Fire and Ashes EP | Xandria

After impressing much of the symphonic metal community with their still-recent release Sacrificium, Xandria has decided to release a short EP, Fire and Ashes. Personally, I wasn't the craziest about Sacrificium: While Dianne van Giersbergen's voice is stunning and the instrumentation is epic, overall I simply felt that too many songs blended together. Still, I was curious to see if I'd enjoy any songs from this new EP.

 

Fire and Ashes opens with three brand new tracks: "Voyage of the Fallen," "Unembraced," and "In Remembrance." "Voyage of the Fallen" is the lead single, and like many of the tracks from Sacrificium, the instrumentation is epic, but overall it just doesn't spark much affection from me. The chorus is nice and bombastic, reminiscent of old Nightwish, but it's not a track I'd revisit.

 

However, the other two new songs left me totally impressed. "Unembraced" begins with a beautiful fast-paced piano part that reminds me of the song "True" by Tom Twyker, Johnny Klimek, and Reinhold Heil but gives way to thrashing guitars and strings bound to catch any symphonic metal fan's ear. It's irresistibly catchy in a way that reminds me of Within Temptation and Delain; it stands out because of the way it's written and utilizes the bands best elements without necessarily trying to blow the world away with ALL the orchestration all at once. Then of course there's "In Remembrance," a power ballad that showcases Dianne van Giersbergen's powerful and beautiful voice. "Tides of Time" is to Epica as "In Remembrance" is to Xandria, and that's saying something - it's just so gorgeous, particularly that chorus! The first half primarily consists of piano and vocals, and while Dianne certainly sounds strong in the beginning, by the time we reach the key change towards the end she truly unleashes her voice, the band fully backing her.

As for the rest of the EP, Xandria decided to have a little fun and remake a couple of their older songs (they seem to be very proud of their sound with Dianne, and really, who can blame them?) as well as cover a couple of songs. This is the part where I'm perhaps too impartial: I never really listened to Xandria before Sacrificum and I'm not particularly attached to the songs they covered as I don't listen to Meatloaf or Sonata Artica. However, I looked them all up out of curiosity to see how these new versions compare.

 

From their old catalogue, Xandria redid "Ravenheart" and "Now and Forever." Personally, I prefer these new versions as I really adore Dianne's voice. Both are quite catchy, but I prefer "Ravenheart." As for the covers, Xandria first tackles Meatloaf's "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" - I think we can all agree that was an amusing choice. It's definitely the most lighthearted track on the album... But they sure know how to make a cheesy old rock song heavy. Xandria also covered Sonata Artica's "Don't Say a Word," which probably makes more since as both are metal bands. That being said, Xandria's version isn't wildly different, but it certainly has its own charm - the vocal styles alone are different enough to make each version feel different. Dianne mostly sounds operatic as usual and she sounds great on this track, but sometimes she belts, and she sounds perfect either way. I'm going to have this one on repeat for a while.

As only a casual Xandria listener I was merely curious to see if I'd enjoy a song or two from Fire and Ashes, but truth to be told, I loved the vast majority of this EP. Two of the three new songs were added to my ongoing list of favorite songs almost instantaneously, I now appreciate a couple of their older songs a bit more now that they've been rerecorded with a voice that I'm more familiar with and generally more impressed by, and I've also found a new favorite in "Don't Say a Word." I'm pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the material; hopefully Xandria can keep it up.

Sacrificium | Xandria

The German symphonic metal band Xandria has been part of the music scene for a while now, and even though I've always heard of them, I've been hearing more and more unabashed praise ever since they released their 2012 album Neverworld's End. Praise continues to stream with their latest release, Sacrificium, which is the first of their albums to include Dutch singer Dianne van Giersbergen (who is also a member of Ex Libris). This operatic soprano has one of the most beautiful-sounding voices in today's world. While Xandria definitely has the right ingredients to make wonderful music, Sacrificium doesn't exactly leave a lasting impression overall.

 

The title track is the true masterpiece from this album. "Sacrificium" is a ten minute piece that opens with an epic orchestral section that just builds and builds. It includes a short narration before the choir cues the band in. There are definitely quite a few heavy riffs to be found in this song, but Giersbergen makes the entire piece quite graceful. Her vocals come to an operatic climax in the chorus: "Hold my hand wherever you are / My end now is just a new life for you all / This is my promise, my sacrifice." All the while, the choir is singing something a bit different at the same time and the vocals intertwine wonderfully. The orchestra and choir blend with the guitars to create cinematic intensity throughout, but this blend really shines in an especially bombastic way during the middle eight between guitar solos. Giersbergen is left with a piano and violin at the end singing goodbye softly as the song ends, a perfect way to end it. The only issue I had whatsoever with this track is some of the mixing: There are times when the guitars sound a little too fuzzy, particularly when the guitars first start to really get going and when the section repeats in the chorus. I wish it sounded clearer and less two-dimensional... I suppose after hearing the production on Epica's The Quantum Enigma, we're a little spoiled and have higher standards.

"Stardust" also shines as one of Sacrificium's best with its amazing riffs. When van Giersbergen's vocals start in the middle eight, the guitars nearly take the place of the classical strings stylistically - if Vivaldi was making music in this century, that section would be one of his pieces. The breakdown towards the end of the middle eight is heavy and epic, and the song as a whole is ear-catching. I have no complaints to file.

Aside from these two tracks, there aren't a lot of full songs that really stand out. "Dreamkeeper" is a mid-tempo track that's sort of reminiscent of Nightwish, and it has potential, but the chorus ultimately does not do anything exciting. Sometimes the duller songs have great moments in the midst, like the intense middle eight of "Until the End" or the chorus of "Temple of Hate," and there are plenty of moments where van Giersbergen steals the show with her amazing high notes. The only ballad from the album, "Sweet Atonement," breaks the heavy pattern right at the end as it is led by piano and violin. It's a nice song; van Giersbergen's vocals are gorgeous as usual... I really don't have anything to complain about, but nothing draws me to the song. It sort of reminds me of high school solo and ensemble selections, and I don't know how I feel about that.

