Вечность

So Russian goth-power metallers АнДем have reconstituted themselves this past year, and released this schizophrenic little EP, Eternity (or Вечность, if you prefer the Russian), this past month. This was after the disappointing full-length Winter Tears (Зимние слёзы), which, with the exception of a couple of tracks, was an exemplar of the kind of pretentious, poppy, diabetes-inducing, synth-sprinkled mess that too many symphonic and gothic bands too often put out nowadays in lieu of an actual album. (That’s right, I’m still giving you the stink-eye, Epica and Sonata Arctica.) And after the knock-you-on-your-arse amazing outing Daughter of the Moonlight (Дочь Лунного Света) it felt like a double let-down. So what to make of this little lemniscate-коловрат adorned oddity they’ve released?

Well, first things first. Half of this album is new(ish) material, and half is actually a re-release of an earlier EP, Grail (Грааль). As such, I will be reviewing it in two sections.

Part I: Introducing Christine (Again)
There is only one way to do the Eternity half of the album justice, and that is by evaluating their elevated session-vocalist from Winter Tears, the sweetly-sonorous Serpukhovite soprano seraph Christine Fedorischenko. Thankfully, this time around they gave her something much more meaty to work with! The closest parallel I can think of at this point is Echoes of Eternity – a clearly highly-talented upper-register vocalist who went from sounding faceless and anemic on her debut (perhaps due to uninspired instrumental accompaniment) to a sprightly powerhouse on the follow-up album As Shadows Burn. The same applies here.

Part of me wishes they had gone further in that direction – that is, in the thrashy, speedy Gamma Ray vector they’d set themselves on with Дочь Лунного Света. Not that they need to become Morgana Lefay or Agent Steel or anything similar – there are certain things which probably don’t work too well with this style of vocals – but that they’d put a little more kinetic, speed-metallic kick in their tempos. As it happens, though, they have regained their heavy stride, as it were, with three solid mid-tempo tracks in ‘Утопия’, ‘Чаши весов’ and ‘Вечность’. There’s a minimum of fiddling around with poppy synth effects, and Natalie’s skilful keyboard work blends here; however, ‘Чаши весов’ incorporates a strange digitised distortion on the guitar-work which seems like it would be more at home on an industrial album. In truth, this is probably the weakest track on the album. Otherwise, the instrumentation is the kind of steady, solid power-metallic bread-and-butter one might expect from a band of АнДем’s calibre. So how does it stand up?

In truth, Christine proves her chops admirably. When they’re actually given some catchy, beefy mid-tempo Pythia- or Liquid Sky-reminiscent power-metal riffs to work with, the harmonics of Juliana’s dominating hard-rock Slavonic power alto and Christine’s crystalline delivery are a formidable force on ‘Утопия’, and Christine shows perfectly well that she can more than hold her own on ‘Вечность’. Without her, the song would be nothing you haven’t heard before a dozen times already; but Ms. Fedorischenko brings an emotional sincerity and contagious inflection that renders ‘Вечность’ fittingly unforgettable. They finish off Eternity with an acoustic version of the ballad ‘Жить без тебя’ from Winter Tears, which works far better here than it did there. Kudos on that funky bass, Andy!

My only complaint, I suppose (and it’s not a major one) is that these songs don’t really tear into you the way the 2009 album did. It’s all solid enough and a definite return-to-form for АнДем, but it doesn’t quite latch onto that one extra erg of lunatic inspiration that made Daughter of the Moonlight the glory that it was.

17 / 20

Part II: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbranded
This B-side of the album, as previously noted, is a straight-up re-release of АнДем’s Grail EP from 2011. And I really don’t know quite what the deal is with the production; I don’t know if it’s a step down from Daughter of the Moonlight or not, but that’s sure what it sounds like. Peter’s drums on two of the old tracks (‘Грааль’ and ‘Ты убидишь свет’) are way too high in the mix. Even though they’re precise enough, the mixing on the snare especially often sounds like the equivalent of setting the rest of your instrumentation to a recording of a microwave popcorn bag. It’s nowhere near enough to ruin the dynamics, but it is slightly off-putting.

The songs themselves are slightly piano-heavier, mid-tempo heavy power with some thick slabs of cheese added, and a couple of speedy kicks on ‘Ты убидишь свет’ which remind one very strongly of the main riff from ‘I Want Out’. Grail is a little bit unoriginal that way: think mid-career, Chapter V-era HammerFall with that pinch of Keeper of the Seven Keys Part II-era Helloween thrown in. Serge Polunin’s guitarwork has enough raw momentum and energy, and Juliana’s vocals enough power, to save Grail from falling into faceless mediocrity, which is a true saving grace.

One song in particular deserves a real throw of the horns, though: ‘Безумный ангел’ has some truly crunchy, kinetic instrumentation, and Juliana Savchenko slams down her melody with all the strength and passion one could possibly want on an АнДем album. Never mind the 16-bit Nintendo-esque synth bridge starting around 2:35, goofy though it is: if the other songs on the album are at sixes and sevens, this one’s a good, solid ten.

Last word? This EP’s well worth the seven bucks. АнДем is back, heshers! Still a couple of rough edges on this one, but I, for one, couldn’t be happier. All hail the Muscovite malakim!

16 / 20

Average: 16.5 / 20