Voices Of Destiny – From The Ashes (2010)

Have you ever wondered how angles or sirens would sing?, if I had to guess it would be pretty darn close to Maike Holzmann, the female vocalist of Voices Of Destiny. I’m a huge fan of Gothic Metal and I’ve heard countless bands but only a few female singers have enchanted me, and Maike is one of them.

Voices Of Destiny hails from Germany and for such a young band (formed in 2004 and have only released one demo), they kick ass at playing the ‘traditional’ Gothic Metal with the ‘beauty and the beast’ vocal approach. But don’t be fooled, this band is nowhere as formulaic as this statement might sound.

The band has a heavy influence by Nightwish, Epica, and Within Temptation. But they manage to weave all of these influences into their own particular style. They never abuse the ‘beauty and the beast’ style of vocals and mostly they just go (for our aural pleasure) with Maike’s voice. Also another big point is that the band does not sound ridiculously overproduced like many bands of the genre, all keyboard arrangements sound ‘simple’ enough to be played live no problem, without the need of samples.

The vocals do not sound overproduced and only feature a few FX’s here and there, and when paired with the male vocals they sound great (I’m a sucker for this approach). The twelve songs featured in this album showcase a very bombastic band that has great potential, for a band so early in their career they are more than ready for the big leagues.

The riffing structure is very similar to Nightwish and other bands of the genre, they have a catchy riff overlaid with some synth arrangement to make it sound grand and brilliant. However, Voices Of Destiny have crafted their own trademark in all songs and while they sound ‘similar’ they never get dull or repetitive. Also the aggressiveness in the band’s sound never lets go and I appreciate that, since I like my Gothic Metal to have Metal in it!.

For me, the song “Bitter Visions” is one of the best in the album. Being a piano and vocal ballad it showcases Maike’s singing abilities and the band’s ability to create simple and yet enchanting songs. Another of our favorite songs is “Red Winter’s Snow”, the song features a powerful melody and arrangements that sound very similar to Edenbridge with futuristic synth’s, but with very interesting vocal arrangements (around the 2 minute mark).

Overall this album is close to perfection (for me). Featuring a very charming female voice, great arrangements and very catchy music, you can’t ask for more. The band has set the standard very high with their first release, let’s hope they can keep up the good work. This is definitely recommended for fans of Delain, Within Temptation, Epica, etc.

Release: February 26th, 2010

Country: Germany