"Legend Land" by Leaves' Eyes from Legend Land MCD

Hey, this reminds me of Within Temptation's "Ice Queen" in a lower key!

Or so I think before the growl-scream bit starts. Ulgh. At least it's limited.

With the "dark" minor key sound from gothic metal and vocals of symphonic metal, Leaves' Eyes also adds folk metal to the combo. Liv Kristine reminds a listener of Sharon Den Adel with a more normal vocal range. Liv and her husband, Alexander Krull, started Leaves' Eyes in 2003. She sings; he ocassionally growls, like in "Legend Land."

The song "Legend Land" draws on Norse mythology. The song references "Aasgard", the home of the gods in Norse mythology. That reference to pagan gods alone will cause some Christians to flee. (Though most of those Christians will read The Odyssey, so I'm as-yet undecided as to whether that reference in this song should be avoided.)

"Legend Land" mostly describes the legend land, with some references to an unnamed other. If you really want to think dirty thoughts, "somewhere inside of me a piece of you left" could be read into a bit too much. In context, though, it's speaking symbolically like the rest of the song.

The song melds well, though I would've liked to be able to hear the vocals a tad better. Overall, it's a song that's a noteably nice listen if you don't mind the bit of growling.

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Lyrics: 3/5
Music: 3/5
Vocal(s): 4/5
Overall: 7/10

"Our Truth" by Lacuna Coil from Underworld: Evolution Soundtrack

Middle Easternish—no, goth rock—no…

Yeah, "Our Truth" is one of those style-mixing songs. But such genre-mixing suits the Underworld movies, which get a lot of bad rep from not being what they're not: run-of-the-mill movies with a straightforward genre. Now, this is a song review and not a movie one, so if you want my input on the movies, check out the post script.

With lyrics that are oddly understandable for me, considering my difficulty in comprehending Lacuna Coil, time's passing by and the song narrator is "trying to forget" what's happened, "stop the cycle, set free, run away". (I think.) No crude language appears in this song (nor any of Lacuna Coil's songs that I've heard).

However, with Italian Lacuna Coil's emphasis on "Lying to forget—telling more lies—we're raising our truth", it's humanistic with man defining truth. Christians might want to exercise caution and consider what they're singing. We are to trust in God's strength and Truth, not our own.

The music is… hard for me to describe, since I'm not the best at identifying instruments by ear, particularly with the resonating "wet" sound. It's mostly drum and electric guitar, but it's extraordinarily well melded. Even with the oddness of some of the combinations, how od they are may not hit you until later—rather like Nightwish's "Eva". Since this song also appears on Lacuna Coil's recent album Karmacode, it makes me want to check out more songs from that album.

Male singer Andrea Ferro's part in this song is limited; Cristina Scabbia sings this song, including the rather interesting opening and ending portion without words. (I'd call them "haunting", but that's the wrong word. It just… fits.) I have heard the complaint, before, that her voice is annoying; not that I agree. But it did take me some getting used to so I could vaguely follow what was being said, unaided by the non-intuitive lyrics.

I know I'm missing a major symbolic element of the music video. What I have gotten is that some children have shaken one of those little decorative snowing things and are presumably watching the band sing the song inside. What I don't get is what's up with the other, oddly-dressed and painted woman.

If you like metal and a "wet" sound to music, you might want to check this out.

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***P.S. I would not advise seeing Underworld: Evolution, but that's because of nudity, sexual content, and horrible plotting. Oh, and even the first—rated—one has enough language and violence that it that younger children should avoid it, but it's seriously cleaner than, say, Titanic if you find the mostly inaudible 5 f-words that pop in Underworld less offensive than Titanic's… painting. As I do.

The first (rated) Underworld is a action/adventure movie with a dual Romeo and Juliet theme and somewhat-redefined vampires and werewolves as the dueling families that, if you don't mind a little gore, (comparatively) mild language (for the R rating), and a heroine in a catsuit, you might enjoy watching. Particularly if you like complicated storylines that you have to think through.

