Diablo Swing Orchaestra - Pandora's Pinata (2012)

Thank you to my brother for this delightful CD. It is truly a gorgeous little package and definitely quirky and weird - the kind of music I love (along with Heavy Metal, that is). This is going to be a hard album to categorise and will be a fun one to review. No two tracks are alike!

The Diablo Swing Orchaestra are a Swedish Octet. According to wikipedia (and their website) - Ancestors of their band performed in historic Sweden in defiance of the ruling religious beliefs of the time, forcing them to go into hiding. They would put on clandestine performances to the peasants and eventually had a bounty put on their heads and decided to put on a spectacular final show before being matyred by the church.

The packaging is beautiful - it's a digipack, which always look neat but never fit in my CD rack, and thus must languish in an unsteady pile beside it, on the coffee table. However, instead of being a flimsy cardboard affair, this is a solid little hardback book, with pages and all. The cover is whimsical and colourful, reminiscent of childhood and innocence - two children in a forest - a pinata, from which a snake has emerged, seizing the stick from the girl's hand. The inside is filled with psychadelic treats of dice and candy, the font playful and bright.

Truly a delight.

The music is similarly playfully eclectic, with the musical styles switching and the rhythms changing and evoking a wild and crazy carnival feeling.

The album opens with "Voodoo Mon Amour" with its trumpets and chugging bass. Swing or jazz? I'm not really up with my non-metal classifications. Anyhow, the vocals match, this is crazy stuff. Crazy but awesome. The lyrics are equally crazed:

"...we reek as mammals do..."

 "Guerilla Laments" starts with a percussion and a triumphant cascade of horns. I also detect something of a latin feel in their music.

We begin "Kevlar Sweethearts" with cellos. The vocals are gentler, soft and sweet. However, like kevlar, there is a harder edge as well. It is quite a haunting song.

The cellos lead us in to "How to Organise a Lynch Mob" too with their slow and longing voice. Then, it is consumed by "Black Box Messiah" as the synths and a far more modern sound takes over, reminsicent of the 80s pop explosion and peppered with strange vocals. Okay, so I have no idea how to classify this, but the vocals are a little Muse-ish, along with their rising power and striking the inner core of the soul in a slightly chaotic manner.

A rather heavier number, "Exit Strategy of a Wrecking Ball" has the force of the great ball itself, swinging in ponderous and threatening arches, getting closer and closer to contact. The chugging bass intermingled with twanging cellos. More synthesizer. Vocals quite Muse-esque, but with more horns and trumpets, and violin or cello,  and therefore superior. The intermingling of thrash, synth and classical instruments is masterful.

Not that I don't love Muse.

 "I have come to erase you, I'm here to replace you..."

There are also some aggressive numetal vibes here too, which are made more impressive with the addition of cello. I do not like numetal, but I REALLY like this!

"Aurora" starts like a starburst. Little percussive lights flickering over the horizon, exploding into fire. The vocals are almost-opera but more reminiscent of a musical. There are also some soothing folk vibes. Beautiful, transcendent and brought to life by the orchaestral melodies.

They're back into the cellos with "Mass Rapture", building into something epic, with a chugging more modern metal sound, but jerky rhythms from another era. The melodic, chanted choruses are haunted, beautiful, with a hint of opera.

We're back into the musical-meets-Muse vibes with a "Honey Trap Aftermath". The lyrics are staccato, punctuated by horns and with a distinctly jazz (?) vibe.

Dramatic staccato and horns deliver us into the mighty "Of Kali Ma Calibre".  The rum-tum-tum-tum of the drums leads us into the operatic vocals.  This is pure, symphonic Power and Might. Swelling from the speakers, pounding us with its majesty, before falling into chaotic rhythms, and then descending into a few brief chords of grindcore, swelling and slowing into the purity of violins. This is insane and wonderful.

The final track, "Justice for Saint Mary" has rather slower vibes and is also pure symphonic metal - violins and cellos weaving a fine web of power. Slow, melodic; haunting and rich. The drama builds, the tension mounts... the music becomes more frantic, the violins desperately against the deep howls of the cello, the drums, and other instruments rising, rising into an almighty storm, intense in its power and fury. Rising... Rising... Rising... And then it quiets and comes crashing down into....

... okay, I'm not going to tell you how this piece ends. Listen to it instead!

