Salomé: The Seventh Veil

To those who are familiar with some of my previous reviews, it should be no secret that I'm quite selective about europower. I love only a handful of bands (Blind Guardian, Kamelot, Dragonforce), and in most cases I only enjoy a random album here and there. Examples of this include After Forever's Remagine, Hammerfall's Glory to the Brave, and the subject of today's review, Xandria's Salome: The Seventh Veil. Now, if you're reading this thinking this album must be a true oddity for europower, something that's immediately distinguishable as not-your-standard-europower, you're going to be disappointed. These things are true to an extent, but it's beneath the surface that I think they start to apply; stylistically, this is pretty much your standard fare for female-fronted europower (thankfully sans shitty harsh male vocals). This is not an especially riff-oriented album, nor does it show off much impressive guitar wizardry of any sort, but it does what it does well, and it's not trying to be anything else. Frontwoman and vocalist Lisa Schaphaus-Middelhauve commands the stage at all points, making it a case where the vocals are actually strong enough to support a vocal-oriented style, something many emulators of Dragonforce or Nightwish fail to realize. Your average vocalist, even if they're perfectly competent, is not suited to this style; it takes a special something to be the center of attention at all times, solely in control of the primary melody. Whatever that special something is, Lisa Schaphaus-Middelhauve definitely has it.

Effortlessly shifting between seductive, commanding, poignant, and sophisticated (often more than one simultaneously), this woman was clearly never able to garner the level of attention she deserved; as much as Xandria is known to most serious europower fans, it's still second or third tier in terms of popularity, worlds below bands like After Forever, Epica, Nightwish, and Within Temptation. As far as I'm concerned, Schaphaus-Middelhauve is worthy of being spoken of in the same breath as Floor Jansen, Tarja Turunen, and their like - perhaps slightly below some of them, as her range comes slightly short of utterly insane, but she has everything else. Be it the romantic melancholy of "Save My Life," the alluring aggression of "Firestorm," or the supremely catchy, nearly awe-inspiring "Sisters of the Light," she never fails to totally take hold of the listener's attention, even on a song like "Sisters of the Light" when some of the riffs are tasty enough to have one subconsciously headbanging alongside the guitars. Now, make no mistake - this album is not a pillar of consistency, and there are songs where mediocre riffs or lackluster melodies produce a result that is merely decent rather than good or great - however, the fault never lies with Schaphaus-Middelhauve, who is firing on all cylinders for every second of the album's near-50 minute runtime.

If you're skeptical about a vocal-oriented album with occasionally lackluster riffage and many of the hallmarks of europower, merely listen to "Sisters of the Light," whose praises I have already begun singing. If you don't like that, the album is definitely not for you (and you might think of consulting an ear doctor). If it grabs you as hard as it grabbed me the first time I heard (and has since never let go), you will likely find this album roughly as enjoyable as I do. Anyway, the "merely decent" tracks are certainly in the minority, and at least 3/4 of the songs here are packed with catchy, succinct, often headbangable riffs that create a very suitable home for Schaphaus-Middelhauve's various styles of delivery. The entire band is truly versatile, really, ranging from goth rock to ballads to metal without a hitch all as naturally as Schaphaus-Middelhauve does. If you're a fan of fun, rocking europower with a bit of variety, catchy riffs, and great female vocals, this is an album you shouldn't pass over.