Now, I'm going to criticize some common complaints about this film: the term lycan is a form of lycanthrope, werewolf in human form, so yeah it's going to be used a lot by the vampires to refer to werewolves in human form. Also, some characters use archaic language—hey, they're 500+. Fancy that. Last time I checked, my great-grandmother used some "out of date" language, too, hm…

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Lyrics: 4/5
Music: 5/5
Vocal(s): 4/5
Overall: 8/10

"Within Me" by Lacuna Coil from Karmacode

Lacuna Coil provided my transition/adjustment to metal pretty singlehandedly. As much as their songs tend to bewilder me, that they're not a hodgepodge is pretty obvious, regardless of how they sound. (Some songs sound like they end when they're really in the middle.) I'm willing to guess that some of the "odd" musical style is a matter of national differences: Lacuna Coil is Italian.

Their gothic metal is slower than much hard rock, and "Within Me" has a "wet" (resonating) sound, heavy on a melodic use of the electric guitar. It's a sound that might take some getting used to to like, though I've heard of people liking the music and not the vocals.

In the vocals, this song trades off between a guy and girl singing, Andrea Ferro and Cristina Scabbia. I happen to like the voices, but you may not. At least they actually seem to know how to sing, unlike many modern bands. They are a bit hard to understand unless you know what's being said, however. That's probably at least partially due to the lyrics' lack of intuitive flow.

Not that the lyrics were chosen randomly—no, they were obviously chosen on purpose to give a flowing impression of something. Maybe more, too, but I'm hopeless with symbolism. I think "Within Me" is speaking of the complexity, time, and sacrifice involved in a forging (and keeping) strong relationship. They admit it's not always easy; no, "some days it's harder. Let's face it: it's all about me". And the lyrics' vague descriptions appear to express the vagueness in trying to isolate the cause of emotions.

Overall, it's a fine clean song that can be a reminder of how selfish we can—and shouldn't—be.

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Lyrics: 5/5
Music: 4/5
Vocal(s): 4/5
Overall: 8/10

"Frozen" by Within Temptation from The Heart of Everything

"Tell me I'm frozen—what can I do?! Can't tell the reasons I did it for you!"

Like some other listeners, I wasn't sure what I thought of this song on the first listen. Other new songs like "Hand of Sorrow" and "The Truth Beneath the Rose" had caught my attention at the get-go.

But upon seeing the music video and reading the lyrics, I came to love "Frozen". (I know, I know; I'm a huge fan of all Within Temptation songs, it seems; I'll disillusion you of that, someday.) The rocky ballad "Frozen" is one of the band's singles for the UK. It's a bit softer than a lot of their "rock" or "metal" songs, but it is rock, perhaps a bit like BarlowGirl's "Never Alone", though the sound's quite different.

In the music video, a mother in the Victorian era bore abuse from her spouse, for she had no route of escape and her child was spared. But when the daughter learns of the father's violence from his common drunkenness, the father turns his abuse on the young girl. The mother, bereft of escape, murders her husband and is arrested. It is now that she's writing a letter to her daughter, and that's what the song is. "You won't forgive me, but I know you'll be alright." The music video is well-spliced, with skilled foreshadowing and scene choices that make it understandable even for the symbolically challenged.

Within Temptation carefully says that they are not by any stretch of the imagination condoning murder. Many who are in abusive situations tend to blame themselves for the abuse, but they need to get help, and Within Temptation strongly encourages them to call an international abuse hotline. In fact, all proceeds from the "Frozen" single will be donated to that help group. Sharon Den Adel and Robert Westerholt wrote the song after the birth of their daughter, Eva Luna, which has made them more aware of such child-related social problems.

Sharon Den Adel's voice uses the somewhat lower register than she used The Silent Force, as is common for The Heart of Everything. Her voice is strained, some complain in an unappealing way, but I disagree. This is obviously a topic that concerns Sharon, and the listener gets a sense of that.

"Frozen" isn't my absolute favorite song on the CD, but it's still a superb song well worth listening to. While I could imagine the song set to different music, the music used is still highly enjoyable (if you're not stuck in "This isn't The Silent Force!" mode).

("Frozen" and its music video are currently on Within Temptation's MySpace page. You have to scroll down for the video, or you can find it in their Videos section.)

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Lyrics: 5/5
Music: 4/5
Vocal(s): 5/5
Overall: 9/10

"Frozen" by Delain from Lucidity

Delain isn't strictly a band. The only permanent members are the ex-Within Temptation member Martjin Westerholt (who had to leave Within Temptation from chronic illness) and Charlotte Wessels (who was an accidental find). Various songs on Lucidity have aid from a "wish list" of artists from other bands. The CD is more of a project than an album, a project for gothic metal with Charlotte's lovely popesque (albeit accented) voice.

