Techno Goth Metal
Delaney A. Wade | Loveland, CO | 11/15/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I have been a fan of Xandria for some time now and have picked up each of their albums. Each one brought the same fantastic Xandria signature sound and style.
While I am not a huge fan of Techno, I am a lover of the Gothic rock and Metal sound. Xandria manages to to combine all three to create a great style. Many will try to compare this band to other female fronted bands such as Within Temptation, After Forever, Epica, Nightwish and even Evenesence, but Xandria is a bit more unique than those. The only thing that compares them to those other bands is the fact that Xandria is fronted female singer.
Lisa Middelhauve on this new album hits some notes in the lower range and this really sets her apart from all of the Operatic female singers like Simone Simones, and Tarja. While Lisa never does do the opera style vocals, she can hit higher notes. I find her voice to be soft when it needs to be and have enough power when needed. The other good point about Xandria is they pretty much avoid the growls or Cookie monster talk that bands like After Forever and Epica add in and ruin good songs with.
Marco Heubuam is a solid guitar player and while he does not have the blazing spead that some other guitar players have, I find him to be solid and not over the top with his playing. His style adds a great mix to a great band.
Macro and Lisa do the majority of the writing and between the pair, they write some very good songs. On this new album I really enjoy Sisters of the Night which has a very techno sound to it and Vampire which takes Lisa to a very low range while singing.
The rest of the band made up of Nils Middelhauve bass (Lisa's husband), Phillip Restemeier guitar, and Gerit Lamm drums,are all solid and fill the need of the band.
If your looking for a band that is a bit different than all the other female fronted bands, check out Xandria. if your into bands with great looking lead singers, then Xandria is also in your bag. If you want music that is fun yet rocks then Xandria is the answer.
I will add since I started to listen to Xandria 2 years ago, I have gotten many fellow musicians and friends into Xandria."
Good album - only a couple of concerns
Ocean_villa | 03/07/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Xandria is back with their fourth studio album. They tend to take a different direction here then previously. This album is heavier then a lot of their other works; but that isn't bad. They have still kept with their original style of crossing genres with melodic catchy tunes.
Overall the album is pretty solid, starting with their single "Save My Life" - an orchestral mix of symphonies and rock combined. It's a bit generic in style; but Xandria's gift is making it interesting and fun to listen to. "Vampire" is a fun song - Lisa sings deeper on this song and the chorus is extremely fun. The style almost reminds of of the song "Maneater" except with guitars and different lyrics.
Unfortunately, "Beware" and "Emotional Man" tend to blend into each other. In fact, I just listened to both songs and the guitar solo in "Beware" sounds almost exactly like the one in all of "Emotional Man". This isn't horrible; but it's risky. The songs are great to listen to - particularly the latter one; but my concern here is that Xandria seems to have run out of ideas and added the same melody to both songs. As such I'm a little worried about where the band is going with this.
"Salome" is a slower ballad on the album. Overall a nice song.
"For the Stars in Your Eyes" - begins with a crunching guitar. Lisa switches in tone, pitch and speed here. It's also mixed with male vocals (might be Marco singing). I'd rate it as a highlight of the album. Similarly "Firestorm" follows in succession and has the same effect as the previous song. Lisa's voice tends to soar here, the melody is extremely catchy and enjoyable.
"A New Age" is a favourite of mine. Mixed with Asian and (what seems to be) Middle-Eastern influences, it is very well done. You'll want to get up and dance listening to this one. The singing is perfect and the combination of influences blends seemlessly with the guitar riffs. It's definately got that signature Xandria style.
"The Wind and the Ocean" is a slower ballad, but soothing and nice to listen to. Great song.
"Sister of the Light" is too catchy - to the point where you can't help but love it. Once again the Asian and Middle Eastern Influences are present and match the song well; but the song is very different from "A New Age". Another favourite.
"Sleeping Dogs Lie" begins with a similar riff to "For the Stars in Your Eyes"; but is still a solid song.
"On My Way" rounds off the album. Nice closing song.
But, you ask, what about those concerns you had? Well, let's start with the obvious: the guitar. Now I love the guitar, it's great, it adds to the songs. The problem, as mentioned before, is that a few of the songs blend into each other. In fact a lot of guitar solos sounded similar on the album; maybe not exact. Now this isn't bad - the songs are still great - but my concern is the direction the band is taking. The songs are getting farther away from Xandria's initial style in that they are starting to sound very alike. Older Xandria - the songs rarely ever sounded the same. Now sameness isn't bad; but I just hope that their future songs don't go the way of other bands, like Sirenia with their new album - that is, I don't want Xandria to completely sell out.
You may say I'm a little too worried; but the sameness of guitars in the album makes it look as if they're trying too hard to appeal to the mass group of symphonic metal fans. Also, "Save My Life" was the typical "goth" song/music video, the band took a darker image with Lisa dying her hair black, and the rest of the band was telling the fans to "stay dark". I'm a little concerned here because I don't feel they need to feed into the mass "Goth" image just to gain more fans. I don't want them to sell out in music style due to this. I've seen it happen too many times and it's very sad when it occurs. I may be jumping to conclusions here; but we'll see what happens with the next album.
The final concern is that I wish that Lisa's voice was a bit clearer on some songs. It can be a bit hard to hear what she's singing - the vocals get drowned out by the guitar at times.
Aside from that, the album is solid, fun to listen to - recommended for Xandria fans and the like."
Track Listings (13) - Disc #1