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Rating:
7.8 |
Midnattsol - The Metamorphosis Melody
22 April 2011
01. Alv
02. The Metamorphosis Melody
03. Spellbound
04. The Tide
05. A Poet's Prayer
06. Forlorn
07. Kong Valemons Kamp
08. Goodbye
09. Forvandlingen
10. Motets Makt
11. My Re-Creation
12. A Predator´s Prey [limited edition bonus]
It has been well over a year since I last felt quite positive about a new female-fronted symphonic metal release. They all sound so samey and ordinary, y'know what I mean? Well, until this.
The Metamorphosis Melody doesn't break any moulds, nor do they just play their instruments "correctly", stick in a chick at vox and leave it at that. What sets this album apart is the songwriting. Whilst many albums in this crowded sub-genre tend to just have some melodic guitar leads every now and again to go with some semi-catchy choruses, what we have here is some solid riffing going on. The vocals don't dominate too much, but come out when they need to and gracefully let the heavy riffs (relatively speaking in this sub-genre) take centre stage. As far as melodic metal goes, I guess plenty would want to know how the vocalist sounds. Those not familiar with the band might want to take note that Carmen Elise Espenæs is the younger sister of Theatre Of Tragedy / Leaves Eye's Liv Kristine Espenæs, and I'd say she won't suffer from any comparisons. Imagine Liv Kritine's sweetness mixed with Tarja Turunen richness, then you'll have a rough idea of how Carmen sounds.
Calling Midnattsol smphonic is not exactly the most accurate as their tunes sound very folky despite the symphonic effects thrown in. Obviously that doesn't exactly make them sound any better than countless other female-fronted acts. As mentioned earlier, it's the whole riff + vocal package here that makes the album feel complete. One of the highlights of the album is definitely the limited edition bonus track when guitarist Daniel Droste contributes to all the vocals.
Guess what #1 He growls all the way through and "powerful" would be a suitable word to describe it.
Guess what #2 He plays in Funeral Doom band Ahab.
Guess what #3 This is my favourite track from the album.
Guess what # 4 He left the band before this album was released.
So I guess this facet of the band can't be further explored in future releases, which is a shame. Though for now, if you are a fan of female-fronted melodic metal, don't miss this and if you could get hold of the bonus track, it's definitely worth it!
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Performance:
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8 |
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Songwriting:
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8 |
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Originality:
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7 |
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Production:
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8 |
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Written on 04.08.2011 by
Ag Fox
Ag Fox loves listening to music but is far from being a prolific writer. This corner just shows how territorial he is.
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Comments
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13
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Users visited:
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226 |
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Well-written review, and I like how you describe Carmen's voice, which is quite good though it never passed my mind!
as for the album, not like the previous albums, but still a great album, and Carmen's voice is hauntingly beautiful though I cant understand what she's singing without looking at the lyrics..!! |
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| I've tried this band before, and they seemed quite cute, though I'd like to see them give some clearer production a go (on the first two albums it's a bit shaggy). |
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When you talk about Carmen, I don't really agree that she resembles Tarja in neither her voice nor singing style.
I do agree on Midnattsol not being a Symphonic Metal band... I would say they do pure Folk Metal.
As for the album itself, I found it a little bit boring compared to the previous one. The song I liked the most is the second track.
Ah... If your favorite song in the album is the bonus track, then you may wanna try Eluveitie -it's a lot more folkish and "powerful" than Midnattsol.  |
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 BudDa - 04.08.2011 at 20:07
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| I quite like this band and this album too. In my opinion, The Metamorphosis Melody was better than Leaves' Eyes Meredead. Too bad both Ahab members, Hector and Droste, had to leave this band. Yes, I would also throw them under folk. Symphonic Folk(?) |
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Written by BudDa on 04.08.2011 at 20:07
I quite like this band and this album too. In my opinion, The Metamorphosis Melody was better than Leaves' Eyes Meredead. Too bad both Ahab members, Hector and Droste, had to leave this band. Yes, I would also throw them under folk. Symphonic Folk(?)
I thought both Leaves' Eyes and Midnattsol's albums were weak. I was kinda looking forward to Meredead but i felt incredibly disappointed. Even though both albums use alot of folk elements. |
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I could listen to Carmen sing all day, but this album just has not moved me much at all unfortunately, unlike the band's previous efforts. Perhaps my opinion will change seeing the songs performed live though, so we'll see  . I only wish the album was more like "Goodbye," as I find Carmen most interesting in softer passages. I do think that the "A Poet's Prayer" / "A Predator's Prey" tracks have the best riffs in them, but personally I'd have preferred all clean male vocals like on the previous album's bonus track. Nice to see a review up for the album now! |
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I can't believe it took Daniel 7 years to get the fuck out of that band  |
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| Their music is amazing but i'm afraid Carmen's voice doesn't go with the music. the bonus track is my favorite too because the powerful vocal with the music is fantastic. |
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| Nice band I'm listening to this album and it's quite good! I liked this song "Kong Valemons Kamp" very much and I don't think they are linked to Nightwish in anyway it's just the same Northern Spirit I guess ;-) |
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| This album is a little better than their previous one, but I'm kind of missing something that could make it great. |
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| Just listened the album, and music is great, but the sister of Liv and her vocal lines are making it so much boring. With other singer would be much better :S |
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| Just listened the album, and music is great, but the sister of Liv and her vocal lines are making it so much boring. With other singer would be much better :S |
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Written by Mr. Doctor on 04.08.2011 at 22:14
I can't believe it took Daniel 7 years to get the fuck out of that band
Yep  what a waste of his talents this mediocre band is |
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