ØLYP have released their debut album, I(m)MORTAL, bringing environmental concerns into their cinematic instrumental progressive metal. Available on CD, LP and digital through Klonosphere, with distribution by Season of Mist, the record explores humanity’s fractured relationship with nature without using lyrics.
The announcement identifies environmental collapse, collective inaction and growing individualism as the album’s central concerns. Rather than spelling out a single argument through a vocalist, ØLYP build their narrative through riffs, repetition, silence and changes in intensity, leaving room for listeners to interpret its themes.
Conceived in the Norwegian fjords, the project now operates between southern France and Belgium. Thibaud Lépicier handles guitar and bass, while David Annenkoff plays drums. That original Norwegian setting remains part of the project’s stated conceptual background, with the duo developing those ideas across their current bases.
The accompanying press material describes intricate rhythms and controlled crescendos set against quieter, unsettled passages. Its emphasis falls on contrasts between intimate and expansive sections, contemplation and impact, and beauty and destruction. Technical playing forms one part of that approach alongside repetition and restraint.
Violin, viola and cello broaden the arrangements on “Solace,” “Molden” and both parts of “The Great Denial.” The contributing musicians are violinists Pauline Henric and Zoé Sallefranque, violist Sylvain Rullier and cellist Eugénie Ursch. Their performances extend the instrumental palette beyond the duo’s guitar, bass and drums.
For musical reference, the announcement places ØLYP alongside The Ocean, Psychonaut, Russian Circles and Night Verses, and also recommends the album to listeners of DVNE. Those comparisons frame the release’s combination of heaviness, progressive rhythmic detail and instrumental composition.
Chiaran Verheyden recorded the drums and also mixed and mastered the album. David Castel recorded guitars, bass and strings. The visual credits name James K. Barbosa for photography and Journal of Emptiness for artwork.