| Reviews for Xandria's Ravenheart |
| Quality for a 3rd Division Gothic Metal band - 72% |
| Written by Wez
on December 2nd, 2005
|
| "Ravenheart" from Xandria may very well end up a victim of the numbers game, drowned in the endless seas of Gothic Metal acts rising up all over Europe. Despite the fact that there is something on offer here for fans of the genre, this isn't going to inspire any new loyalty. It’s towards the bottom of the pile in the dark Gothic field, but it will do its job well for enthusiasts. It's towards the more experimental and untamed corner of the genre, where any and all disparate ideas are fused together in the songs. As a consequence, this is pretty damn light on the metal elements at times. The guitars are most often used for undercurrents of basic and effective rhythms, backing some power into the walls of the album at least. They do get some exercise as a few spicy solos are fitted into the songs when the band feels they're required. The keyboard arrangements swashing to and fro across the structures help eliminate the dry feel of the guitars and at least helps them shine and make them enjoyable. Without them this album would be dull as all hell, the keyboards and guitars just can’t work without one another here. I guess that’s how myself, and many other instrumentalists feel with respect to this band. We’re all used to hearing a good degree of skill and complexity from our respective instruments and to a certain extent expect it from our metal as standard. When a band comes along who are pretty average and plain all across the board, we really aren’t too keen on it (at least at first) no matter how catchy the end results of the songs are. Metal bands sometimes have a hard time coping with ballads. Some pull them off brilliantly though most should really just stick to doing what they do best (i.e. metal). The female fronted Gothic bands in particular tend to be able to create ballads that are overflowing with creativity and feeling, and this is certainly the case here. “Eversleeping” is a nice drifting piano based number, which softens the mood dramatically and pulls me away from aggravatingly wishing the guitars would just do something. “Keep My Secret Well” gets my vote as track of the album on its curious structure and mysterious nature. The deliciously devilish “Snow White” and the thundering title track are also stand out cuts. Lisa Schaphaus is the band’s centrepiece as you’d expect and keeps the songs knitted up tightly with a lush, coy yet frequently dramatic voice. Very suitable for the would-be grandiose music surrounding it, although it is very much chewed up into bite size pieces compared with the unabashed epics of Epica and Tristania. |