Ember Sea
Nova

This album was a bit of an enigma to me before getting to read the press info. I Thought it was released by Massacre Records as the album looks like and sounds like something they’d release. The Hannover quintet did however not release their album on Massacre but 7Hard, it is their debut album so I do not know much about it or them. The band was founded in 2009 and their singer is a girl named Eva, that is about all I know of them. I knew immediately when listening to them that they were german, their style feels like a dead giveaway.

So, they are gothic metal that sounds very german and they do go on for about 44 minutes before they end on a high with the lord of the manor dead and such and such. Their title track for this album is the short and fairly silent opener that leads into a song called Coffin Heart, if that doesn’t sound german to you, you are a strange one. Their gothic rock/metal is spiced with some symphonic tendencies and with a touch of german spiced lyrics. There are songs in german as well just to show the influences from a band called Coronatus. It is a well performed and produced album that I doubt will repeat itself to boredom during a playthrough, it has many levels as you will discover while playing playing it over and over again. Decent variation over the 44 minutes the album plays.

The main argument against this album will be the fact that it does not really stand apart from anything, that might also be the reason it is so easy to take in. You think of many bands these guys are very similar to while playing it through and the label compares them with many as well, Nightwish, Him, Rammstein, Evanescence and more are what is being namedropped in the press info. I don’t like such comparisons but you can say that they have similarities with said band a few dozen more bands, three of which I work on a review for right now. Not very unique then? No, but they have a little flair of their own which is always good. I think it is a good album, I have heard better but I have heard many more that are a lot worse.

An enjoyable album where the track called Storm is the best one, opening song Coffin Heart and My Company are two others worth mentioning. Impressive debut album and a well recommended album cementing last year as a brilliant musical year. I do not think you will regret having a close look at this album, it is very good.

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