Pure majesty, power and originality - such an eclectic blend of metal, symphony, swing, jazz, latin and, well, everything else, can create only two things - a confused cornucopia of noise or this - something that truly needs to be listened to - and listened to LOUD - something that will reach deep within the core of your being, spark all the synapses in your brain that relate to auditory delight and invigorate you with boundless energy and positive vibes.

This is one album that you will play, and play again, and again, just to experience the full blend of emotions and sheer epicness of this album. It is extraordinary.

Yeh, you understand it - I really, really, really like this album. In fact, I'm going to rate it 11/10.
That's to say, it's currently the most interesting and intense album in my collection, and I feel a little sorry to listen to something else, as I suspect after this one it will be rather an anticlimax.

So in advance, I apologise to you, Eluveitie, for Diablo Swing Orchaestra are a hard act to follow.

And special thanks to my awesome brother for finding me another new favourite band - first he introduced me to Mercury Rev, now Diablo Swing Orchaestra. He is truly the Best Brother Ever.
(His blog is: Dances for Architecture and he writes better about music than I do. Check him out).

Heavy Metal Genres (in brief)

I thought I would take this opportunity to actually offer some "education" in the various genres of Heavy Metal. You see, when I inform people that I listen to Heavy Metal, they immediately develop some rather biast pre-conceptions - that metal is not music, that the singers can't sing and that it is really just a whole lot of noise and no rhythm.

They are, of course, naive and ignorant of the great scale of the metal genre.

Heavy Metal is, as a genre, as encomposing as "Rock Music" or "Classical". And indeed probably has more sub-genres than both combined. Now, I am sure there are many hidden nuances and subgenres to Rap and House music as well, but as they have never proven to be of any interest to me whatsoever, I think it is in my best interests to just ignore them and leave them to their experts.

Not that I'm a metal expert, but I have had over 20 years auditory experience.

And my mother said it was "just a phase".

Firstly, when I say I listen to Heavy Metal - I do not mean all the subgenres. I do not like hardcore, or grindcore or anything that is too aggressive or sounds like the vocalist is trying to cough up their oesphagus or that the guitarists each have six arms and cannot hear what each other is playing. Despite the fact that their vocalist is a bird (literally, he's a parrot - and no, they don't perform live, he's recorded separately and then added into the music) I do not like Hatebeak. I do not like death metal either. Black metal amuses me in small doses and if it is not too serious (Cradle of Filth and Ancient are acceptable, and I rather like Sadness, for example).

But:

My interest mainly lies in the other half of the spectrum. The melodic stuff.

Now, there is quite a wide diversity amongst the melodic stuff too. Let me discuss the various SubGenres that you are likely to see referenced in my labels:

Note: These are my own interpretations, and may not quite be the same as those found on, say, wikipedia. This is because the metal genre is entirely too complicated and confusing and you need a degree in Heavy Metalogy to understand it properly. So consider this a summary.

Power Metal - This is the real creme de croppe - sophisticated guitars, occasional inclusion of classical instruments, usually the vocals have a slightly operatic edge. Themes are generally fantasy or historical or occasionally pseudo-religious. Bridges and choruses, often quite catchy, clever melodies. Generally feeling rather intense, powerful, almost like being caught in the middle of an epic scale D&D campaign battle. The sort of music that makes your heart swell fit to bursting and inspires you to run around your room, waving a ruler like it's a sword and putting the light fixtures at risk*.

Bands of that ilk:
Helloween (esp the "Keeper" years), Stratovarius, Edguy, Blind Guardian, Dragonforce, PowerQuest, Gamma Ray, Avantasia, a large proportion of my collection.

~ * ~ 

Progressive Metal - Similar to Power Metal, but with more synthesizers, a generally more "modern" vibe and lyrics about more mature themes such as politics or love.

Bands of that ilk:
Dream Theater, Queensryche, Angra, Rush.

~ * ~

Folk Metal - The addition of folk instruments such as fiddles, bagpipes, and things that I don't even know the names of. Songs that make you want to jump around and engage in various forms of, well, folk dance. Usually have fast, repetitive rhythms; catchy, repetitive lyrics and are overall pretty damned awesome. Topics generally about maidens of various humanesque species, rogues and vagabonds - or in Skyclad's case, serious political issues and far too many puns.

