As I mentioned on the other thread, excited about the new Counting Hours tomorrow...I need a good dose of well-done melancholy
And the Aeternam album is always a pleasure.
The other two are releases from last week...Illumishade are a Swiss band, with two members from Eluveitie (singer and guitar player). I read this is their second album. I put it on more out of curiosity for some of the influences and ended up enjoying it more than I expected. There's definitely a symphonic metal flavor, but not in a bombastic way - synths and orchestration are overall tasteful. It's all pretty clean-sounding, as one would expect. Vocals are very good, as is the lead guitar work. The ingredients are all familiar, but the way they are put together is quite nice. First couple of songs remind me a bit of Cellar Darling. Then there are some "extremes" like the weird Meshuggah-like detour in CYCLONE and the almost-Disney musical number Fairytale, which are not my favorites, honestly. Then there's a song like HYMN that could almost pass for a very melodic Dream Theater tune - the solo is very Petrucci-esque too. TWILY is another good one - the chorus melody is lovely.
The Elettra Storm (!?) album is an even more, um, unlikely pick...Italian, female-fronted power metal...again, a bit random, but I gotta say it was enjoyable enough. A few songs are full-on speedy, double-kick marathons with bright keys and leads, reminding me a bit of early Sonata Arctica. Overall, good, catchy melodies and decent riffage. Probably not one I'll revisit often, but I'd recommend a listen to those that enjoy the genre.
Topic: What album are you listening to v.8 (Read 186701 times)
