On February 16, Mirror Image Records is reissuing Eynomia’s 2018 debut album, Break Free on CD, as a digital download and via streaming platforms.
Break Free revolves around the dramatic vocals of Phyllis Rutter and Chris Bickley’s powerfully melodic compositions and wild guitar shredding. Ground-shaking blasts of bass and drums make it metal, but intricate keyboard parts partake of the sophistication of progressive rock. The overall sound evokes symphonic prog metal bands like Night Wish and Within Temptation but with an airy, expansive structure that allows the songs—and their listeners—to breathe.
The album made John Kindred of Hardrock Haven’s Top 10 for 2018; he enthused: “Constructed lavishly with layers of dynamic instrumentation the music on Break Free provides Rutter the perfect backdrop for her vocal melodies…A phenomenal debut release.”
Break Free was the first recording for a relatively new unit, who began in late 2015 when Rutter and Bickley met on Facebook and began trading musical ideas. Rutter lived in Minneapolis, where her many artistic achievements and long-time support of the regional music scene won her several Minnesota Music Awards and induction into the Mid-America Hall of Fame. Bickley was a veteran of Thunderhead, a New Orleans prog rock band beloved of Johnny Winter, and the touring guitarist for Rebel Montez and SNL singer Christine Ohlman.
The pair soon discovered a potent working chemistry; each liked what the other was able to do with their songs. They began talking about putting a proper band together. Bickley called in his long-time friend, drummer Gaetano Nicolosi, a conservatory-trained percussionist living in Italy, as well as keyboardist Jimmy Pitts of NorthTale and Eternity’s End. Rutter suggested the bass player Mike LePond, an in-demand session player best known for his work in Symphony X and Silent Assassins.
Break Free was recorded remotely with Eynomia’s far-flung band members recording their parts in their respective home-towns and forwarding them to band leader Chris Bickley to assemble at his home studio in Connecticut. Robert Romagna mixed and mastered the album at his studio in the Austrian Alps.
Highlights include the thundering, crescendoing “Till We Meet Again,” one of the first songs Bickley and Rutter ever worked on together. Bickley had written the basics before he even met the singer and asked her to have a listen. Rutter returned it with vocals and a new melodic line. “I fell in love with the melody and what she did with it, so much that I had to change around the whole guitar solo section and added a classical guitar to it,” said Bickley. “That song really spoke to me when it was done.”
Their partnership continued to develop as they collaborated on more tracks. “To Your Eyes,” one of the last songs laid down for Break Free, was written specifically to showcase Rutter’s voice. “Phyllis was brought to tears singing that song. She liked it so much,” said Bickley. “It reminded her of falling in love.”
The reissue will include one bonus song, “Raise Your Voice,” an anthemic, upbeat rocker that Bickley wrote specifically for the re-release. “It’s about voicing your freedoms and standing up for what you believe in, a really appropriate message for our current climate,” Bickley explained.
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