Bands of that ilk:
Skyclad, Elvenking, Phoenyx, Subway to Sally, Amorphis (some albums)

~ * ~ 

Doom Metal - Slow, heavy, ponderous - as though every beat is an effort. Vocals can be low and growling (doom-death) or almost operatci (awesome). Lyrics generally about death and dying - sometimes depressing, sometimes not as bad as you would expect. Sometimes violins and other maudlin classical instruments are incoporated to add to the general feelings of desolation.

Have the roots in early Black Sabbath.

Bands of that ilk:

Candlemass, Solitude Aeturnus, Confessor, Anathema, My Dying Bride.

~ * ~

Symphonic Metal - Really complex structures, soaring instruments, intense emotions - basically, symphonic metal makes use of the many various "voices" of classical music to create not only a song, but a whole atmosphere. Not disimilar in some ways to Power Metal, but the lyrics are generally more sophisticated and they make more use of synthesizers. Often have female vocalists or female AND male vocalists.  Symphonic Metal bands are AMAZING live.

Bands of that ilk:

Nightwish, Alpine Fault, Epica, Therion, Rhapsody, Leaves Eyes.

Looking at Wiki, it appears that Symphonic and Power are VERY similar and many of the bands that I have rated as one, they have rated as the other. I believe trying to pigeonhole bands is probably a fool's game. But kinda a fun one. I'll just label things as both, okay?

~ * ~

Thrash Metal - characterized by heavy percussive beats and fast, hard riffs. Aggressive, churning music - often with intelligent and political lyrics.

Bands of that ilk:

Metallica, Megadeth, (early) Anthrax.

~ * ~

Speed Metal - heavy, fast and technically demanding metal - often with fairly complex guitar rifts and of a higher, faster pace than Thrash (above). Not usually as aggressive and can, in fact, be rather positive. European stuff tends to be "happier" than American, which still remains quite aggressive. Vocals generally higher pitched - sometimes screaming, shrieking or (my favourite) operatic. Later evolved into power and symphonic metal.

Bands of that ilk:

Paradox, (early) Rage, Running Wild. (oops, these are all German bands, heh), Toxik.

~ * ~ 

Polish Funk Metal - This genre never seems to feature on the more formal Metal Genealogy charts. Why, you might even think I just made it up! But, since I own a couple of CDs that cannot possibly be labelled as anything but PKM, here we go! This is a kinda funky  metal, undertaken by Polish bands with relatively broken english and off-beat attitures. A few years ago I got chatting to a Heavy Metal fan from Poland who was delighted that I actually knew something of the bands from his actual country. There are two other Polish metal bands that I know of - Turbo and Dragon, but neither of them are particularly funky.

Bands of that ilk:

Wolfspider, Acid Drinkers.

Okay, so mostly they're considered to be thrash bands. Spoil my fun *pouts*

But it's thrash with funk!

Okay, too tired to continue this for now - but stay tuned cos I will make updates as I add more genres in to my labels.

* But let us not speak of the "Manowar Incident"

Candlemass - Nightfall (1987)

Ah, the beauty and majesty of Candlemass. I know this band well, having discovered them way back when I was in my early Metal Years. This was, if I recall, my first of their albums, and I originally purchased it on cassette tape. I own the CD now, of course.

Messiah Marcolin, vocalist at this time, is a Metal God. He has the voice of an angel - albeit a somewhat large one and slightly sweaty one. That is to say - it is a lovely, beautiful voice but so much power - the sort of power that could devastate buildings or rise mountains from the sea.

He is magnificant.

This is the first of the Trinity of Divine Candlemass albums.  As I own them all, they shall all be listened to, dissected, admired and enjoyed. I am undecided as to which is my favourite, but as this is the first, it defnitely rates highly.

Okay, so you get the idea, I love these albums. I love Messiah. They are beauty and power and... let's just listen to it already, shall we? Actually, I vaguely remember analysing some of these songs for a  school project/poetry assignment. We had an awesome English teacher.

And don't worry, I'll try and find you some videos too - in case you are one of the unintiated.

Firstly - this album jacket is beautiful, taken from "The Voyage of Life: Old Age" by Thomas Cole. It depicts an aged man, in a boat afloat on a lonely ocean, dark clouds looming overhead, a ray of light splitting them asunder. Before him hovers an Angel, a vision of white and glory. In the very centre, small and unassuming but very easy to read, is the band name and the title. The sleeve itself is a simple affair - a one fold cover with all the lyrics printed in small but legible font, set against the twilight clouds.

As I noted previously, most metal albums from this era begin with a short intro piece with haunting music or - in this case - crashing lightning or perhaps a cracking "Gothic Stone".

