Alba

Sleeping Romance are one of many new bands coming out of Italy (Kalidia, Frozen Crown, Moonlight Haze, Ravenword) who are breathing life back into female fronted metal, and I’m all for that, especially when they are as promising as this. Saying that, as much as I’ve listened to their second album, the lauded ‘Alba’, I can’t say it’s an essential release or anything, or in fact, an album that deserved to be backed by Napalm, the kings of the metal meme. Still, it’s a cool record, but not flawless by any means.

First off, this band was formed by the guys behind forgotten power metallers Synthphonia Suprema, who I liked enough to buy their album from their website way back in 2006, so there is certainly a melodic strand running through the tunes that make up ‘Alba’. What I like about Sleeping Romance is that while they are rooted in symphonic gothic metal, they use a lot of duel guitar harmonies, something you don’t really see a lot of in this genre, making this come across like a power metal version of Within Temptation. The crashing, harmonic riffs appear in every song in random places, making this difficult to predict. Their debut was like that as well, and I think I’d give 2013’s ‘Enlighten’ the edge, as it had a tougher guitar tone and more metal bite. This one has smoothed out their sound with a more commercial shine, giving vocalist Federica Lanna center stage, and I think that’s the problem. While she is a decent singer, with a crushed velvet tone that fits the gothic sound, she doesn’t have a lot of range, or much to play with in terms of the vocal lines. Sometimes they get into your head easily, as with the rousing ‘Lost In My Eyes’, or the double-kicking ‘Everything Behind’, but mostly they just hover above the music aimlessly, inactive. Lyrically, this touches a lot on faith, which I like. As a rule, ‘Alba’ has a mournful tone, but hopeful for all that.

Those who bemoan the lack of riffs or interesting guitar work in symphonic metal will dig what Sleeping Romance dish up here, as you can tell they want to be a riffy band, but are stuck with their chosen genre. Production is similarly raw like the debut, but flattened in an attempt at being polished. It makes things jump out at you when they really shouldn’t, and buries things when they should be up front, leaving poor Federica to feel around the corrosive yet melodic riffs in vain. I listen to this album quite a bit, and while I like the brief power metal flourishes, and the occasional choir that sweeps in during the choruses, I can’t remember much of it when it’s over. Fans of symphonic metal will enjoy a couple of spins, no question, but ‘Enlighten’ was a richer effort. If they had a better production and spent more times cooking the songs, Sleeping Romance could produce a killer album. This one just sort of sits there gormlessly.

Hailing from Northern Italy, symphonic metal quintet Sleeping Romance originally formed in 2009 under the name Hybrid Resolution. The band changed their name before dropping their debut album Enlighten under the Swedish label, Ulterium Records in 2013. Their debut album showcased a band that had lots of potential that was good at their craft but held back by the simplicity of their music -- I'm not saying that Enlighten wasn't good (I still thoroughly enjoy it), but considering that in the few years after its release we would see newer bands like Enemy of Reality, LEAH, and Beyond the Black releasing really strong albums, and older bands like Epica, Delain, and Xandria stepping their game up, it definitely lacks in ambition.

So fast forward four years, after releasing a one-off single in late 2014, and signing to Napalm Records a couple of years later, the band finally released their long anticipated second album Alba, which stylistically picks up where their previous efforts left off. The focus is on grappling hooks and galloping riffs backed by aether-like string melodies and fronted by an angelic female voice. But there are a few changes that show the natural progression of the band as songwriters and musicians. Following the trend set by the aforementioned bands, Sleeping Romance went faster and heavier making this a more band-oriented album. Yes, Alba is still largely symphonic with the strings making a bulk of the sound, but the empty verses of vocals over drums and strings are gone, making the guitars and bass driving instruments of the ensemble.

This album has good flow, the energy is consistent with the instrumental intro and outro (respectively called "Overture" and "Underture" -- the album revels in its own dorkiness), and the short piano and string ballad "Across the Sea" being the only reprieves from the louder and more dramatic core of the album. This revamped take on their previously established sound gives the extra punch that Enlighten needed and that "Fire and Ice" first hinted at -- It fills space effectively and ups the urgency, but in its wake arises a plethora of minute issues that can accrue to a more problematic whole (depending on one's pedantic tendencies, of course). For example, in spite of the more or less ever-present bass there doesn't seem to be sufficient low end to make a fully well-rounded sound. Don't get me wrong, I really like the ephemeral airiness of Sleeping Romance's music, but the delivery and mixing can make the whole feel "float-y", even in some of the more aggressive songs like "Forgiveness" or "Alba". Though this very problem is a reason why I tend to dislike Dragonforce and Luca Turilli style power metal bands, it isn't as noticeable or distracting here as the band is chunky enough to keep the overall feel grounded.

Sleeping Romance is a band that has come to specialize in speedy melodies and simple progressions that maximize ear-worm-ability, especially in the vocals. Vocalist Frederica follows in the footsteps of her gothic and symphonic metal fore-mothers like Cristina Scabbia and Sharon den Adel, using an airy mezzo-soprano pseudo-operatic style that is not only beautiful, but matches the strength and tightness of the rest of the album. She has her own tone and timbre that makes her distinct among some of the band's more boring modern contemporaries, and has a bit of a rasp to further texture the sound and add a human touch to the intangible nature of the music. But the fast paced, easy to listen to bop-i-ness of this record comes at the sacrifice of sweeping depth that symphonic metal is really known for, and the lack of multiple vocal tracks layered and mixed for smooth transitions further accentuates that "float-y", not grounded tone of the music.

But if there is a single structural problem that Sleeping Romance needs to overcome in the future, it's the tendency for the album to be rather "samey". The band definitely has a formula, and that formula is both effective and highly enjoyable... but I can imagine people being frustrated with some of structural and songwriting decisions. Even still, Alba is a great follow up to the band's promising debut, and I think this band is going great places. Sleeping Romance hasn't reinvented the wheel or anything, but they've constructed solid material while showcasing their technical proficiency.