Dark Sarah – Behind the Black Veil (2015)

From the creative mind of Heidi Parviainen (ex-Amberian Dawn), today we have a very diverse and refreshing Symphonic/Gothic Metal album titled “Behind the Black Veil”. With more of a cinematic/theatrical approach than your traditional Symphonic/Gothic Metal band, Dark Sarah delivers a very engaging release filled with guest appearances and expertly crafted melodies.
                                  

Telling the story of Sarah, this release sets the backdrop of the story with the opening tracks “Save Me”, “Poison Aple” and “Hide and Seek”, all of which feature a more passive and theater-like approach to them. The music is quite well crafted and Heidi’s vocals instantly charm the listener into continuing their journeys. Things move into more familiar territories with “Memories Fall”, a song that features a guest appearance from Manuela Kraller. While more of your typical song for the genre, it nicely keeps the album and story progression going with a more bombastic and explosive piece.

The high levels of intensity continue with the excellent “Evil Roots” which features Inga Scharf (Van Canto) as a guest. The band’s ability to not rely only on guest cameos and similar gimmicks is clearly evident as the next onslaught of tracks, “Violent Roses” and “Fortress”, which are both haunting and magical, do not need any extra personnel. One of our favorite tracks in this release is the mellow “Light in You”, a song that is enhanced by Tony Kakko’s characteristic vocals.

As the album comes to a close, we have a very interesting piece titled “A Grim Christmas Story”, which is cool and fun, but probably not the best fit for this release as a whole. In general, Dark Sarah does a great job in standing out from the legions of bands playing Symphonic/Gothic Metal these days. With their solid music writing skills and Hedi’s vocals, they will surely get noticed by the scene, but it is their usage of more theatrical/cinematic piece that makes them standout. If you are looking for something in between Therion and Epica, this is the release for you.

Label: Inner Wound Recordings

Release: May 2015

Genre: Symphonic/Gothic Metal

Country: Finland