Whatever it is, it quickly fades into the looming majesty of "The Well of Souls". Messiah's soaring and powerful voice rises above the doom-laden chords, filled with his passion and dedication to protecting the world from:

"...hatred and scorn..."

Perhaps because Messiah's customary attire is a robe, crucifix and he pretty much looks like an epic avenging monk, it is very, very easy to envisage him as the "old man" whose life is dedicated to protecting the world from the looming threat of Satan.

Lyrics indicate that he is unsuccessful in this endeavour, yet like in the earlier track "The Sorcerer's Pledge", the battle is a non-climactic one. In this case, daylight destroys the darkness. Let us just be thankful that they write lyrics, not novels.

"Codex Gigas" is another pounding instrumental, with ominous, slow beats and brooding atmosphere. I am imagining someone carrying a heavy load, ponderously through the dark.

Ah, the opening chords of "At the Gallows End" bring a shiver to my spine and a tear to my eye. Partly it is nostalgia - but also it is a beauty lead-in - slow and haunting, with Messiah's wonderful voice dripping with raw emotion and loss. I am standing with him, waiting for my death. What a swan song.

"Only the vultures will come to see me hang..."

Pounding bass, dramatic and chilling. 

And oh, now we have the most beautiful "Samarithan". Every song a memory. Slower rhythms, slightly lower vocal register; sorrow and compassion weigh down the words. A homeless man, offered sanctuary - a simple act of kindness that brings with it much reward. This song is a thing of beauty.

I am never quite sure if Candlemass are technically a Christian band - their lyrics are filled with Christian imagery, but they seem to regard it with more honour and respect than the bands that preach about hellfire and damnation. It feels biblical in the oldest sense of the word, and noble.

The ponderous and dramatic "Marche Funeral"  bridges us between this song and "Dark are the Veils of Death". This is a faster paced, and somewhat more dramatic slightly hectic song, almost desperate at times. Messiah's vocals are no less than stupendous.

"Enter the great adventure, just wait and see..."

I think Candlemass helped me to "survive" my teen years. Whilst they are, technically, a doom band, their lyrics are not filled with as much death and despair as other bands of that ilk* - they have hope - of the afterlife, of redemption, of the triumph of good against evil.

The devastatingly beautiful "Mourner's Lament" follows. A song laden so much with mourning, loss and anguish. A father mourns his deceased son. A song that sends shivers down my spine and a thrill in my heart. The power... the raw emotion... The whispered "Rest in peace" brings a tear to my eye.

Why, you could almost say that I'm "Bewitched" - which is coincidentally, the next (and almost final) track on this album. It is a song with decidedly pagan elements, putting it at odds of every other track on this album:

"Bewitched by delight, you'll reach the night dancing and singing to my fiddle. So take my hand, and understand, that no-one will see you again." 

It is a splendid song, and somewhat more upbeat than the rest of the album. Of course, the video is something of a letdown, thanks to be exceedingly cheap and cheesy and rather silly. I suspect that the band are not quite as serious as they pretend to be. Still, noone is immune to a little fun.

Candlemass are an amazing band, and this is an awesome album. Along with the other two Messiah-vocaled Candlemass albums, they are some of the finest doom and gloom albums ever made. Even the nostalgia aspect notwithstanding, it would be a crime against metal to give this album anything less than 10/10.


* Stay tuned for Confessor (music to kill yourself to). But they'll probably have to wait until I've looped through all my Candlemass. Ironically, Confessor helped me in those angst-ridden years too.

Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle Earth (1998)

It came as quite a surprise to me that I only own one Blind Guardian CD. Seriously? Why have I not got more by this epic fantasy-esque power metal band?* Maybe it is because, whilst I am a big fan of the genre and the atmosphere of their music, I am not *quite* so fond of Hansi Kursch's voice, which is a little too raw and razor-edged for me.

This album is, you might realise, inspired by the works of JRR Tolkien. Other albums have drawn inspiration from George RR Martin, Michael Moorcock and Robert Jordan. Yes, geeks make the best metal. This band formed in Germany in 1984 as Lucifer's Heritage, later changing part of their line-up and their name, in 1987 to become the band we know today.

Whilst larger based around the guitars and drums of Speed metal, this album also marks the first where they started to incorporate classical instruments and arrangements in their melodies - and to great improvement of power. They also make use of folk tunes and instruments to enhance the fantastical nature of their music.

