – Unhallowed – 4:30
2 – Path of Decay – 4:22
3 – A Curse in the Blood – 5:19
4 – Muses of the Night – 5:27
5 – Bright Flame – 5:15
Ollie Roberts performed the mixing for V PT.1: Unhallowed, at Kettle Brew Studios. Jacob Hansen (Epica, Evergrey, Destruction etc.), mastered the album at Hansen Studios. The album artwork was created by Remy Cooper of Headsplit Design (Arch Enemy, Spiritual Beggars, Napalm Death etc.). Vocals recorded by Ethan Bishop @ ELM Studios. Bass recorded by George @ Lucien Yorg Productions. Drums recorded by Jez Larder @ Skyline Studios. All lyrics by Sophie Dorman. All music by Pythia.
Band Website and Social Media Links:
https://pythia.bandcamp.com/album/v-pt-1-unhallowed
https://www.facebook.com/PythiaBand
https://pythiamusic.bigcartel.com
https://www.instagram.com/pythia_band/#
YouTube and Music Video Links:
https://www.youtube.com/pythiatv