Viveynne – Becoming Jane Doe (2009)

I must say that since I stumbled with Viveynne’s myspace page, I have been very impressed with the bands vocalist talent, and the even most impressive thing is that she is 14 years old. While I usually don’t go raving about a band’s vocalist unless she is very good, I have found a new female vocalist to rave about for now in the Gothic Metal genre.

Once I received “Becoming Jane Doe” I was very eager to put in on my stereo and take a good listen to this new EP. And from beginning to end I was very pleased with what I was hearing. Viveynne is a Canadian act that is fronted by its young vocalist Mikki, she is also main composer and songwriter for the band. If this is not impressive enough, she wrote all songs for this album when she was 13 years old.

“Becoming Jane Doe” is a very solid first release from this band that will definitely get more attention from the world once they release their first full length album latter this year. This band is heavily influenced by Gothic Metal bands like Evanescence, Within Temptation, etc. And the album is very well composed and will completely satisfy all the fans of the previously mentioned bands. The piano and guitar work in most songs is very good and emotional creating a very mellow album that is very easy to listen and enjoy.

Being 100% critical on this album, I have to say that the music and overall feel is very similar to the ‘slower’ stuff of Evanescence  and it would be nice to listen to the band create a more original sound of their own. Don’t get me wrong and think this album is bad, because in fact is very good, but you can see some lack in originality and that Mikki has to mature more musically (and probably listen to more music) in order to help the band achieve its highest potential, the same goes for the lyrics that sound a bit naïve and will be greatly improved as the singer has more ‘life experiences’.

Overall I’m very impressed by Viveynne’s first EP and can’t wait for their full length album. Mikki is a great vocalist and a good composer and like Wine, it can only get better with age. I haven’t liked a up and coming vocalist this much since I heard Marcela Bovio for the first time in her early days with Hydra, so I can say that Mikki with get very far with plenty of hard work and effort.

Release: May 11, 2009

Country: Canada