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Amberian Dawn: Magic Forest

Symphonic Power Metal

4.0/5.0

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Napalm Records
Words by Craig Hartranft,  18.06.2014

A couple of years ago Finland's Amberian Dawn replaced their vocalist. To introduce Capri to their fans, the band re-recorded several of their most popular songs for Re-Evolution. Now they arrive with their first studio album of new songs with Capri, a classically trained vocalist. Magic Forest is the album we should have had last year.

Amberian Dawn: having a bad hair day.

Yet, to their credit, the band has been hard at work crafting new songs, making Magic Forest an entertaining album of melodic and symphonic power metal. But they still stay within the realms of what is expected in the genre, especially with a female vocalist. Concerning the latter, Capri has a strong voice which, thankfully, does not go off into the ear piercing stratosphere. Excepting a song or two, her vocals are straightforward, singing what she's supposed to sing with an even delivery. The exception is the melodic rolling chorus of Son of Rainbow which, along with the groove and fine guitar solo, basically lifts the song above most ever other one here.

That's not to say that the whole of the album is average, only that it has all the elements of the genre, wrapped in good arrangements, and played well. In other words, it's standard stuff. But, as with Son of Rainbow, AD is always better when the temper songs with groove and simple catchy accessibility, with Dance of Life and Cherish My Memory being best examples. They also do better when they put a bit more complexity into their arrangements, leaning more towards progressive metal. You might here some of this within Agonizing Night or I'm Still Here. AD stumbles slightly with Memorial, where they pair Capri with a male vocalist. Thankfully, it's not some death metal moron. Rather, it's some operatic singer who doesn't compliment Capri one bit and sounds totally out of his element. Otherwise, Magic Forest is a strong return to form for the band, and suggests, with their new singer, more and better things are ahead for the band. Recommended.

Amberian Dawn - Magic Forest (Official Video)

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Amberian Dawn's Magic Forest is a strong return to form for the band, and suggests, with their new singer, more and better things are ahead for the band.

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The Powell Payne project, created in 2022 is the collaboration of Mark "Penfold Powell (ex-drummer of Psycho Kiss) and Adam Payne (former vocalist of Airrace). With guitarist Adam Davies and keyboard player ... [ Read More ]