Black Heaven – “Dystopia” (2011)

Label : Trisol Music Group GmbH

Review by Luisa Mercier

Black Heaven is the side project of mastermind Martin Schindler, which tried to complete the gothic rock played with Mantus through this electronic project. After the release of their last record in 2009, Black Heaven completed their fifth album and in no way they have lost the dark mood of the founder main band. “Das Tor Zu Welt”, the opener, is an up-tempo song full of keyboards and completely sung by Martin while the following “Lächelnd geht die Welt zugrunde” is haunting and the vocals are delivered by Thalia. More slow-paced, it will find its place in the gothic clubs all over Europe.

“Die Zeit Die Bleibt” is more gothic, decadent and romantic with strings and its piano break that seems coming out of a movie soundtrack. Going back to danceable rhytm, “Mensch” is maybe the fastest song on the album and once again the keyboards have a main role. Continue reading »

Avantasia – “The Mystery of Time” (2013)

Label : Nuclear Blast Records

Review by Alessandra Mazzarella

Like it or nope, Tobias Sammet was born to surprise, and he did surprise the audience once again with his Avantasia brand new album “The Mystery of Time”. Thanks to an outstanding combo of brand new special guests – Eric Martin (Mr Big), Ronnie Atkins (Pretty Maids), Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon), Joey Lynn Turner (ex-Rainbow, ex-Yngwie Malmsteen, ex-Deep Purple), Biff Byford (Saxon) – and the ever-present ones – Michael Kiske (ex-Helloween, Place Vendome, Unisonic), Bob Catley (Magnum), Cloudy Yang – plus the participation of the Film Orchestra Babelsberg (which already featured Edguy in the “Hellfire Club” album), Avantasia‘s sound seem to have shapeshifted again without altogether abandoning his origins. In fact, in “The Mystery of Time” you can find the dark atmosphere of “The Wicked Symphony”, the dynamic choirs of “Angel Of Babylon” and the multi-level vocals of “The Metal Opera Pt. 1 & 2”. The absence of Jorn Lande seems to have forced Tobias Sammet to look for some new vocal mixes. Continue reading »

Inga Scharf – Van Canto

Interview by Andy Axworthy

After releasing four successful albums in almost five years, the band Van Canto does not really need an introduction. Their ‘A Capella’ metal has drawn the attention of thousands of fans worldwide over these years. This interview is with Inga Scharf, one of the singers of the band, who talks about the brand-new album “Break the Silence”, her music inspirations and the future plans of the band.

Great, thank you! Continue reading »

Kerstin Bischof – “Project Ava” (2012)

Independent Release

Review by Tony Cannella

From Germany, Kerstin Bischof first came on to the Femme Metal radar due to her brief time in the German symphonic metal band Xandria. She never did record with them, but the handful of live performances with that band garnered rave reviews. Now she has finally released her highly anticipated debut solo album, “Project Ava” and now the rest of us can see what all of the fuss was about.

“Project Ava” is a collaborative effort with Kerstin and her multi-instrumentalist husband Guido Wehmeyer. The first thing is that Kerstin has one heck of a singing voice. She has got a tremendous range that allows her to sing in different styles and convey various emotions. After the opening piano intro “Midnight Earth #1” we are treated to the excellent “Crimson”. This song is a straight-forward guitar heavy opener and is built around a pretty solid guitar riff and changing tempos. Continue reading »

Envinya – “Inner Silence” (2013)

Label : Massacre Records

Review by Tony Cannella

The Munich, Germany based melodic metal outfit Envinya formed in 2006. After releasing a demo in 2007 they released their debut EP “Beyond the Dark” in 2010. Envinya now returns with their full-length debut via Massacre records entitled, “Inner Silence”.

Lead vocalist Natalie Perreira dos Santos has got a pretty diverse voice – that’s the first thing that struck me. She sings in mostly a clean style but she also adds the odd bit of growly vocals too, which are quite impressive, especially when you consider that she is capable of such different styles. The band adds touches of symphonic, power and prog metal sprinkled throughout the album but is always maintain a great melodic base on the 10-songs offered here. The opener “Faceless” comes out of the gate like a shot of adrenalin. A fast up-tempo riff works hand-in-hand with some solid vocals and it is a great opener. The next track “Forlorn” has a heavy, rumbling riff and the first appearance of the growly vocal style is heard. This is another good one. Continue reading »