CD Review: The Quantum Enigma by Epica

The Quantum Engima Epica's sixth studio album was released on 2 May 2014. This album features new bass player Rob van der Loo, who replaced Yves Huts. So far two singles have been released "The Essence of Silence" and "Unchain Utopia".

To be honest, I have never been into Epica mainly because of Mark Jansen's grunts, screams, his overall attitude and Simone's vocals. The couple of songs I checked online, be it studio versions or live recordings, left me uninterested. But it all changed after listening to The Quantum Enigma. The album might be catchy, but still it maintains quite heavy sound.

The opening track "Origiem" is instrumental song with only singing choir provides listener with a great taste of what's coming next. The powerful choir and orchestra work perfect along the rest of the band on every song. I always have the feeling that, the orchestra and choir give the extra spice to the songs and don't overshadow them.  Another thing I like about The Quantum Enigma is the unpredictability of songs' structures in e.g. "Omen" or "Unchain Utopia". Just because some songs begin with blast, it doesn't mean, that there won't be some twist coming a bit later on and vice versa. Even though Mark's grunts are present on almost all of the songs I find them not so "disturbing" as I expected them to be. And because in my opinion Mark's grunts are used quite sensibly and in places where the songs only benefit from them, I don't find the grunts annoying at all. And I say this as a person, who usually avoid songs with grunts, screams and other  "acrobatic vocal performances".

My favourite songs are "Omen", "The Second Stone" and bonus track "In All Conscience", which is not only my very favourite song of the album, but I consider it to be one of my all time favourite songs. The lyrics, the music and the powerful chorus is what makes this song to stand out for me. So "In All Conscience" I can honestly say, that The Quantum Enigma sparked an interest in Epica in me.  

CD Review: Shine by Anette Olzon

'Shine' is the first solo album of former Nightwish singer Anette Olzon. Although, the album was release in  March, the composing and recording of some of the songs date back to 2009. It was after DPP world tour when Anette announced, that she's working on her solo album. But due to her second pregnancy, the release of the album was postponed.
Prior to the album release, we got a tease in form of lyric video of 'Falling', followed by first single 'Lies'. Although 'Lies' and 'Falling' have rock sound, don't be fooled. 'Shine' mostly consists of ballads and slow songs. Songs that definitely let Anette 'shine' and you can tell, that this is her comfort zone.

One thing that was a big surprise and a let down for me was the fact, that five out of ten songs were already played live or shared as demos. 'Floating', 'Invincible' and 'Falling' were shared with us on Anette's Myspace page. Although in form of demos, I dare to say that very little has change since 2009 when it comes to these three songs.  Other two 'Watching Me From Afar' and 'Like A Show Inside My Head' were performed live shortly after Anette's departure from Nightwish. 'One Million Faces' was written by Martijn Spierenburg known as a keyboard player in Within Temptation.

My second complain, and this is only my personal opinion, is a lack of challenging songs. Yes, Anette sounds very good on all of the songs, but most of them are just plain, sometimes boring songs, that you know right from the beginning what you're getting. An element of surprise is missing. I personally call 'Shine' a chill out album. Nice enough but not something I would expect after so many years of 'making' it.

CD Review: The Human Contradiction by Delain

Dutch symphonic metal band Delain released their fourth studio album 'The Human Contradiction' on 4th April. According to lead singer Charlotte Wessels, who is also responsible for all the lyrics on this album, the album's title was inspired by Octavia E. Butler's science fiction trilogy 'Lillith's Brood'.

In all honesty, I never really cared for Delain. I knew they existed because of their collaboration with Marco Hietala from Nightwish, but their previous work failed to grab my attention. It wasn't until I read mostly positive reviews that I decided to give their new album a shot. To my biggest surprise, I ended up being hooked right from the very first tunes of 'Here Comes the Vultures'. And this 'being hooked' state of mine continued throughout the entire album. The songs have catchy melodies indeed, but I never felt that the 'catchiness' is forced or calculated. Again, we have the pleasure to hear Marco Hietala on two songs 'Your Body is a Battleground' and 'Sing to Me', which also belong to my favourite songs. Another two guests, George Oostheok (ex-Orphanage) and Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy, ex-The Agonist), provide growls to songs 'Tell Me, Mechanist' and  'The Tragedy of the Commons'.

After a couple of spins I can definitely say, that 'The Human Contradiction' is on my list of favourite albums of this year. I even learnt to appreciate Charlotte's vocals more than ever before. I believe it's time to give Delain another try and listen to their other three albums again.  

Tarja's new album 'Left In The Dark'

While we're waiting for Tarja's new rock album, which she is already recording, we get the chance to buy new album 'Left in the Dark'.The title of the album may sound familiar to you. Basically, we get previously unreleased material such as demos, instrumental versions, live acoustic radio recordings and B-sides from 'Colours in the Dark'.

Tracklist:

1. Victim of Ritual (demo)
2. 500 letters (acoustic recording)
3. Lucid Dreamer (demo)
4. Never Enough (demo progression)
5. Mystique Voyage (demo)
6. Into the Sun (studio version)
7. Deliverance (instrumental)
8. Neverlight (full orchestra version)
9. Until Silence (acoustic recording)
10. Medusa (Tarja's solo version)

Neverlight - Full Orchestra Version Video

Time to come back

Just like Canuck, I will also try to update this blog more often. I'll start with my reviews of Epica's, Delain's, Anette Olzon's and Tuomas Holopainen's new albums. I know. I am way too late for the party, but still I want to do it. So bear with me, please.