The track listing for this CD - 22 tracks - looks very impressive, but somewhat less so when you realise that a significant proportion of them are less than a minute in duration and a mainly bits of dialogue between the tracks. This makes the album work better as a coherant whole, instead of my usual habit of dumping it on my computer playlist and setting it to random. Thus I imagine I shall learn a lot from my dissection of this album track-by-track.

This CD is based on the Silmarillion. Which I haven't read. So, I am afraid that this track dissection may not be quite as informative as you might like. Also, with 11 of the tracks being short excerpts (taken from the actual book), I shall not be devoting a single paragraph to every track.

First, however, let us examine the fine packaging. For, the cover is richly illustrated by Andreas Marschell and decpits a dark lord (Morgoth) sitting atop a throne, surrounded by goblins (or orcs?) whist a ghostly elf (Luthien) dances before him and a smallish wof snarls at her. It certainly captures the dark fantasy vibes well, however. Inside, the lyrics, plus five passages that relate to the general plot of the album.

If you are curious - Wikipedia has the full track/plot dissection:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightfall_in_Middle-Earth#Thematic_references

Appropriately, the album opens with a battle - a "War of Wrath" - and a defeat. This ominous intro leads us into the rather aggressive (and slightly demanding) "Into the Storm"..

"Give it to me, I must have it. Precious treasure. I deserve it."

 The screaming demonic vocals of "Lammoth" bring us into the rather more melodic "Nightfall", in which Hansi's voice is really rather sweet. This changes quickly into a raspy scream, but is worth enjoying while it lasts.

What rather bugs me with the lyric sheet is the insistence on placing a space before the contraction apostrophes - "hope 's..."  My inner editor does not like it.

Some of the lyrics are kind of funny:

"Like sorrowful seaguls [sic] they sang..."

The chorus is easily the best bit of this song.

The little folk ditty, "The Minstrel" is like (very brief) music to my ears, until we are hit by the fury that is "The Curse of Feanor", with its angry vocals and aggressive pounding rhythms, rolling into the frenzied, frantic verses and into the (somewhat) melodic chorus.

Then, someone is "Captured" and tortured by the Darklord (I presume, he certainly has an evil laugh). Being welcomed into the realm of darkness and despair, "Blood Tears" will be cried as "we are both condemned to live". And I find another typo on hte lyric sheet. Tsk tsk!

"Mirror Mirror" has a slightly celebratorious feel - as a hidden city is constructed, to protect those within from the destruction outside the island sanctuary. It is a very powerful, defiant track.

A more melancholic excerpt - in which it is time to "Face the Truth" before heading into the dark and desperate track that is "Noldor (Dead Winter Reigns)". There are some nice, melodic passages in this song but it is all flavoured with a hopelessness and death.

"Noldor, blood is on your hands. Tears unnumbered. You will shet [sic?] and dwell in pain"

 Another lovely little ditty, "The Battle of Sudden Flame" brings a little light and majesty into the album before being defeated by the almighty "Time Stands Still (at the iron hill)". I am always amused by how the Germans (and also the Swedes) pronounce the "R" ir "iron". This is a song about a battle - and this is relfected in the furious melodies, battling against the layered vocals with changing tempos and soaring choruses.

"The Dark Elf" is a menacing, but haunting, little narrative, as the seed of evil is grown. This leads into the rather beautiful "Thorn", which is actually a song of betrayal. There are some lovely folk-inspired melodies in here, evoking visions of a soldier forcing his way through a writhing, wild thicket.

Slower piano notes bring us into the haunted "The Eldar". Here Hansi's golden-throated vocals are back in force. They give a voice to an ancient Elf king, giving his final farewell to his subjects. As he becomes closer to death, he becomes more frenzied, and his subjects lend their chorus to his final cries, calming him enough to complete his song of doom.
So far it is my favourite song on this album.

"Nom the Wise" is mourned in a short passage probably taken directly from the book.

"When Sorrow Sang" would be more appropriately named "when sorrow screamed" for it is a song of fury and rage, anger at the loss of a loved one to the fangs of evil.
Rather ironical when he is screaming lyrics like:

"When sorrow sang softly and sweet"

A beautiful and classical piece, with a choir of singing voices takes the lost "Out on the Water", their last sanctuary. It delivers us into "The Steadfast", in which the evil villain (Morgoth) delivers a rather menancing threat to a half-mad captive, before celebrating his apparent victory in "A Dark Passage". It is a song of triumph and a small dose of gloating.

