Review Coronatus - Terra Incognita 2011

German band Coronatus is back again and once again the crew has changed from the prior album, they are actually up to seventeen past and present members over the four albums they have done so far. Terra Incognita is the name of this album which shows two different singer from Fabula Magna, although Ada Fletcher is actually back in the band after being replaced by Lisa Lasch for Fabula Magna and this time she is actually replacing Carmen as the band’s soprano voice, the rock voice is sung by Mareike Makosch. There are also some changes in the instrumental crew and if you are interested in which you can always look at our prior reviews and articles of this band which is becoming somewhat of a house band for Hallowed as we have interviewed and reviewed them twice prior to this album. What is most fascinating with that is that the guys we have interviewed are still in the band, well not Fabian who was being interviewed along with Mats in 2009.

As already stated the fourth album by Coronatus is sporting a new crew once again and they might seem to be without a captain piloting the ship much like the one on the cover art, but that has proven not to be the case during the band’s first three albums so why would it be on the fourth? The two year pause between Terra Incognita and Fabula Magna is the longest between albums in the band’s career as well. According to Massacre this album marks another step in their development, which can be seen as quite odd as nothing has really changed, members change all the time in the band and so on and so forth, therefore it looks to me as it is business as usual. Although, you can always state that the thing that is different is that Carmen is not in the band which she has been since 2004 and for all the band’s studio albums so far, which makes for something of a change but nothing states that they have changed anything in musical style so it seems to me like nothing has changed.

I would say that musically nothing has really changed for the band, the gothic style of the band is still there, they still have the same two female vocalists albeit with different names and they still use both english and german vocals. They are also as usual bringing in some symphonic and classical influences in their music, the female vocals are soprano vocals from Ada and more of rock vocals for Mareike so it is about the contrast between the female fronted rock music and the symphonic/operatic metal. The change in vocals is nothing that I really picked up on when listening to the album which also points in direction of a natural progression of Fabula Magna. I think that anyone who knows Coronatus from before will recognise them with this album even if most members have changed. The album has twelve tracks and lasts for just over 54 minutes, the digipak edition has a bonus track and the japanese edition has also another bonus track so with those you will have a longer album. One thing I should mention in regards to the tracks is that the track list is different between what Massacre says in their promo info and how the track files are numbered, the promo tracks I have starts with Terra Incognita while it according to the promo info starts with Saint Slayer and ends with Terra Incognita, other than that the track list is the same between the two.

I think that Coronatus lives up to expectations with this album, it may not surprise anyone but it is a natural progression of the Fabula Magna album. I think that Terra Incognita is better than Fabula Magna mainly due to the quality of the tracks as the production and sound is quite similar and the vocalists are quite similar in quality as well. I think that the main complaint I have with this album is that it doesn’t really show any evolvement of the band, they are still where they were with Porta Obscura which of course was a great album but that doesn’t mean you should repeat it, it feels somewhat unnecessary to make another album so similar to that one. Maybe Coronatus should take longer to work out a new album and really make it into something that really brings out their fullest potential which I don’t think quite show in Terra Incognita. I will again point out though that Terra Incognita is a great album which will be in or close to the top ten albums of 2011.

I think the blend of english and german is one of those things that makes this band so great, you just don’t have the possibility to loose attention as it is grabbed as soon as you notice a new language and as they change throughout the album this feeling of change is ever present on it. I have no particular language preference on this album as the songs I enjoy most are on both languages. I think that the opening title track is a top class track, Saint Slayer is probably the best song on the album and the third track Fernes Land is another track that stands out a little above the album’s other tracks.

I would also say that I really hope the album is laid out as the track list my promo album has as Saint Slayer just is not a good starting song and that would ruin the feel of that track and in the end also the album. But when I am now finished with this album I can just say that Coronatus once again delivers top class music, they may not reinvent themselves but any fan of the band will enjoy this album thoroughly and so will many others. If you enjoy Porta Obscura or Fabula Magna and just wants good music I do believe you can be satisfied with any of those two and not really need this release as it is just more of the same. In the end though it is clear that Coronatus has evolved into a force to reckon with and Terra Incognita is a top class album that I can recommend to anyone.

HHHHHHH

Coronatus Terra Incognita

Coronatus
Terra Incognita