PLAYLIST: Exiled Hope Influences

Curated and Written by: Sofia Frasz of Exiled Hope

In a (continuing) attempt to give some cool bands a platform to talk about cool music, we're trying something new here at Ye Olde Sleeping Village. Thus, on Wednesdays, a band will be taking over the blog to share a curated playlist, along with some words about each song and why they picked it. Last week wekicked off the series with Cruce Signatus, and for week two, the reins have been handed over to multi-instrumentalist Sofia Frasz of Exiled Hope.

Musically inspired by the symphonic likes of Avantasia, Nightwish, Kamelot, and Cradle of Filth, every Exiled Hope single sits within the framework of a shared world, resulting in a catalogue that can be viewed as a dark fantasy metal opera. The latest single, "Blood of the Ancients," is available now, and serves as a harbinger for the forthcoming Exiled Hope album, Apocrypha, out later this year. Once you've checked out the writeup below, check out Exiled Hope over on Linktree andSpotify. 

Without further ado, I'll let Sofia take over! 

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​“The Scarecrow” - Avantasia

I discovered Avantasia in my junior year of high school, in January 2017, after seeing a friend post about them a few times on Instagram. I finally decided to check them out, and I immediately wondered how I had gone this long without listening to them. Musically, I felt seen in a way that I never had before; I think for the first time, I had found a stylistic blend that spoke to pretty much everything I loved at the time in a cohesive way. Avantasia has a little bit of everything in their music, but there always seems to be an underpinning of classic hard rock nostalgia in their style, and sometimes even a bit of the post-grunge edge that I grew up with before I discovered metal. Then, the more I learned about Avantasia’s history as a project, the more confident I became in my ability to start making music as a solo artist without waiting for a solid set of bandmates. I don’t think Exiled Hope would exist without Avantasia.

“Tears Of A Mandrake” - Edguy

Edguy might seem like an odd influence for someone who makes dark, gloomy power metal with blackened and melodeath influences, but the delivery of their music and their frequent experimentation with other styles perfectly parallels my own. Almost every Edguy album is in a different style, but they’re still recognizable as Edguy. Edguy isn’t defined by a style, but an approach to music. And that’s how I approach Exiled Hope; it’s all about getting my stories and feelings out there in whatever style best suits those stories and feelings, no matter what those stories and feelings happen to be. 

“Forever” - Kamelot

There’s something special about metal that decides to be simultaneously powerful and sweetly romantic, and almost no one does that better than Kamelot. This dynamic gives the music an unexpected layer of depth and a more nuanced range of emotions. This might be the main influence I draw from Kamelot as a songwriter; the ability to play with nuanced and highly dynamic instrumentation. Kamelot also does a fantastic job of highlighting Roy Khan’s (and later Tommy Karevik’s) lower register, and as a singer with a lower voice, I’ve looked to their compositional and melodic structures countless times while learning to create music that works with rather than against my natural range.

“Elan” - Nightwish

I must have listened to this song 100 times in a row when I first discovered it. I love light, folksy music as much as I love heavier music, and I instantly fell in love with the lush, ethereal beauty Nightwish brings to their music. Nightwish was the band that inspired me to add orchestral elements to my songs and become more than just a guitarist and vocalist. I wanted to learn to create soundscapes the way they did, so I taught myself basic scales and chords on a USB plug-in keyboard and started learning to orchestrate by trial and error. My compositions took on a much richer, fuller, larger-than-life sound, and I earned some film scoring opportunities due to integrating this element into my music and learning these skills.

“Befallen” - Vintersea

Vintersea was my best musical discovery of 2020. I can confidently say that Avienne is one of my favorite vocalists of all time, and I will miss her terribly. In Vintersea, I found my primary harsh vocal influence, and I love the way the band layers clean vocals and clean instrumentation around all the heavier sounds. Their music sounds almost crystalline at times, and while it sounds very different from Exiled Hope, that heavily-layered light-and-dark interplay became central to my style as a vocalist and composer. 

“General Of The Dark Army” - Unleash the Archers

Unleash the Archers exemplifies the type of straightforward, vicious power metal style that I want to create more often. I feel like I’m finally developing the skills I need to create music in this style. I found Unleash the Archers through the music video for this song in early 2019, and this was another one I had on repeat for a while. I love the way the intro progresses from slow and clean into a ripping solo, then charges on relentlessly toward the end. It’s pure energy, and it takes a ton of skill to make.

“Crawling Back To You” - Daughtry

Stop rolling your eyes. Daughtry is a great band. They were the first rock band I got into when I was around 9 or 10 years old, and to this day I don’t think they get enough credit for their musicianship. I think I took my propensity for melodic songwriting and huge, catchy choruses from this band, because even my melodeath and doom metal songs need a great hook or they’re not complete. I also don’t think Daughtry gets enough credit for their lyrics, because the older I get, the more I fully understand and relate to them. There is real heart and depth behind their music, and they deserve much more respect than they receive for their songwriting abilities.

“Burnt Offerings” - Iced Earth

I discovered Iced Earth in my sophomore year of high school when I was deep in my thrash metal phase and into bands like Megadeth and Anthrax, and I loved the combination of heavy, thrashy riffs and power metal melodies and vocal styles. Power-thrash is one of the more unique genre combinations I’ve stumbled across, and I think this band is almost singlehandedly responsible for my style of rhythm guitar playing. When in doubt, I throw in some vicious, in-your-face, chugging riffs to take a song to the next level and give it a unique flair.

“Cathedral Walls” - Swallow the Sun

Swallow the Sun dramatically influenced the slower, darker aspects of my music. In fact, I got my first larger film scoring opportunity because the film director and I were both Swallow the Sun fans and shared the same vision for the soundtrack of the project. I also started incorporating more doom and folk metal aspects into my music as a result of this project because it felt so natural for my composition and singing style. I anticipate more slow, heavy doom elements arising on future Exiled Hope releases.

“Breakwater” - Wolfheart

I’ve been listening to a lot of Wolfheart lately, and it’s making me want to move in a more melodeath direction with certain songs. Wolfheart’s music is so intense and stormy-sounding, it’s an aesthetic that I think I need to capture if I want to adequately convey my ideas for upcoming songs. I’ve explored melodeath several times in the past, but I want it to feature more prominently on future releases now that I’m better at playing in that style.

“Sons Of Winter And Stars” - Wintersun

This whole album blew my mind when I first heard it. The complexity of the orchestrations and the multilayered guitar parts inspired me to level up my composition skills to create more prog-influenced soundscapes. I dove into improving my orchestration skills and learning different techniques for layering my guitar riffs and leads on top of the orchestrations. I started out as a guitar player, not a keyboard player, so over the years I’ve had to essentially re-learn my guitar playing style in order to make it work on top of orchestrations.

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Thanks to Sofia for curating this playlist and providing commentary! Tune in next week for another playlist.