"And thus ends the Fifth battle, by the treachery of man, the field is lost..."

This is a powerful album, as intense and multi-layered as the books that inspired it. The melodies and rhythms, the changing tempos and general epic feel have created a truly majestic album. Alas, whilst I can appreciate the sheer intensity and power, I do find that Hansi's voice grates on me after a while. Although I do really love his ballads.

For sheer impressive scale and dramatic effect, I am going to rate this an 8/10.

* Actually, that's kinda a lie - I only own one CD, but I do have some on cassette tape. I even have the capability to play them now. Maybe when I'm done reviewing my CDs, I'll shift onto my cassette collection.

Alpine Fault - Iraena's Ashes (2011)

This is my newest CD*. So new, in fact, that I received it three days ago and only listened to it today for the first time - I was saving it until I worked my way through the alphabet for the first time.

You've probably not heard of Alpine Fault - unless you have a facebook page and similar interests to me, and clicked on the promotion link when it appeared in your adds feed. That's what I did - and I would like to report - that sometimes those adds are very useful!

Alpine Fault were formed in New Zealand, like the right-lateral, strike-slip fault that runs the length of both our islands. They now make their home in Brisbane. With any luck, they might be performing when I head that way later this year (*fingers crossed, pretty please*). They combine classical music and metal, with operatic female vocals, melodic male vocals, and the occasional snarl or scream. For a band that have only been around for seven years, their sound is very polished, very complex and very, very good. They have recently replaced their vocalist, so it shall be interesting to see how she differs from the singer on this album, Nadia Vanek.

"Iraena's Ashes" is something of a concept album, based on an incident that happened in Auckland, in 2004. A young schoolteacher/model named Iraena Asher called the police expressing fears for her safety. Instead of sending a police car, a taxi was sent instead. To the wrong address. Iraena was then found wandering by a couple, who took her into their home for several hours. At sometime after midnight, she left and was last seen, semi clad, walking towards the beach. When approached by others, she ran away. She was never seen again. It is suspected she drowned, although her body was not found. She suffered from bipolar disorder. This album is a tribute to her and follows the themes of loss and separation, love and death. It is a beautiful, moody album.

The cover is hauntingly melancholic in shades of blue and grey - a woman stands alone, looking down and into the ocean. She is off-cetred, to the left, further enhancing the atmosphere of sorrow and loss. It is beautifully rendered, flawlessly professional. The interior holds more of the spectral sea, rocks merging from its treacherous depths. Further through, and the band stand in the whispy fog, their small figures looking lost and alone against the vastness of their environment. Their poses look almost amusingly forced, their expressions alternate between moody and bored.

The opening track, "Into the Night" is infused with heavy guitars, intermingled with violins and with Nadia's sweet voice like a melancholic wail. Male vocalist, Anthony Royle, joins her on the chrous, his voice performing the "Beauty and the Beast" counterpoint. This is the song about walking into the sea, and the tumultuous nature of the music corresponds with the heaving, confused emotions of the lyrics. It fades on a heart-rendering, wailed, note of despair.

"Above the Storm" brings in the violin and gentler guitar, before falling into a steady, haunted rhythm.The tune is tinged with desperation and despair. The violin adds a fragile thread of loneliness.

Strumming and violin again lead us into the mesmorising "I'll See You Soon"

A heavier song, tempered with mourning violins, is "Mourning has Broken (sleep)" here the vocals are exclusively male and the mood flavoured with anger.

"Requiem" is bewitching. With its spectral murmurings of the ocean, over the gentle intro music; forlorn vocals and haunting lyrics.

A largely instrumental piece, "The Watcher Beneath" allows the violinist full scope, creating a mood of misty haze, hanging in sullen clouds over the dark and treacherous depths of the ocean. Beneath lurks the unknown.

Insanity and aggression seems to be the theme of "Severance" with the music becoming a frenzied, untamed beast.

"March of the Tides" is a beautiful violin instrumental. I do not think I have seem a symphonic band in which the violin is as integral as in Alpine Fault. It adds a special, haunting, mesmorizing tone and an element of mournful longing.

"Under a Dying Sky" is as haunting and forlorn as you might expect from the title.