The lead single, "Nightfall," certainly brings a level of intensity with its fast-paced, bombastic chorus led by van Giersbergen and the choir even though it isn't necessarily a favorite of mine, and "The Undiscovered Land" isn't bad with its folk influences. "The Undiscovered Land" is a song that builds throughout, but unfortunately the only parts I really loved were the middle eight and the soft outro.

In short, Xandria seems to be one of those bands that has all the tools - the heavy guitars, van Giersbergen's voice, the epic orchestra and choir - but they just aren't utilized that creatively much of the time. I wasn't crazy about Sacrificium. This album seems to suffer from its concept - while albums that revolve around a specific concept can be completely perfect (i.e. Epica's albums, Within Temptation's albums, and Nightwish's albums), they can also ruin themselves by concentrating more on having a theme and less on the music. This results in a lot of songs sounding the same or just not being very unique in general. Regardless, I'm sure Xandria's sound will appeal to many even outside of regular symphonic metal fans because the guitars and orchestra get equal face time, which means that there are guitar solos galore in addition to bombastic orchestral moments. Blandness is the only enemy they have to conquer.

2014: The Year of Female-Fronted Metal

From left to right: Sharon den Adel of Within Temptation, Cristina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil, Simone Simons of Epica, Dianne van Giersbergen of Xandria, Elize Ryd of Amaranthe.

It's no secret that 2014 was a huge year for female-fronted metal bands. Nearly all of the biggest names ranging from metalcore to symphonic metal released an album this year, with the exception of Nightwish, who are preparing to release their first studio album with Floor Jansen next year. I listen to so many of the groups that had new releases this year, so my ears were made quite happy by a portion of these albums. Even when an album seemed to fall flat in my opinion, it's always wonderful to anticipate new releases from favorite artists.

Right at the beginning of the year symphonic metal fans had a reason to be excited with Within Temptation's Hydra. With a killer lead single and a tantalizing album trailer, I was counting down the days until a copy would be in my hands. Every one of Within Temptation's albums tend to sound different from one another, and Hydra is no exception. The sound is heavier than the previous album and there's plenty of variety; between "Silver Moonlight," a song with growls like in the days of Enter and The Dance EP; "And We Run," a duet with rapper Xzibit; and "Edge of the World," an extremely powerful ballad with an intense second half. Within Temptation impressed me once again.

 

A few more albums were released in the spring, starting with Lacuna Coil's Broken Crown Halo. I overall have respect for Lacuna Coil, but a lot of their songs are hit-and-miss for me. This was generally the case for Broken Crown Halo (that poor, unfortunate album title) though I see it as a step of improvement from Dark Adrenaline, with highlights like "Nothing Stands in Our Way" and "I Burn in You." Epica, on the other hand completely floored me with The Quantum Enigma. This album is phenomenal. It's easily my favorite of 2014; it was in my CD player for two months straight and has made plenty of trips back in there since then. I'm not exaggerating. Catchy and complex tracks fill this album in a way that puts it in the same league as even The Divine Conspiracy and Design Your Universe, and the way everything is mixed sounds so crisp!

 

Also in the spring, Xandria released their latest album, Sacrificium. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to really listen to this album yet aside from three tracks, but from what I've heard thus far, I'm sure it's a great piece of work. While I'd always heard of Xandria, I never heard many of their songs. I know they've had quite a few singers in their past, and I'm sure they were all fine musicians, but I never heard them receive so much unabashed praise until Dianne van Giersbergen joined. Based on what I've heard, I can understand why. Her voice is very well-honed and very beautiful.

 

Fast forward to October: the still up-and-coming modern metal band Amaranthe released Massive Addictive, the third studio album they've recorded since their debut in 2011. I only began listening to their music this year, and while Massive Addictive has a number of incredible tracks, like "Dynamite," "Digital World," "Massive Addictive," and "Drop Dead Cynical," I just don't hear enough variety between many of their songs. Not bad, but they could be better.

 

The final major release of the year is the one that manage to truly disappoint me: Black Widow by In This Moment. I've been listening to this metalcore band since 2007 and have therefore been a fan for seven years, but I only liked about two songs from Black Widow. They're trying too hard to form an image and I find the music under par for my taste.

 

In addition, metal fans were treated to a wonderful cover of "The Power of Love" that we were to donate money to purchase in order to raise money for the Red Cross. This single consisted of several Dutch metal artists, including Simone Simons, Dianne van Giersbergen, Anneke van Giersbergen, Floor Jansen, Charlotte Wessels, and more. Within Temptation released their fourth live DVD of two shows in late fall called Let Us Burn: Elements and Hydra Live in Concert, and DVD releases from them will always get me pumped since they're one of the best live acts EVER. Delain and Tarja also released albums this year (I don't listen to either much), and even though she isn't part of the metal world, many fans of female-fronted metal enjoy Amy Lee's music, and she released Aftermath (containing songs from a movie she scored called War Story). Unfortunately nothing new from Nightwish was released in 2014, but their next album is scheduled for the first half of 2015. This will be their first album with Floor Jansen, and while I always get excited to hear new music from them, I am especially excited to hear how their music will evolve with Floor.

But alas, 2014 completely spoiled female-fronted metal fans so much that I'm afraid next year may seem anti-climatic in comparison. Just think of the loads and loads of new music we got this year! I can't imagine a niche audience ever being so pleased. 2014 will certainly be remembered for its remarkable set of releases.