Metal Underground.com

“Non-Euclidian Spaces” has been in development for quite a long time indeed (the band first announced the project back when MySpace was still a thing), with Anthropia now finally getting it out the door thanks to a successful Kickstarter crowd funding campaign. Anthropia already had a solid prog metal base to work off, but add in guest spots by genre royalty Arjen Anthony Lucassen and Edu Falaschi and you've got an album that fans of heavy progressive music will simply have to hear.

If the album title didn't tip you off, “Non-Euclidian Spaces” is a concept album revolving around the writings of Lovecraft. It's interesting to hear the different musical takes on the Cthulhu mythos across the metal spectrum: there's black metal from bands like Saille, atmospheric rock from Space Mirrors, and now the much more melodic Anthropia.

Although the tracks cover a wide range of subject matter, sound-wise this definitely evokes more of the dreamlands segments of Lovecraft's works than any sort of cosmic, tentacled horror like Cthulhu himself (or any of the other additions from different writers, like The King in Yellow or galactic fire vampires). In fact, if you didn't know ahead of time what the concept was about and just heard the music, its unlikely you'd think “the horrific pointlessness of human existence” (lyrically, of course, it's given away with voice overs coming from the character Randolph Carter).

The core sound is power / prog, albeit with a slightly darker bent than what that mix traditionally implies, and there are some hazy, dreamy sequences reflecting the story. “The Part Of Them In Me” for instance is one part Haken, one part classic rock, and one part epic metal. The shorter “Unknown Kadath” is a dark symphonic track.

If there's a problem to be found on the album, it's that perhaps there should have been a few dips further into the extreme side with sudden explosions of harsh vocals – the subject matter would certainly warrant it – but if you prefer all clean singing, there's not much to complain about here. “Non-Euclidian Spaces” is an overall incredibly solid take on melodic metal, and you'll be right at home with the disc if you dig anything from Pagan's Mind to Symphony X – regardless of whether you came for the Lovecraftian stories or just for the music.