I've only listened to this album maybe two or three times now, and I can already say - with assurance, that I am a big fan of Alpine Fault and that I am very, very keen to see them live. They are performing in Auckland later this year - as part of AetherCon 2012 (although I would not consider them particularly steampunk, but who cares?) but not sure if my budget extends to taking another overnighter up to the humid city for another concert this year. Still, as they now hail from Brisbane and we will be headed that way later this year, maybe I'll luck it. Anyhow, with sounds like this - they're going to go far and should be around for some time yet.

Let's give them a 10/10.

You can buy Iraena's Ashes from here: Alpine Fault's website

* Note for my sole reader: My second-newest I shall be reviewing when I reach "D"

Xandria - Ravenheart (2004)

Xandria fall into the category of folk-metal-with-female-vocals and as such are an amazing act. Nowadays, they sound a little more Nightwish, but at this stage in their career, they bore more in common with Within Temptation (of the same era, not their more modern stuff) and Leaves' Eyes.

This is one of those "enhanced CDs" which means when you insert it you can choose it to begin a program. This was all well and good, except once I had it on, I could not turn it off without going into my Program Manager and forcibly closing it down. Bit irritating. It did give me the opportunity to watch the video for Ravenheart however. It's a rather moody clip - with some colours exaggerated and saturdated to enhance the otherworld quality. Gosh, she really is a redhead! But I feel bad for the ravens - why are they branded messengers of evil? There are "little red riding hood" vibes in this too. Looks like it was done on a relatively low budget.

The packaging likewise seems a little cheap and self indulgent - the vocalist is rather pretty, but I'm not sure if her startlingly green eyes and the red feathers brushing her equally red hair were what drew me to this CD, although I suspect it did help - since I was going through a power metal/folk with female vocals phase (and I still am). I may also have had them recommended to me. She has gorgeous eyelashes too.

Inside, the lyric booklet uses dark reds and ochre yellows to create a somewhat melancholic mood.

The CD opens with the crashing symphony of "Ravenheart", which fades gently into hushed folk-inspired vocals. Lisa Schapaus has a sweet tinged, but powerful voice.Crashing chords increase the energy and it is almost as though she is flinging flocks of black birds into the sky, with them swirling and flapping through the storm-filled clouds above.

Haunting vibes and rhythms usher us into "The Lioness", until the symphonic sound crashes down, smothering them with their intensity, then fades again as the vocals take hold. Fragile vocals, ephemeral. Such a sweet voice, but predatory words:

"... feel her coming near, she smells the blood, her prey is near..."

Lisa is something of a lioness herself, her voice is like a gentle touch, a sweet caress, but one cannot help but feel there is power and danger behind it.

"Back to the River" starts with some awesome and haunting sitar, before moving into a more modern sound. It is a gentler song, lacking the symphonic power of its predecessors on this album, and for some reason is intermingled with sampled speech.

With flute and piano, "Eversleeping" matches its name with its haunting serenity.

"Fire of Universe" has a rather more modern vibes going on - more technical sounding.

"Some Like It Cold" is another dreamier number, the vocals dominating the song and evoking feelings of blue-tinged sadness and soliture.

"Answer" is another perfectly pleasant blend of female vocals and light background music, with the occasional hint of more modern sound.

The haunting, ghostly sounds that begin "My Scarlet Name" bring with them a touch of the winter chill, and the guitar speaks of loneliness and solitude.

"Snow White" begins with some vaguely familiar chords and a bit more promise. It does follow a similar structure to the rest of this album - bold start, music fading to highlight the vocals, then coming in with them again in a more subdued manner.

"Black Flame" brings with it a bit more energy, but is pretty light by metal standards.

More atmosphere and mood reigns in "Too Close to Breathe". Here the gentle, soft, sweet vocals intermingle with the occasional pounding bass, before the music is once again tamed.

The final track "Keep my Secret Well" is similarly polished and clean, with a somewhat modern edge to it and some fairly banal lyrics:

"...Keep my secret well like my eyes keep their tears...

Some sweet whispered moments and a fairly gentle, mild-natured song with some nicely soothing piano to conclude both the track and the album.

Whilst a perfectly pleasant album, with powerful, symphonic vocals and the occasional soaring guitar, there seems to be something lacking in Xandria. Almost as though they have tried so hard to be polished and pure that it has somehow sanitised the raw energy. The album starts strong, but fades into mediocrity, peeking out its head again with only a couple more stand-out tracks. These later songs - whilst pleasing to listen to, do not show any real creativity or distinction over what has come before. I think too much emphasis has been put on the vocals, and the music is somewhat subdued and tamed beside it. The two need to act in concert to create more energy and atmosphere.

