The album opens with Heart In Hand, which sounds like an opening track, with the Diary Of Jane style piano buildup. And yet, it also sounds like the beginning of a sequel, which is what this is supposed to be. Referencing lyrics from Auroras Of Autumn (which they do multiple times throughout the EP) helps reiterate that this is part of the same story, and the rest of the lyrics sound like part of this story as well. However, musically it's very different from anything on Auroras Of Autumn, with the piano buildup, and music that is slower, yet heavier than almost anything on Auroras Of Autumn (excluding Childhood Ghost).
Oration, on the other hand, begins immediately with vocals, then builds up to an immediate chorus, which references the aforementioned Childhood Ghost. The piano riff is eerie, but mesmerizing, and vocalist David Chamberlin is very convincing as a murderous villain as he sings "I'm your childhood ghost, now I'll slit all your throats and drag you to hell where you belong".
These dark themes continue into the song Disillusion, which contains the amazing line "We're not the same dear, my body's grown to embrace this fear", a line which I wish I had written. The great lyrics and dark themes continue throughout the song, which sounds like a classic rock take on an Evening's Fable song. The addition of guitar worked well for this song, however I hope it doesn't become a regular thing. It added to this song though, and mixed well with the keyboard.
The song Ties may just be my favorite Evening's Fable song. It's a beautifully dark, deeply visceral song that brings David's vocals and keyboard directly to the forefront, setting the dark mood and screaming with rage. The spoken word part towards the end fits perfectly in this song, as David closes the song, screaming "And if I could have one last wish, I wish that I never had exist!", followed by a slow part with chimes that fit surprisingly in this deeply dark song.
If the theme of Ties was self-hatred, than the theme of Fulfilling A Promise is hatred towards someone else. Eleven seconds in, when the vocals start, the first thing screamed out of David Chamberlin's mouth is "Now! I'm gonna put you in the fucking ground!". He goes on to scream "You're so dead!" among other things. You can feel the anger he's directing at whoever he's singing to. Musically, this song is interesting. It starts out just re-using the riff from By The Conductor's Wishes, but then at about the 1:32 mark, the song completely shifts gears to a slower tempo, before changing back at the end with only fifteen seconds left in the song. Yet another way this EP connects it's songs to Auroras Of Autumn.
The EP closes with Jukai, named for a Buddhist initiation ritual, which starts with a sinister sounding piano riff, before turning into one of Evening's Fable's slowest songs, and also one of their most professional. All the instruments, keyboard, bass, and drums work very well together in this song, and David's vocals sound very clean and powerful. The song closes with the keyboards getting slower and slower before stopping. This is a perfect example of a long song that keeps my interest the entire time. It's very multi-leveled, and I can see fans at live shows singing along with David when he sings "I'm giving you open arms to treat the world I tore apart, I can't stand up, I spilled my own guts this time". This song, unlike With The Season, doesn't feel like it leaves anything open. It feels like an ending, like a conclusion. A grand finale to a grand story.
I said in my last review that Evening's Fable would need to be able to expand their horizons so that people wouldn't grow tired of their unique sound, and they delivered in a big way. These songs not only sound different from the songs on Auroras Of Autumn, they sound different from each other, which is very important for a musician to have if they don't want to seem like just a band with a gimmick. I liked the guitar on Disillusion, but like I said, I hope it doesn't become a regular thing. Part of what makes Evening's Fable such a unique band is the fact that their songs have a bare-bones sound with keyboard, bass, and drums, and yet still manage to be fast and heavy. I can't compare them to anyone, because they don't sound like anyone. Having no guitar is part of this sound, and while adding guitar to a few songs could be another way for them to experiment with different sounds, I also feel that they shouldn't make it part of the band, or if they do, at least keep it in the background like they did on some of the other songs. All in all, I believe Harmonium is far better than Auroras Of Autumn, not because Auroras Of Autumn was bad (believe me, it was far from it), but because Harmonium is so damn good! Bottom line, go download this EP. It's great music, and it's free, and it doesn't take up much memory, so you really have no excuse not to (unless of course, you don't like the music, but if that were the case, why are you here?). Congratulations to Evening's Fable on making a fantastic EP. They can now add "sophomore slump" to their "list of music mistakes we didn't make".
