While Mark Jansen and Arièn van Weesenbeek are mainly known for being members of Epica, their other band Mayan certainly has its own take on bombastic symphonic metal and shouldn’t be overshadowed by bigger names in the genre. This is my very first review on the site so I want to start with a release that is very special to me. Dhyana, Mayan‘s third full length album is nothing short of phenomenal and an absolute game changer for what metal music can be. I discovered it when it was released in 2018 and have been continuously coming back to it ever since. The first big surprise about Dhyana is the amount of band members involved which adds up to eleven people, six of which are vocalists! You could say that Mayan is kind of a supergroup considering that all of its members were previously in other bands. On top of that they’ve managed to hire the City of Prague philharmonic orchestra to perform all of the classical instrumentation which adds a lot of production value to the music.
Now having a metal band with six singers and an orchestra might sound like a difficult or even impossible project to manage without it being a complete mess, right? Well fear not because the technicians in charge of the engineering, mixing and mastering are professionals and knew exactly what they were doing. They’ve done a splendid job at mixing all of these elements together with each band member (and the orchestra) having their moments to shine without getting in the way of one another. The music is composed in such a way that the different instruments and voices interact and answer to each other, thus pulling the listener into a jaw-dropping and hair-raising musical journey that demands full attention.
Beyond the huge sound and production value, Dhyana contains a lot of diversity within its songs taking you through symphonic metal, death metal, power metal and more. The vocals shift between operatic soprano vocals (Laura Macrì), clean male singing (Henning Basse, Adam Denlinger) and female singing (Marcela Bovio) as well as death growls (Mark Jansen, George Oosthoek). Having all of those characters in just one album makes for a delightfully entertaining musical experience. As soon as “The Rhythm of Freedom” begins, you are assaulted with blast beats, fast guitar riffs, massive keys and orchestration before the different vocalists arrive one by one. This song sends you straight into the overall mood of the album which induces a mixed feeling between triumph and apocalypse. As soon as Henning starts to sing, you will lose all sense of reality and find yourself chanting with him while raising your fist in the air. “Saints Don’t Die” is another great example of his impactful presence. Despite him leaving the band the same year this album was released, Adam does a good job at filling in for him live and brings his own potent voice in tracks like “Tornado of Thoughts (I Don’t Think, Therefore I Am)”. This song will thrust you into a twirling dance of varied tones and vocal styles all complementing each other (as they do throughout the whole album).
While the album is generally intense and bombastic, it does have its calmer moments when Laura will often take the spotlight with her spine-chilling performances like on the title track or the soft moments in “The Illusory Self”. She also increases the dramatic tone of the orchestra in heavier sections like in “Rebirth from Despair”. As for Marcela, every appearance that she makes is awe-inspiring, just listen to her choruses in “The Power Process”, “Saints Don’t Die” and “The Illusory Self”. After watching some live videos of the band I realised that she even throws in some harsh vocals in “Rebirth from Despair”. Wow! These last three tracks are great examples of how all the elements on the record contribute in building up a perfect climax with each vocalist making an entrance. With that being said, the foundation of the band’s sound is actually death metal and I must give praise to Arièn‘s drumming since he provides precise and heavy drum beats that will make your neck snap and that somehow fit hand in hand with the symphonic bombast. The guitars and base add to the intensity of the drums and turn the beats into tasteful headbang-worthy grooves. We even get some guitar solos in “The Flaming Rage of God” and “The Power Process” and a base solo in “Rebirth from Despair”. In this song we have a fantastic duel between Mark and George who reinforce the weight of the music with their crushing harsh vocals especially on the apocalyptic-sounding “Maya (The Veil of Delusion)”. I should also add that each song is memorable and has new details to pick up on with each subsequent listen. With the music being so well fashioned, it’s good to also have meaningful lyrics which I believe evoke psychology, spirituality and religion.
In conclusion, Mayan have put together one of the most thrilling albums I’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing by successfully unifying different genres of music and doing so in a classy way. It’s a complex yet extremely moving musical experience that resonates deep within my soul. If you enjoy metal music that’s ambitious and, like me, agree with the “more is more” philosophy, then I think Dhyana will make the same impression on you as it did on me. With all the efforts put into its masterful execution, I can’t give it anything less than the maximum score. I eagerly await this project’s next output and I shall continue to return to this album as I’m sure that it will keep renewing itself. By writing this review I can only etch the surface of this album, but that’s why it has endless replay value.
Rating: 10/10
