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Eleine - Dancing In Hell review



Reviewer:
8.0

40 users:
7.53
Band: Eleine
Album: Dancing In Hell
Style: Symphonic metal
Release date: November 27, 2020
A review by: Dream Taster


01. Enemies
02. Dancing In Hell
03. Ava Of Death
04. Crawl From The Ashes
05. As I Breathe
06. Memoriam
07. Where Your Rotting Corpse Lie (W.Y.R.C.L.)
08. All Shall Burn
09. Die From Within
10. The World We Knew
11. Die From Within [symphonic version]

Eleine as in Madeleine Liljestam,‭ ‬which is the name of the‭ ‬striking‭ ‬front-woman who also models for a living.‭ ‬Alongside Rikard Ekberg,‭ ‬she is the main creative force.‭ ‬They are the composers and singers.‭ ‬Like other bands in the symphonic metal realm,‭ ‬Madeleine is the angelic voice,‭ ‬Rikard is the devilish one.‭ ‬They may look good but they are no‭ ‬pretenders.‭ ‬They very well know what they are doing.‭ ‬If Amaranthe stopped toying with subpar watered-down pop melodies,‭ ‬they could pretend to be on par‭ ‬with Eleine.‭ ‬In other words,‭ ‬this is superb symphonic metal with a dash of dark metal,‭ ‬not unlike a dark Nightwish or Epica.

There are some definite gothic elements to their style.‭ ‬Growls,‭ ‬folk passages,‭ ‬fast breaks,‭ ‬that is how some of the darkness creeps in.‭ ‬Just watch some of their videos and you will see how they incorporate gothic themes into their visuals.‭ ‬There is a thrash component to their sound.‭ ‬Or at least there is some definite musical intensity materialized through the intense drumming of Jesper Sunnhagen and the bass mastery of Anton Helgesson.‭ ‬Typically,‭ ‬even before vocals kick in,‭ ‬the music calls for headbanging.‭ ‬And that is how this band stands out.‭ ‬They do manage to counterbalance this intensity with the right amount of melodic symphonic stuff.‭ ‬Not only that,‭ ‬they manage to shine in both extremes,‭ ‬which is a beautiful thing.‭ ‬Beware that this can also induce confusion upon first listen if you don‭'‬t know what to expect.

Their previous effort‭ Until The End‭‬ was slightly more geared towards symphonic metal a la Epica while‭ ‬Dancing In Hell‭‬ overall features harsher,‭ ‬more poignant songs.‭ ‬Don'‬t get me wrong,‭ ‬both albums are equally powerful.‭ ‬That being said,‭ Dancing In Hell‭‬ is edgier,‭ ‬more aggressive.‭ ‬The emphasis is no longer on harmonized melodies,‭ ‬atmospheric keys,‭ ‬choirs and piano.‭ ‬Now we are down to bare-bone business.‭ ‬It is incisive.‭ ‬A more direct route to awesomeness has been charted as is evident from the opening track‭ "‬Enemies"‬.‭ ‬The pace is fast and furious.‭ ‬The atmosphere is dark and the music is aggressive and still slightly progressive.‭

At the end of the day,‭ ‬Madeleine is a talented singer.‭ ‬In addition,‭ ‬Eleine is quite the band.‭ ‬They are creative despite operating within a saturated field.‭ ‬They probably do not stand out enough because they do transcend a few genres.‭ ‬Regardless,‭ ‬if you like your symphonic metal to veer off the beaten path,‭ ‬and lead to a darker path with heavy influences,‭ ‬this is the band for you.‭


Rating breakdown
Performance: 8
Songwriting: 8
Originality: 8
Production: 8





Written on 05.01.2021 by Bringing you reviews of quality music and interesting questions such as:

"A picture is worth a thousand words. How many words is a song worth?"

I have only got so much patience and skills, you do the math.


Comments

Comments: 3   [ 1 ignored ]   Visited by: 112 users
05.01.2021 - 11:02
AnGina--
Dark Phoenix
Great review, might just need to check this one out!
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You think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it. Molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was a man. But it was nothing to me but blinding.
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05.01.2021 - 13:21
Good music, meh vocals. Too standard for mediocre symphonic metal. I am glad though they went for a less sugary sound and became heavier. The chick sells though. That bosom is every man's wet dream. Her voice... not so much. Next, I want me so belly dance too.
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05.01.2021 - 15:15
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
When titts goes wrong, music csnd be enjoyable.
I saw this band live, opened before wasp, its all. One night stand, show. Its all.
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I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens.

Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"

I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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