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This is a new Finnish band, well... not really new, coz they are around for a few years, but this is their debut album and so they will be newcomers to most metal fans. On Where The Shadows Lie the septet lyrically deals with Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings. Musically they present gothic / symphonic metal with grunts and an angel-like female voice and add other influences. Opening with Swordmaster they show the chosen musical path. The following track The Grey Wizard is heavier and based on heavy guitar riffing. Here singer Tommi Havo sounds more aggressive - as a contrast there are melodic keybaord parts, but the guitar riffing is dominating the song. The Green Maid starts slowly with guitars and Kaisa's voice - here Kaisa reminds me a bit of Cristina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil.... Later they add some male clean vocals - partly almost whispering... A beautiful ballade. The last track on the album is a more then 8 minute long one called Ride With The Dragons. Very heavy. A black metal-like scream at the beginning, but then back to the usual. The refrain is catchy and the song becomes a hymn. But there are parts which could have been off a melodic black metal song. Then a break... Silence... Acoustic guitar and sounds of a battle. But there is more to come. Very interesting.
This is the first full-length album of the Finnish and so they experimented with sound elements - like on Shadowgate where they added some industrial sounds. I think that's a good idea and fits to the songs, but I know that purists won't like it. A matter of taste. The song is really heavy, but the heaviness isn't built mainly by guitar riffs, it's more the cold, hard industrial sound. Singer Tommi Havo adds some clean vocals beside his grunts and Kaisa's parts. They try to push the genre boarders and mix different elements - and it works. I'm curious what they will present us next. Sure, this isn't a masterpiece, but a good piece of work. And I always appreciate it when bands try to go their own way instead of copying what's popular.
The artwork looks great. The paining is called Morgoth And High King Of Noldor by Ted Nasmith - at least he and publishing house Harper Collins have the copyright...
To check out I recommend: Swordmaster, Ride With The Dragons and Shadowgate - the one with the industrial sound.
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