Selene
The Ravages of Time

Time ravages Northern Ireland’s Selene who is releasing their second album aptly titled The Ravages of Time. Their debut album called The Forgotten is not forgotten by me as I liked that album, a really good album albeit a bit unoriginal and the thing is that they still have that same problem with originality when it comes to this new album, perhaps time has ravaged them a little bit. I think that it is fair to say that I was hoping for something more, something with a bit more individual flair, something more exciting and something that I feel would do this very talented band more justice.

If you have heard the band’s previous works you will know how this album sounds, it is more of the same I would think. Otherwise you could think female fronted melodic metal with symphonic undertones and you will know how it sounds. Not a very original or imaginative album but the vocals are great, the production is also excellent and I really like the way this album sounds. It has some finesse, but so do most of the bands in this genre. They walk down paths travelled by many bands and there isn’t very much about what they do on this album that stands out compared with the majority of members of this genre. And the album is a bit on the long side with around 54 minutes playing time and not that much variation.

I think they could have skipped the ten-minute ending track; the album would probably have been better for it. It starts with the excellent New Era but then follows good but ultimately pretty unoriginal tracks, that makes this album feel a bit less interesting than I was hoping for. I think that the band remains in the same frame as with the first album and doesn’t really offer any surprises, the lack of originality comes through a bit stronger this time compared with what we heard on the debut album a few years ago. I hade hoped for a bit more evolution from then until now, that they would have tried to go down some more original paths.

Fans of the genre and fans of Selene’s earlier work will certainly like this album, it is very good and I like it. But as a critic it is hard to overlook the fact that they offer nothing really new, nothing we haven’t heard many times before. Many bands to this as good as Selene and while their first album was a bit more exciting and promised more for the future, this is more of the same and that is a little bit disappointing. The first track is great and that is what I take with me from this otherwise fairly ordinary album - I had hoped for more but it is good enough to listen to for a while.

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