Because I do really like the first two songs plus "Eversleeping" and "My Scarlet Name", I'm umming and hahhing with how to rate this album, trying to decide between a better-than-average but unremarkable six and a quite-good-but-not-excellent seven.

Rating = 6.5/10

The Waterboys - Dream Harder (1993)

The Waterboys have been around for some time, gracing the world with their fusion of rock and folk, catchy tunes and fresh somewhat upbeat feel. They formed in 1983, dissolved in 1993 (obviously after this album) and then reformed again in 2000. I believe they were in fact performing in Australia yesterday too. Apparently over 50 people have passed through the band, spending time as a "waterboy" - some short term, others longer.

Now, for this album - which is something of a rockier number from them. I pounced on it in a sale bin in Real Groovy on one of my Wellington expeditions, knowing exactly one song from it - "The Return of Pan". The cover is appeallingly whimsical - depicting a man with guitar, a rather stylised tree, with hills and a rising sun behind him. I would say, acrylic paints have been used. Despite the childlife simplicity of the artistic style, the clouds look delightfully fluffy and it suits the music which seems to have a similarly whimsical innocence to it. Inside - no lyrics, but instead we have a story. Entitled "The Dream" it is short and not particularly well written (says my inner editor). Not sure how it relates to the actual CD, but it is definitely different!

The track opens with the sparkling, rockin' "The New Life". Solid rock bassline, strong vocals; and a uplifting message:

"The world is a miracle, and so are you!"

"Glastonbury Song" seems to be about finding god in the beauty of the English countryside. Again, uplifting rhythms, catching chorus and very catchy. This is a sunshine song, with rolling green hills, streams trickling merrily through grassy plains and around ancient runes. It contains a fresh vibrancy that cannot help but make you feel glad to be alive.

Now for a song about how love makes you feel like "Preparing to Fly". Bright, fresh, vibrant and polished. The music swoops and soars with the vocals, and one cannot help but feel brimming with hope about the future.

The first song I had heard from this album - "The Return of Pan" begins with... panpipes, of course. I remember videoing this from music TV back in the early 90s and thinking "that's a lot of goats". Pan is a pagan god, occasionally confused with the devil because he's cloven hoofed. But Pan is a nature God.  Or rather, was, for he was "killed" with the rise of Christianity. The panpipes weave along with the rock tune, making this the first actual folkish track on this CD. It's a powerful and haunting song, with a little bit of Pan's wildness in it.

We get a little bit country in "Corn Circles". It is a gentler number, the vocals being accompanied only by acoustic guitars.

And I think possibly a bit bluesy in "Suffer". This is the first actual negative song on the album, and it's more a pushing-you-away-because-I'm-sick-of-you-traipsing-all-over-me song than a you've-hurt-me-and-made-me-suffer.

"I'm gonna suffer for you no longer, I'm gonna suffer for you no more..."

So, really, it's more of a self-empowerment song than an angsty number.

Back into the folksy ballads now, with "Winter Winter" bringing with it a touch of the early chill wind, sending shivers down your spine. It is over in a heartbeat and after winter we are into "Love and Death". The blend is so flawless that I failed to notice it straight away. "Love and Death" is a melancholic number, beautiful and haunting, thanks to the additional of a cello's mournful voice..

Bringing a bit more of a spring into the step, with "Spiritual City". Reptitive choruses, nonsensical but fun lyrics and a darned catchy song overall and pleasantly upbeat. And it stars Billy Connolly, as well.

"Hey ho, skedoodle-a-lo..."

 "Wonders of Lewis" is a strange little number. Who's Lewis? Perhaps something to do with drugs? The music is haunting (celo again?), the vocals spiritual and dream-like. Kinda a little bit hazy too.

And one of the most memorable pieces from the album - "The Return of Jimi Hendrix" which is an entertaining rock number with some goodly guitar, perhaps reminiscient of the great man himself.

And what better way to end a CD then with "Good News". Something of a slower, mellower number. It sounds almost melancholic, but flavoured with the bittersweet taste of hope and faith. Rather lovely.

A nicely eclectic CD, with a goodly blend of the rockin' and the mellow. Perhaps a little less folk than some of their fans might like, but definitely worth a listen.

Rating = 8/10.