[7/10] Outside of their native Paris, the members of Empyr are pretty much unknowns. But as musicians, these individuals are/were active members of acts such as Kyo (vocalist Benoit Poher and guitarist Florian Dubos), Pleymo (bassist Benoit Juillard), Watcha (Fred Duquesne) and Vegastar (drummer Jocelyn Moze), who combined racked up sales of more than three and a half million albums, Empyr is as close as you can get to a French super-group. And after listening to the group’s debut full-length effort The Peaceful Riot, it’s not hard to see why there’s a bit of a buzz surrounding the five-piece rock act.

If there’s two words that sum up The Peaceful Riot, it’s experience and diversity. Throughout the 12 tracks, the band offer up a variety of different sounds and styles, which seem to reflect the band members’ different musical backgrounds, without leaving the album sounding inconsistent. But diversity aside, it’s the quality of songwriting that really shines through, without the standard filler material that usually accompanies albums from super-groups.

The opening track “God Is My Lover” is a heavy opening statement that allows the group to balance catchy anthem like choruses alongside their big rock sound, while “New Day” (the album’s first single/promotional video clip) reveals a slight emo/punk rock edge to their sound with great results.

From here, the album seems to touch upon a bit of everything, with the guitars coming out in full force in “Tonight,” “Voices Of The Lost Souls,” “The One,” “Fever” and the aggressive “My Empress,” which are beautifully balanced out by slower numbers such as “Birth,” the A Perfect Circle-like “Water Lily” and the powerful closer “Join Us.”

For a debut offering, The Peaceful Riot is quite an impressive and accomplished effort, and audio proof that not all super-groups are destined for failure under the weight of their own hype.

www.empyrmusic.com