Gothic Metal

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    Beto Vázquez Infinity – Existence (2011)

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    ”Existence” marks the ’bands’ 4th full-length album, and it is clearly their most impressive and ambitious release to date. With a vast array of guest musicians, this release is one of THE Melodic Metal/Rock albums of the year, even though it was released in 2010 elsewhere, we pick the North American dates for our top 10 lists.

    With this double album, Beto Vázquez has managed to put together a very eclectic mix of musicians and each of the 20 songs combines powerful melodies with outstanding vocals. While the guest musician list is huge, is not as impressive as the ones from bands/projects as Star One, Ayreon and Avantasia. Most of the guests in this album, with the exception of Timo Tolkki, might be considered from the ‘B list’ of Metal, but they are equally talented and are just a bit less known that the ones on the ‘A list’ of Metal. We particularly like this approach since it allows the listener to discover lesser known bands due to the performances of their vocalists.

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    My Inner Burning – Eleven Scars (2011)

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    Jumping into the female-fronted Gothic Metal arena, today we have My Inner Burning and their second full-length “Eleven Scars”. Led by the strong voice of Rebekka Gaber, this band has a golden opportunity to get noticed by being with the label SPV.

    Being nothing revolutionary and just adding another different sounding vocalist to genre, we believe that My Inner Burning might not really make a break in the scene and most people will call them out due to their shortcomings.

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    Amaranthe – Amaranthe (2011)

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    After being constantly bugged by people to checkout this new amazing Gothic Metal band from Sweden called Amaranthe, we finally caved in and got a copy of their 2009 demo. To our surprise this was not totally bad, except from the fact that it was very pop-ish, and nothing really to ‘write home about’.

    Fast forward to 2011 and the band finally releases their debut album “Amaranthe”. The first impression we had about this release is that a strong production can clearly improve things and that after a few years of working out the songs; the band has polished them to be highly effective pseudo-Gothic Metal anthems.  Before you go and close your browser and delete us from your favorites since you imagine we completely sold-out, bear with us and keep reading.

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    Leaves’ Eyes – Meredead (2011)

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    After their over-produced previous release “Njord”, I was hopping to see the band bouncing back with a more natural and real sound. To my surprise, Leaves’ Eyes did exactly this with “Meredead”. In this album we are treated to 12 tracks of beautiful sounding music (and no over production) that will surely remind you of a ‘modernized’ version of “Vinland Saga” (my favorite album of the band).

    Opening with the majestic “Spirit’s Masquerade”, the band will blow you away with lush choir arrangements and powerful guitars. Liv’s voice is as amazing as ever and in this song it’s very nicely surrounded by the choir and string instruments, this song alone made me forget about “Njord” instantly.  The chorus section of “Étaín” makes this song very enjoyable and a very typical Leaves’ Eyes styled song.

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    Midnattsol – The Metamorphosis Melody (2011)

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    Three years after the release of their sophomore album “Nordlys”, Midnattsol returns with their masterful Gothic Metal release “The Metamorphosis Melody”. Providing over 55 minutes of music, the band shows more signs of maturity and the abilitie to create very effective songs.

    Driven by the enchanting vocals of Carmen Elise Espenæs, the album opens with the album title track and you can quickly hear the massive guitar sound (for a Gothic Metal band) being surrounded by magical keyboards. Since the first song we can hear the excellent production behind this release and the raw power that the band tries to transmit with their sound.

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    Before the Dawn – Deathstar Rising (2011)

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    Multi-instrumentalist Tuomas Saukkonen returns with another excellent Before the Dawn release. Fusing Melodic Death Metal and Gothic Metal, Before the Dawn has been gaining popularity over the years and with “Deathstar Rising”, they set the bar even higher.

    Besides Tuomas brilliant songwriting skills, the bass guitar and clean vocal talents of Lars Eikind greatly complement the band’s sound. Not being to ‘weak’ for regular Metal people, and without being extremely harsh, “Deathstar Rising” is a release that fits right in the middle between aggressive and melodic Metal released.

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    Ommatidia – In this Life, or the Next (2011)

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    In the last few years we have noticed a wide variety of French bands with very unique music such as Alcest, Les Discrets, Amesours, etc. Today Ommatidia takes the spotlight with its very unique mixture of Doom and Gothic Metal with atmospheric elements, creating a very fresh blend of sounds.

    Powered by ex-The Old Dead Tree members Nicolas Chevrollier (guitar) and Vincent Danhier, this band is ready to enchant people with their unique and well crafted sound. Paired alongside very creatively crafted music, the excellent vocals of Guillaume Richard bring that staple needed to identify a band even while intoxicated.

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    Imperia – Secret Passion (2011)

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    In the first few months we have received amazing Gothic Metal releases from bands like Sirenia, Dotma, Visions of Atlantis, etc, today is the turn to Imperia and their third full-length release “Secret Passion”. After a 4 year waiting period since “Queen of Light”, the band returns with a very average Gothic Metal release that while not bad at all, it just feels a bit heartless.

    As we all know, Helena Iren Michaelsen (ex Trail of Tears), is a very good vocalist and her angelic voice carries “Secret Passion” from start to end. The music is good and the instrumentation is nice, but it just feels very similar to countless other releases we have heard in the past. There are no songs that made us stop and want to listen to the again immediately after there are over, and we consider this a bad sign.

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    Dotma – Sleep Paralyses (2011)

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    Arriving from the Metal promised land: Finland, today we have Dotma and their very impressive debut full-length album “Sleep Paralyses”. Having had a great month in terms of Gothic Metal releases, we are still completely blown away by the quality behind this monumental release.

    Filled with great musical arrangements and emotive vocals, “Sleep Paralyses” quickly became a fixture in our regular Gothic Metal play list due to its catchiness and beautiful female vocals courtesy of newcomer Johanna Lesonen. The band’s music has some Power Metal tendencies, but the overall sound after all the vocal layering moves towards the Gothic Metal genre.

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    Visions of Atlantis – Delta (2011)

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    As one of our most anticipated releases from Napalm Records in 2011, today we have Visions of Atlantis with their fourth full-length album “Delta”. As an habitual reader of Infernal Masquerade, you should know that we have a weak spot for Symphonic/Gothic Metal releases and “Delta” is hands-down the most impressive one we have listened in the last few months.

    After a few line-up changes drummer Thomas Caser brought back Werner Fiedler on guitars and added Mario Lochert (Emergency Gate) on bass guitar and on vocals we have the sweet voice of Maxi Nil (ex-Elysium) from Greece. This vocalist change is probably what makes this release be even better than their previous ones since her voice contrasts amazingly with Mario Plank’s clean vocals.

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