Antares

Angel Nation are a Finnish band, really, but they are supposedly based in the UK, even though the only British guy who plays on this is drummer Lucas Williamson, but never mind. This is pretty good stuff. Angel Nation are mainly noteworthy for being the launching pad for Finnish vocalist/keyboardist Elina Siirala, who did the world a huge favour by replacing Liv Kristine in Leaves’ Eyes and making the best album that band ever did in 2020’s ‘The Last Viking’. Nothing against Liv, I liked her in Theatre Of Tragedy, but apart from the misty, quixotic feel of ‘Lovelorn’, I thought that band was a big snooze until Elina stepped in and they picked up the pace. Angel Nation don’t sound anything like Leaves’ Eyes, though, and naturally have a far more Finnish sound that doesn’t stray too far away from early Nightwish in terms of its general symphonic feel, without resembling that band either.

‘Antares’ is their third album of glossy melodic metal which employs much heavier, chunkier guitars than is usual for power metal, leaning more on the gothic side of things production wise, which I like, because it means there’s little of the modern Battle Beast sound you tend to get with bands like this these days. The heavier guitars cruise along nicely, and Elina’s melodies are quite sad sounding most of the time, but this is also pretty damn anthemic, so you have this nice balance of gothic crunch and power metal double kicking during the choruses. It’s a sound I haven’t heard many bands go for, and it reminds me a lot of the first two Elis albums, which married the gothic and power metal styles perfectly. Elina slips in and out of her soprano range on ‘Life Is A War’ and faster cuts like ‘We Are Fire’ with little effort; she really is a top vocalist, and sounds more at home here than with Leaves’ Eyes, even though ‘The Last Viking’ is a class album in its own right. ‘Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind’, and ‘Seraph’ are belter tunes with great melodies and a nice mix of sounds; this is heavy as balls sometimes, but the melodies are always pleasantly done. It’s definitely more power metal than Leaves’ Eyes, so those looking to hear Elina howl away on a straighter, more immediate album will really like this.

The chorus melodies could be stronger, I’d say, and if there’s anything wrong with this it’s just that the whole sound isn’t all that remarkable. It’s a solid mix of gothic/power metal with big choruses and a ton of charisma, and Elina sounds amazing. I really like her voice as she’s a real soprano as opposed to a pop singer, and tunes like the galloping ‘Crucify Me’ are nice reminders of what exciting female-fronted bands sounded like twenty years ago. I’m not too keen on the riff work in general as it’s nothing special, but I like the neo-classical sweeping during the solo sections. It’s a cool mix, and if this sort of thing is your poison, you won’t have too much trouble grabbing onto ‘Antares’. A safe album, but a short fun one nonetheless.