By Melissa Andrews
I enjoyed the My Destiny EP that came out earlier as a preview of this album. Some of the things that I liked about the EP are displayed further in the album. Unfortunately some of the things that I found to be weak in the EP are still present in the album. Did they really need to include the “Scarborough Fair” cover? The song stinks.
The overall sound gives me an image of Viking Goths parading around in Scandinavia. On most of the songs they manage to sound well balanced between classical and metal without sounding too rock opera cheesy. The additional orchestration and choir parts enhance the songs instead of taking away from them. The stand-alone guitar parts occasionally change a song from sounding good to mediocre.
There are a couple songs on the album are worth mentioning. Froya’s Theme stands out because contained in it is all the things the band does well including the orchestration, the background choirs and treading that fine line between sounding too over the top. Northbound is the catchiest song on the album and has the ability to stick itself in your mind. I’m still not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing.
(Napalm)
7.5
