Amberian Dawn's second full-length, "The Clouds Of Northland Thunder," is about to be released finally, and after how much I enjoyed their debut, "River Of Tuoni," it's surely been on my highly anticipated list for 2009. Well, if you are a fan of the band's debut, I think you will be more than pleased! I pre-ordered the album (through links on the band's websites), which also has the benefit of giving me and anyone else who does a full mp3 version of the album already The price was a bit more than I would ever pay for an album, but sometimes you are just in the mood to hear a band and that extra month seems like an extra month too long.

So, how is the new disc? It's a perfect companion to the debut in my opinion. If you didn't like the debut, I don't think this will change you mind, but if you did, then the album will fill you with a full range of new and fresh melodies. Amberian Dawn's sound is very much dominated by Heidi's vocals, and I think they are an acquired taste for many people. She likes to sing in a few particular pitches that give an unmistakeable character to any of the songs. A few of my picks so far from the new album are "Lionheart," which has a unique hook to it, as well as "Shallow Waters" and "Kokko - Eagle Of Fire."

Any thoughts on the band, or of their latest or previous album? If you are not familiar with them, symphonic power metal with operatic female vocals should give you a start

I checked them out quite a while ago, but they failed to impress me. It's not they are playing bad music. The vocals are okay and the rest are good too, but it's probably the song writing side lacks the punch and I felt like nothing stuck into my head at all.

Bare infinity on the other hand did catch my attention with their debut. Similar stuff, but it just has that tiny bit of extra that makes the difference (but this kind of stuff is v subjective). hope no one is offended

I actually enjoyed their debut quite a bit. I find their guitars to be MUCH more enjoyable to other bands similar to them, I like how they dominate the instrumentals with the symphonic elements supporting them, and not the other way around. Still, they don't quite have as much variety in songs as I would hope for. I remember Lionheart sounding interesting from the clips I heard, I'm sure I'll look into the new CD soon.

Don't know why but I just didn't get into their music... I myself am a huge fan of female-fronted bands but Amberian Dawn isn't exactly my style, neither is it a band I've been impressed by.

So I've heard many people complaining about the new Nightwish vocalist losing the Opera sound to the band. This is true, but however it doesn't change the fact that Dark Passion Play was still a great album to listen to. I saw this post and decided to give a listen and I must say, if you feel the loss of opera in Nightwish is a problem to you, these guys make a get sub.

Written by Fubar on 29.04.2009 at 04:25

So I've heard many people complaining about the new Nightwish vocalist losing the Opera sound to the band. This is true, but however it doesn't change the fact that Dark Passion Play was still a great album to listen to. I saw this post and decided to give a listen and I must say, if you feel the loss of opera in Nightwish is a problem to you, these guys make a get sub.

I guess this post should have been in the Nightwish thread?

I guess his main point was in the last sentence...

Written by bard on 28.04.2009 at 09:02

I actually enjoyed their debut quite a bit. I find their guitars to be MUCH more enjoyable to other bands similar to them, I like how they dominate the instrumentals with the symphonic elements supporting them, and not the other way around. Still, they don't quite have as much variety in songs as I would hope for. I remember Lionheart sounding interesting from the clips I heard, I'm sure I'll look into the new CD soon.

I think what you are saying here is partly the reason I enjoy the band a lot too It's heavy on the guitar, and while the vocals are still prominent and very frequent, there are plenty of memorable riffs and solos, which are not usually the emphasis in symphonic-leaning bands. I'd say it's quite similar in the new disc too, just different melodies, so I think you'll have a similar opinion I do to the new disc then. It still lacks some diversity and expansion in their sound, but for some reason it doesn't bother me so much with Amberian Dawn, likely because so many of the melodies/riffs are interesting.

As time passed by, my opinion about Amberian Dawn has completely changed. I actually started to appreciate and enjoy their music. I still can't say I'm a fan of theirs or something but their songs have sort of grown on me. The band itself has some extremely skillful and talented musicians. I especially dig Heidi's vocals!

Let's hope for a better next album, though...

Think they need the songwriting of their second album and the musical proficiency of the first to make a great 4th album. Can't say the End of Eden was anything special.

I'd rather say they need the songwriting of their second album and the musical proficiency of the third one. "End Of Eden" has both the perfectly tested song structures of AD's previous records, as well as some pretty intriguingly and differently deployed tracks. Songs such as "War In Heaven" are good evidence for my thesis.

I really enjoyed End of Eden, but it was my first experience with this band, so I don't have a whole lot to compare it to. Even if older fans don't think it is the band's best work its still a good piece of work in a pretty good genre of music.