Female Vocalists You Should Know About

We have all heard of Liv, and Tarja, and Floor, etc.  They require no introduction.

But there are TONS of female vocalists out there who are little known and need some cowbell.  So do the bands they front.  This series is intended to give some exposure to those female vocalists and their bands.

First up, Rute Fevereiro of Portugese Gothic metal band Enchantya.

Why you should check her out: because she's powerful and versatile, with the ability to growl with the big boys and sing in an angelic clean vox.  This girl has some range, peeps!

Enchantya's debut album, which came out in September of 2012, is entitled Dark Rising and was a really promising release by a band who've been around a while.  I reviewed the album for Sonic Cathedral, and you can read that here for more information.

In February 2013, Enchantya released a video for its song "Dark Rising".

Link love for Rute and Enchantya:

Rute's Facebook page
Enchantya on Facebook
Enchantya's web site

Time For Resurrection

I recently left Black Wind Metal as one of their writers and I think it's high time I resurrect this site.  I'm already getting some promo requests, which is nearly unheard of, but hey, why not?

So my intention is to post more frequently here.  We'll see how that plays out.  I also should change the banner...some of those album covers are WAY out of date.  Alas, the site I used to create it no longer exists, so we'll have to see what I can find to replace it.

Cheers everyone!

Sabaton's New Album "Heroes" Out In May

Swedish heavy metal band Sabaton unveiled two artworks and tracklist of their new album "Heroes".
The new album will be out on 16th of May.

The album is described by the reviewers as "really well produced, arranged, energetic and melodic. Each song is different, begins with an unusual, catchy motive and gives the impression of participation on something bigger, than only another good heavy metal experience."

Tracklist:

1. Night Witches
2. No Bullets Fly
3. Smoking Snakes
4. Inmate 4859
5. To Hell And Back
6. The Ballad of Bull
7. Resist And Bite
8. Soldier of 3 Armies
9. Far From the Fame
10. Hearts of Iron

Official Trailer

Delain's New Album Out In April

Dutch symphonic metal band Delain will release their 4th studio album "The Human Contradiction" on 7th April in Europe and 8th April in the US and Canada. The band released lyric video "Your Body is a Battleground" featuring Marco Hietala from Nightwish.

Tracklist:

1. Here Come the Vultures
2. Your Body is a Battleground
3. Stardust
4. My Masquerade
5. Tell Me, Mechanist
6. Sing to Me
7. Army of Dolls
8. Lullaby
9. The Tragedy of the Commons

The Human Contradiction - preview

 

Epica's New Album Out This May

Recently, Epica announced, that their 6th studio album "The Quantum Enigma" will be released on 2nd May in Europe and on 13th May in the US. The new album is described as the beginning of a new era, where Epica sounds heavy, modern and without compromises. The creation of this album was a group effort and the band is extremely proud of the results. "The Quantum Enigma" was recorded in the Sandlane Recording Facilities in the Netherlands. The producer is Joost van den Broek and the album was mixed by the renowned Jacob Hansen.

Stefan Heilemann created the artwork to accompany the ideas behind the lyrics.


The Quantum Enigma will be released in 5 different configurations:

1. regular Jewel Case
2. 2CD Digipack - 2nd disc contains acoustic version of Canvas of Life, In All Conscience, Dreamscape and Natural Corruption
3. 3CD Earbook - 3rd disc contains instrumental version of the songs
4. double Vinyl
5. Digital Download

Tracklist:

1. Origiem
2. The Second Stone
3. The Essence of Silence
4. Victims of Contingency
5. Sense Without Sanity - The Impervious Code
6. Unchain Utopia
7. The Fifth Guardian - Interlude
8. Chemical Insomnia
9. Reverence - Living in the Heart
10. Omen - The Ghoulish Malady
11. Canvas of Life
12. Natural Corruption
13. The Quantum Enigma - Kingdom of Heaven part II

Tuomas Holopainen's solo project out in April

Tuomas Holopainen's first solo project "The Life And Times Of Scrooge" will be released on 11th April. The whole album is based on a graphic novel called "The Life And Times Of Scrooge McDuck" written and illustrated by Don Rosa. Tuomas spent most of the year 2013 writing and producing this solo album.
The recordings took place during August - October 2013. The orchestra was recorded at Angel Studios in London. Pip Williams, who's known for his work on NW's albums "Once", "Dark Passion Play" and "Imaginaerum", did the orchestral arrangements.

Among the guest musicians are vocalists Alan Reid, Johanna Kurkela, Johanna Iivanainen and Tonny Kakko.

The author of the book, Don Rosa, did the artwork for the album.

Tracklist:

01. Glasgow 1877
02. Into The West
03. Duel & Cloudscapes
04. Dreamtime
05. Cold Heart Of The Klondike
06. The Last Sled
07. Goodbye, Papa
08. To Be Rich
09. A Lifetime Of Adventure
10. Go Slowly Now, Sands Of Time

Bonus track
11. A Lifetime Of Adventure (alternative version)

As a single for this album was chosen "A Lifetime Of Adventure" accompanied with "making of" video. Johanna Kurkela provides lead vocals and Johanna Iivanainen provides backing vocals.