Selene
The Forgotten

So, I got an email from a John Connor, first I was thinking that it was the John Connor who wanted me to help him against the Terminators but then I figured that it wasn’t that probable and as I read the message I noticed that it had nothing to do with murdering robots from the future. It was about a band called Selene, a quartet from Northern Ireland in the UK. They are releasing their debut album called The Forgotten and it features a very nice cover artwork that makes the album look quite exciting. This album is however not the first releases they have put out to the world, before this one they have released two EPs that have been met with critical acclaim and in the information that they send along with the album they claim that this will be appealing to fans of Nightwish and Sonata Arctica, two bands that I like meaning that I should like this album as well.

Musically it is more in the direction of Nightwish than in the direction of Sonata Arctica, it is very melodic and with operatic vocals and some symphonic undertones. Quite powerful and large soundscape, really well produced and they have a very good vocalist. I think it will be fair to claim that this is a quality production. But one can also claim that it is not really any different from much else in the similar range, female fronted operatic metal is getting to be a quite populated genre nowadays and you need to do something different or better to stand out. They do offer eleven compositions on this album, they are varied within the theme and it will take you a little over fifty minutes to get through these tracks – I don’t think a fan of before mentioned bands will grow tired with the album in that time.

I like this album, but I might be a little biased since I like this kind of music and objectively it does not really stand out that much. Better than most stuff by Nightwish but there are bands that I think are a bit stronger than these guys and beating Nightwish isn’t really that difficult as only Imaginaerum is realising that band’s potential and that album is better than The Forgotten. I think that this band does what they do very well however, and they can be ranked above average of the genre and they do offer some brilliant stuff as well. Thing is though, I am not dismissing this album as it is really good, that the risk of them never really getting noticed in a wider circuit of audiences is a really big one and though this album certainly does not deserve to be forgotten I believe that the title might be very adequate to what may happen to the band and their debut album. Of course being noticed and working hard on promotion might change that but the band’s music is not really that ear-catching stuff that makes you stop in your stride and take notice and had I not been writing a lot o gibberish in this review I wouldn’t really have that much to say about the album other than that I think it is a really good album.

The best track is the third one called Never-Ending Silence and I also enjoy the opener Dorian quite a bit. All the tracks are good though and the ones mentioned are just the ones that stand out a little – question is however, how much does this album stand out in the grand scheme of things? I don’t know but I do like it and I think you should have a look at it as well, you might find that you think the same as I do.

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