Perhaps since Delain was started by a man who was both in Within Temptation for so long and the brother of its founder, the music style is very similar to that other popular Dutch band. Though Delain is slightly different, listeners unfamiliar with the style of music likely won't be able to distinguish Delain's gothic metal from Within Temptation's symphonic metal aspect.

The music is still very good. A music box (which you see in the music video) opens the song's basic line. It all melds beautifully, without anything that makes you grimace from poor mixing. Martjin Westerholt chose skilled artists to work with for his project.

"Frozen" (to be distinguished from the like-named songs by Within Temptation and Voyage) is a ghost story. "Misty windows hide your empty eyes…" (Note that Delain's "Frozen" and "Deep Frozen" are identical except for the chorus, which is very different.) The narrator is haunted by a ghost who wants her to "Answer me" and "Please let me in! The nicely-done music video shows Charlotte trying to track down what haunts her (though the reversed time-lapse pictures I found a bit obvious).

An interesting aspect to the song and music video is that the song narrator evidently doesn't know who is haunting her. She's as confused as anyone else.

Charlotte Wessels haunts the listener with the "Answer me. Until the day you do, I'll be one step behind you!" The vocals make you think of a haunting without necessarily thinking a horror movie was in order (like Evanescence's "Haunted"). Nonetheless, I unfortunately found her accent distracting. Her voice is lovely and prettily suits the gothic metal.

The song "Frozen" and its music video can currently be found on Delain's official MySpace page.

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Lyrics: 5/5
Music: 5/5
Vocal(s): 4/5
Overall: 9/10

"She Is My Sin" by Nightwish from Wishmaster

Yikes!

That's the first thought that comes to mind upon hearing the speedy music to "She Is My Sin" by Nightwish, repeated upon hearing Tarja Turunen's classically trained voice more often suited for an opera.

The symphonic power metal combined with the vocalist takes some getting used to, but it's pretty if you can get past the initial shock of hearing them together. Assuming you don't mind metal music or classical vocals, of course—some people find either the music or Tarja Turunen's voice intolerable. It's a combo you'll either love or hate, and their native Finland has decided to love Wishmaster and their other albums.

People struggle to classify the song's genre, since it's so alternative that hearers have rarely, if ever, heard anything comparable. A first impulse is to classify "She Is My Sin" as power metal with gothic and symphonic elments, not quite like Italy's Lacuna Coil (and select songs by Evanescence). The voice of vocalist Tarja Jurunen lead some to term "operatic metal". Furthermore, other genres of music equally influence Nightwish in its music, though I can't strictly identify what besides recognizing there's more there.

The music is striking and memorable, as are the lyrics. On the lyrical note, though, "She Is My Sin" is somewhat disturbing, which seems to be standard from the Nightwish songs I've heard, not all from Wishmaster. "I am the Fallen," admits the narrator. "God, I must confess: I do envy the sinners"? It makes my stomach turn. After a month of thinking about the song, I'm still not sure about it. The "God" is clearly used as if speaking to Him and not as a blaspheme, however.

At any rate, I'm still listening to the song repeatedly despite that, enjoying the haunting imagery in "A sin for him, desire within, a burning veil for the bride too dear for him," after the admission that "In the meadow of sinful thoughts every flower's a perfect one." I wonder if the poignant imagery of "She Is My Sin" is indicative of the rest of Wishmaster?

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Lyrics: 3/5
Music: 4/5
Vocal(s): 5/5
Overall: 7/10

"Nemo" by Nightwish from Once

Yay for pretty mus—hey, wait…

Did I hear that right? Where's the Replay button? The lovely piano beginning of "Nemo" (Latin for "No One") introduces and accents the heavy metal throughout the song. This single from Once didn't top charts in Finland on day one of its release without cause. Tarja Turunen's classically-trained voice soars with the weirdly pretty heavy metal. (Unfortunately, that piano is the most striking part of the song. The middle is much more ordinary.)

Even disregarding lyrics, this song is probably my favorite by Nightwish. If I could play an instrument, I'd want to learn that piano part of "Nemo." I wouldn't need much more encouragement to buy Once if I had the money, which I sadly don't at the moment. The heavy metal still manages to keep a classic beauty in its heart.

