Album Review: Stygian Fair – The Hidden Realm

Band: Stygian Fair
Title: The Hidden Realm
Label: Rockshots Records
Release date: July  11th,  2025
Country: Sweden
Format reviewed: High-Quality Digital Recording 

Album Review: Stygian Fair – The Hidden Realm via Rockshots Records by Sílvia

Here is the Swedish epic Heavy Metal band Stygian Fair with their new album, “The Hidden Realm”, two years after their previous one, “Aradia”, saw the light. This is a band with consistent work as I see it, having released 5 albums and one EP in 8 years, not bad in terms of musical output. Well… Let’s see what we have here, this is a band I really like and I still don’t know how they don’t have more recognition. 

As always, Stygian Fair have their own signature of epic Heavy Metal, with that characteristic classic style, if you are not familiar with this band I highly encourage you to take a listen. Because I think it’s not possible to not enjoy their old-school-alike melodies, their neat and excellent guitar playing, the clean vocals providing a nice soundscape and bright vibes to the songs… 

The artwork for this album shows a dark and menacing image, the path to that realm mentioned in the title, and it seems it’s a somber and spooky route until you reach the other side. Not sure if I’d dare to cross it… but maybe it’s worth taking the risk. It’s up to each one…  

“The Hidden Realm” starts with the same titled song, 4 minute declaration of intent of what will come next. I’m already loving the crystal clear production, the alluring guitar melodies, the varied drum patterns with the dramatism in their sudden stops, the bass work (highly audible indeed), and the beautiful and a bit high-pitched vocals. What can I say… I started shaking my head right from the beginning, because these rhythm patterns are so addictive!

What I find all through this album is a high dose of epicness infused to the melodies, this is not new with Stygian Fair but it never ceases to amaze me how these guys achieve this sound. And, sure it’s a thing of the mixing, I don’t know about technicalities, but for me all the instruments are played in their precise amount of prominence, I mean: it’s not that guitars are shadowing the drums, for example, oh no; all instruments shine equally, the sound is big and bright, extremely clean… I can hear everything with detail. And at times it’s just how the cymbals reverb, or the bass resonance, or the epic choruses or how Andreas voice vibrates, or that perfect guitar harmonies… There are a lot of details that give me goosebumps. 

Sometimes I get hooked on the beauty of guitars entwined together in some passages, as in “Into the Well”: when the lead is playing the bright solo and the rhythm guitar is there with some classic melodies in the background, it’s really beautiful. Also, this is a song with somber melodies in general, a bit slow tempo, and vocals shining in the middle of all that apparent dismay. Drums fill in with an extreme accuracy,  constantly rolling, marking the perfect pace. 

Other songs can be more up-tempo, such as “Rise from the Shadows”, with more dynamic drum patterns, but the epicness remains intact, and the guitar solo shines as usual, and the final part of the song is just sooo brilliant with those choruses… 

“What You’re Fighting For” is a great song, it’s stuck in my brain due to their melodic guitars, their progressions are super clean and elegant; and lyrics are kind of unsettling, this point of darkness was totally needed. I love this kind of contrast. And “All of Us” is another delicious piece of art: fragile and powerful at the same time, with a shocking message in its lyrics, made of pure emotion.

Taken from official fonts: “Lyrically, “The Hidden Realm” explores everything from political collapse and mass delusion to natural disaster, ancient mysteries, and inner reckoning. It’s a record about the worlds we ignore, the truths we tend to bury, and the consequences of silence”. Personally, I find some of the lyrics really striking, like the highly emotional content in “All of Us”; the criticism of today’s fool society in “Anthem of the Lost”; some songs are delving into introspective themes, as in “Peel the Layers Off” and “Dawn”, well… I find interesting content in all the lyrics, away from nonsense or common topics.

To sum up, this is a perfect album, super coherent and well played. Simply brilliant.  10/10

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10/10  Immortal Classic
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