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Xandria > Ravenheart > Reviews > Kalelfromkrypton
Xandria - Ravenheart

Flooded with red hair singers! - 79%

Kalelfromkrypton, July 9th, 2010

There was some fellow reviewer, criticizing the new Gamma Ray’s album who said: ‘’if you have nothing important or intelligent to say, then don’t say anything’’. I am not quoting him but you get the idea. He is totally right and I apply this to myself whenever I am attempting to write a thoughtful review.

In the case of Xandria, which I like very much I find trouble trying to think what to say. There are some aspects of the music that I find interesting and keep me wanting more, but on the other hand the other guy is right that, in an endless sea of gothic metal acts this just falls behind giants Epica or some others who actually, play metal.

The problem with this band (among countless others) is that they do not stand out in any aspect. Sure they have some elements which will appeal to masses, which I will detail later on, but as far as playing metal with balls and taking symphonic metal to new shores that is another story. They try so hard to stand in the middle ground where they can appeal to serious metal heads and be, actually, considered a metal band, but on the other hand they tend to sound so poppy to be heard on radio stations. I am not saying I have something against that, on the contrary, I analyze and listen to the band’s proposal and fortunately this one appeals to me in many ways.

Certainly they have the red hair beautiful female soprano singer in front which is almost a requirement these days. Otherwise, you would pass by unnoticed or if you have a punk dirty girl (BIF NAKED anyone?) who, by acting like an idiotic punk will create a mosh pit on the stage.

The vocals, which are the main target, are, for a lack of a better word: flawless! They are not Liv Kristine’s whispering ethereal chanting, neither is Tarja’s majestic classical performance, or even Sarah Brightman’s superb and perfect-beyond-this-universe vocal skills but Lisa does a wonderful job, because somehow she combines the best of styles. She can sing much whispered or sound ghostly and she can as well reach very high notes without over performing.

The first problem arises when you try to listen to the guitars (please note I said ‘try’) because basically, they are totally back staged to the power of the keyboards, and again, not that this is bad but after a while these kind of albums tend to bore you because of its mellow vibe. Please also note that they do not use a full orchestra which might save the day because of the acoustics it could provide but as far as a powerful album this could’ve become it did fail on that aspect. They keyboards are so overwhelming that sometimes I just want to vomit. I have nothing against keyboard players; it is against the overuse of keyboards.

Next on the list is the rather simplistic structure of the songs, much like pop. Thus they tend to be annoying after a while. If you study them you will notice that most of them have around 4 or 5 verses (counting choruses and/or bridges). I am not saying either that they should write ultra complex lyrics or very philosophical (ala Epica nowadays) but the simple song writing is purposely to appeal to numb teenage minds.

I will not detail song by song basis because if you are a fan of symphonic? Metal you might love this album. If you like your metal with soprano red hair singers you will love this album, if you like light guitars and lots of keyboards you will love this album, and if you like simple yet effective song writing to be radio friendly this is for you. However, and I must warn you, if you like kick ass symphonic metal then perhaps you should go to old Nightwish, Leave’s Eyes, current Epica or old After Forever since they really knew how to kick ass with this branch of metal.

As far as I am concerned I like this style but depending on the band and Xandria for sure takes me new levels of enjoyment. Ravenheart, The Liones, Eversleeping, Black Flame, and Too close to breathe are the songs I like the most because of outstanding vocal delivery, nice flow, heavy passages and romantic atmosphere, which is, I believe, what they managed to perform very well. As far as trying to outdo the rest of the gothic (though this opens a totally wide topic to discuss) metal scene I don’t think they, yet, are capable of.