Memories from the Future

Novelty and convention share a rather curious relationship in the current flow of female fronted heavy metal, culminating in a recent succession of European offerings that are extremely familiar even at first glance, yet generally fresh and inviting. All of the elements in play are generally the same, though their respective proportions see a healthy degree of variation. One of the recent bands to come out of the symphonic side of the coin that was heavily tied in with the Nightwish meets Epica strain was Germany's Beyond The Black, which was a more streamlined and stylized answer to both while also providing a powerful collection of songs. The newly formed Jaded Star shares a somewhat similar relationship with the more electronic and grooving character of Amaranthe and Within Temptation, though lacking the overt Gothic character of the latter and the metalcore and multi-vocalist barrage of the former. The resulting debut in Memories From The Future sees a band that melds a strong metallic edge with a sizable helping of contemporary rock cliches quite nicely.

Despite its generally restrained tempo and overall safe approach to songwriting, this is an album that definitely gets the job done in the execution and overall energy department. The band's strongest asset is that of vocalist Maxi Nil, who had recently cut ties with Visions Of Atlantis to co-found this project, whose powerful pipes tend to elicit comparison's to Elize Ryd's punchy, diva oriented chops, with maybe a slightly deeper inflection. But riding very close behind is a very strong instrumental performance that includes a number of other musicians that were involved with Visions Of Atlantis, and one that definitely points to a strong power metal influence, arguably even stronger than that of Amaranthe despite the songs on this album being a hair slower overall. In terms of formula, Jaded Star also tends to be a little less strict in their adherence to rock radio song lengths and rigid song structures, allowing for more time for the lead guitar to shine as a technical device and for the songs to grow and mature before coming to a close.

But for all of the little nuances that make this band distinct from many similar acts, the songs on here definitely leave an impression of predictability that is overt, yet definitely charming and engaging. The generally grooving and easy to follow character of the first set of songs in "The Mask", "Wake Up" and "Keep On Fighting" will naturally bring in comparisons to not only their principle Swedish contemporaries Amaranthe and a few other similar acts, but also a number of even more mainstream female fronted acts with more of a Gothic twist to them, particularly in the case of "Keep On Fighting" with its piano intro and generally rocking character that leans heavily in the direction of recent Within Temptation and even Evanescence material. The tone set by all of these songs tends to prevail until the album's close, as there are few divergences from their established niche, save maybe "You'll See" which moves even further into modern rock territory, almost to the point of morphing into a female fronted answer to Breaking Benjamin, albeit an answer that is a bit more adventurous in their interpretation of said style.

It's difficult to find any glaring flaws to speak of with an album like this one, as it's only real weakness apart from not being terribly appealing to those that are at enmity with this presently popular style is that it is militaristic in its consistency, resulting in a collection of songs that are fairly similar, discounting the extremely heartfelt and atmospheric acoustic ballad "In Memory". The execution of all the required elements is masterfully realized, all but to a fault. It possesses a fair degree of nuance within its generally strict formula that bears repeated listens, though it is an album that can become tiresome after a heavy number of successive ones. But perhaps its greatest appeal is that in spite of being in a style that is generally geared towards over-emphasizing the lead vocalist, Jaded Star doesn't really come off as a solo project of a former lead vocalist of another, better known band, but as a legitimate project with a lot of room to grow and branch out in the future. Nevertheless, having a really strong personality at the helm clearly didn't hurt this album one bit.

Later submitted to (The Metal Observer) on October 18, 2015.

Jaded Star is the newest project from journeywoman vocalist Maxi Nil, a competent singer with a pleasant inflection who many of us remember from the relatively unexciting Visions of Atlantis project. Jaded Star definitely takes more cognizant advantage of Maxi's chops, a trendier take on melodic heavy metal bursting from the gills with hooks and meaty rhythms. There are also a lot of electronic elements, making Amaranthe the closest parallel on a strictly musical level. This project isn't quite as mainstream-sounding, featuring more than a handful of compelling ideas and certainly not reeking of burnout like many may be suspecting from Maxi at this point. She is truly a highlight here, playful and punishing with a grainy register akin to Tina Stabel from Suidakra along with a more ear-pleasing Charlotte Wessels intonation to handle the ballads and more emotive bits.

Shortcomings on Memories from the Future are difficult to pinpoint, with the album rendered down to an agreeable forty-five minutes and front-loaded as is to be expected for the style. The first three tracks explore a menagerie of stylistic sluices, all which ultimately feed into the main body of water which is powerful symphonic/electronic heavy metal with a compelling vixen leading the charge. "Wake Up" sounds like it could fit on one of Battle Beast's recent two albums, and opener "The Mask" boasts at atmospheric flow inherent to a lot of the chord patterns and vocals which switch back and forth between brooding and enervated. The guitarists don't necessarily lash out at intense speed or dial back to deliver brickwork grooves that is more commonplace on Amaranthe. Instead they work the rhythm in with a smattering of classy lead intervals that feature character not far apart from Battle Beast. Don't expect to be enthralled entirely on a musical level, but the main piano melody of "Keep on Fighting" is an easy sell with Maxi calling the shots.

Although the band fails to maintain the momentum accumulated on the front end of the record, later examples like "Stars" tease with a more power metal-based approach concerning the leads, which feature enough conviction to stand next to the vocals toe to toe for at least this song. Jaded Star really feels like a successful hybrid for at least two thirds of the record, but the final few cuts give me some level of pause. Memories of a Future sort of sputters out near the end courtesy of a lack of tension and urgency. Shoehorning all of the ballads at the end seems a strange choice, and it does hurt the final product when absorbed in one sitting. The dramatic presentation is certainly intact as Maxi totally owns the vocal lines and admittedly standard lyrical fare, but there isn't enough going on behind her to convince wholly. "In Memory" earns a pass due to a superior main note progression, but I can do without the final two songs; I can hardly remember any part of them.

That all said, Memories from the Future is certainly worth your time if you are a fan of the newest crop of female-fronted symphonic/power metal acts with modern keyboard use like Amaranthe, Season of Ghosts, and Sirenia. There isn't much gothic atmosphere to the record, as it instead culls a more throwback heavy metal character which fuses in an interesting manner with the synths. Occasionally the album with dip down into a more rockish, spartan groove, but the incessant swells of double-bass and pinch harmonics help keep proceedings centered. Jaded Star manage to write songs that excel insofar that they build into powerful choruses and shine as easy-digestible female-fronted fare. Perhaps this project lacks the integrity of Delain, Xandria and such, but I suspect that Memories from the Future will whet many appetites and is a worthwhile channeling of Maxi Nil's abilities as a singer. I like her voice, and I like this album.