Review Operatika - The Calling 2008

Tracks
1. Intro
2. Gladiator
3. Tears Of The Sun
4. Dark Horizon
5. Ice Queen
6. Life Saving Flame
7. No. 3/23 In A Minor
8. Mask In The Mirror
9. Secrets Of The Past
10. The Storm
11. The Calling
12. Last Quest

Band:
Slava Popova – Vocals
Bill Visser - Guitar
Anna Dok – Keyboards
Michael LePond – Bass
Yuri Liakhovitch - Drums

Discography:
Debut

Links:
operatika.com
myspace
scarlet

Female fronted metal seem to be what is in at this very moment since it within the frames of one week came three records of this very genre to review. As you can imagine or deduce from what I just have written, this record is within this very genre, or sub genre. It is a genre that is growing and a genre that I like, at least for most parts.

So, who is Operatika? Well, what I know is that it is a quintet from New Jersey in the United States of America. They have been a band since 2002 at least it says so in the promo info. During their time they have been exchanging bass player several times but for this, their debut album they found Michael LePond of Symphony X who agreed to play on the record and on some live appearances. It can always be good to have a famous musician to help you with your work and LePond is a known and revered player in this field.

Operatika is as I already have hinted a band that play metal with symphonic undertones and female soprano voice. Musically we can say they end up in the power metal side of this field, somewhere in the neighbourhood of Nightwish of earlier years if you know how that sound. Production is crystal clear and music is of the speedier kind, hard to describe in words much more than this. Music can be difficult to describe in words as you may understand.

Qualitywise there is not much to complain about when we look at this record from a quality perspective. The melodies are very good and the vocal parts are very strong, Slava Popova sings in a very good way, on par with the greats of the genre. Production is also something that works very well, it is clear and enhances the feel from the melodies but still without sounding over produced. Opening track Gladiator is an excellent opener and a very good pointer towards what you can expect from this record when you play it.

There are twelve tracks on this record where one of them is an intro track, I think it would have been better to select something like ten or eleven, remove one or two tracks in order to create that feeling of the wish for more tracks that is now lacking. That feel is a good indication of record quality the balance is right when you leave the record fulfilled but still wish for more, that is something this album does not convey, unfortunately.

In the end though the debut of Operatika is an interesting and powerful record that reaches a high mark but it lacks that end feel of wanting more of the same. But without a doubt, this is a great indication of what we can expect for the future of this band.

HHHHHHH

Written on 11/23/08