The lyrics of "Nemo" worried me a bit at the beginning, calling the narrator "for forever one of the lost ones," but they ultimately take that premise and have "Nemo" lost in the dark "forevermore". She is fallen, lost and nameless. The way it talks about that is a bit strange, but that seems to be Nightwish. (Or maybe I'm clueless; that's a possibility. I can't understand symbolism.)

I recommend this song to fans of heavy metal or operatic metal; I like the song, and I by far usually prefer the latter to the former.

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Lyrics: 4/5
Music: 4/5
Vocalist(s): 5/5
Overall: 8/10

"What Have You Done?" by Within Temptation from The Heart of Everything

"What have you done now", Within Temptation? Will this guest addition of Keith Caputo for a second narrator in "What Have You Done" set a precedent for future songs? Will you use some of your songs to be some of what Evanescence used to be with their songs like "Tourniquet"?

If Within Temptation does decide to continue exploring such more specific dark times in peoples' relationships with both parties speaking, I won't mind. Though distinctly different than songs like "Angels" that were on The Silent Force, it's still noticeably consistent with the band. Within Temptation is growing rather than stagnating, more interested in producing good music (that happens to be gothic rock) rather than catering to fans who flock to a specific tone produced at any one point.

That sounds like Within Temptation songs all sound the same, which isn't true, but "What Have You Done?" leads the way on The Heart of Everything with Sharon Den Adel's vocal shifts and focus on her lower range better for karaoke than the soaring heights she stuck to on The Silent Force. Even listeners who pay attention can mistake Sharon Den Adel's varying voice for two different people in The Heart of Everything.

The two narrators, Sharon Den Adel and Keith Caputo accuse "What Have You Done?". The girl bemoans her lost love as she flees his drunken rages. "Would you mind if I tried to (kill) you 'cause you have turned into my worst enemy?" One point of the lyrics is a awkward in light of the general poetry of the lines ("You carry hate that I don't feel"), making me wish they'd worked on that a bit more. Nonetheless, the band is Dutch, so it's possible it might be a translation issue.

There are two versions of this song, but they are very similar. The only differences I could hear were the intro music and the bridge, but they don't change any of the song's beauty. The "Rock Remix" version merely seems to have those softer elements cut out to make it all metal. If I'm wrong, someone please correct me.

Some Within Temptation fans have complained at this single, suggesting the band has followed Evanescence's The Open Door with a heartbreaking plummet in quality. "What Have You Done?" does use a lot of cymbal in one part of "What Have You Done?", as Evanescence often used in The Open Door, but that's only a minor element of the song. Overall, it's still the multilayered beauty that caught my attention to this band to begin with. This song does use more violin than I've heard from this band before. That doesn't change its genre from the gothic rock, even if this is leaning on the rock end. It's a promising first single to be released in the U.S. this July for the internationally-popular Within Temptation.

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Lyrics: 4/5
Music: 5/5
Vocalist(s): 5/5
Overall: 9/10

"Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence from Fallen

For a song crying out to be woken up and "save me from the dark," Evanescence's "Bring Me to Life" is surprisingly good, like much of Fallen. It's not quite complaining, the narrator begging for release from the internal prison that holds her captive. (That the narrator might be the selfsame person as the singer Amy Lee is a side issue.)

As one of Evanescence's top songs, it was overplayed on the radio from the time it was released till their latest CD The Open Door came out two years after Fallen. Many people have hated "Bring Me to Life" from overexposure.

Now that "Call Me When You're Sober" has replaced "Bring Me to Life" on the radio's overplay list, "Bring Me to Life" is a bit easier to appreciate. It's gothic rock, the music mixing some different speeds and genres. As one of the harder songs on Fallen, many who like even "My Immortal" dislike this song because of its metal.

The narrator's plea for release from her (selfmade?) prison draws the attention, but the song still leaves the question of what now? Had it addressed the question, added action to the plea, it would have been a much stronger song.

Overall, it is a really fun song with good music like most of Fallen, though I don't find the occasional scream particularly appealing as a form of singing. The lyrics also could have probably used some revision.

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Lyrics: 3/5
Music: 5/5
Vocalist(s): 4/5
Overall: 8/10