Band:	Karelia
Album:	Restless
Style:	Gothic metal, Symphonic power metal
Release date:	April 21, 2008
A review by:	Jeff

01. Restless
02. Trial
03. Mirror, Mirror
04. Lift Me Up [Moby cover]
05. Please Come On In
06. Lovin' Wife
07. Crash
08. Give It Away
09. From My Window
10. Losing My Religion [R.E.M. cover]

In the Metal universe, there are two categories. One with the bands that still play the same music from their beginning to their end and another with the bands that decide one day to do something new, something different. Metalheads are not the most open-minded people on Earth and in general they're really good to whine like little kids when their favorite bands decide to change their music and on a side they're probably right for a lot bands which simply become boring and ineffective but some other ones do good things and their evolution can finally be a good thing. Karelia is in the second category and their last album "Restless" will surprise a lot of people. Be aware that Karelia is not a classic Power Metal band anymore and plays an original mix of Indus and Power Metal. You know what? This is all but a mistake.

The album begins with "Restless" a mid-tempo song which becomes more and more powerful after some minutes but if you know the previous albums of the French combo you'll quickly understand that something is new here, the music of Karelia is a lot more electronic and well it's not so bad actually. After two other songs comes "Lift Me Up" the cover of Moby's mega hit and I just think that this "title" is perfect to describe the new Karelia. Of course the band still plays Metal and the voice of Matthieu Kleiber is still the great one that we were able to listen to on the other albums but we have electronic beats now and a lot of electronic melodies everywhere in each songs. Don't worry, Karelia still have Power Metal riffs and tempos and we can even find some little symphonic arrangements there and there but all in all we're in front of a new band and I must congratulate Karelia which has taken this really "dangerous" new direction. Some people will not like this music but Karelia plays something original and different now and if you like modern Metal I'm sure that you'll enjoy a lot this release. Don't worry this is not because we have a lot of electronic influences on "Restless" that Karelia has forgotten its roots, this is just a lot more modern and at least this is fresh and unconventional.

The performance of the musicians is really good and one more time I like the charismatic voice of Matthieu Kleiber. The recording is also really good and the two covers (Moby and REM) give something cool to the album, because they're really well done. I only regret actually that the length of the release is so short, 37 minutes that's not enough for me? Also of course you'll have to be really open-minded to like this album but if you like melodic Metal and Indus influences it should be ok for you because "Restless" is full of good songs really.

The new Karelia will surprise a lot of people but I really recommend them to take their time to listen to the whole album and they will maybe discover something really enjoyable for them, even if they're not into this kind of music. Let's be a bit open minded and "Resltess" will be a good album for you. Thumb up to Karelia at least we have a band which has the balls to do something different and kill the clichés, let's hope that they will follow this way to do things as long as possible.