Evenoire
Herons
Scarlet Records
2014
“Herons” is the sophomore effort of Italian band Evenoire, following their successful debut with “Vitriol”. Evenoire are a rather interesting little band that slightly strays from the beaten path of the typical female fronted bands by introducing some rather atypical elements. First of all Lisy Stefanoni their extremely gifted and quite presentable vocalist, which must be one of the best that I have heard in a while, is providing the songs with embellishments of flute, adding a folk/medieval touch, quite often, that contrasts greatly with the rather predictable, but quite nicely performed and interesting in terms of composition, power/symphonic metal that the band comes up with. The band is also quite good, with interesting ideas, good riffs etc. and solid performances and if there’s something I might slightly complain about a bit that would be the sound of the drums that’s a little “too high” in the mix for my taste.
Stefanoni, offers a variety of vocal performances ranging from typical passionate FF power metal that’s reminiscent of early Nightwish, with the occasional foray into the semi operatic style (the metal faux operatic stuff) and she’s pretty good at it. There are also times things get more tempestuous and that’s quite interesting cause she really goes for it and that shows some grit and passion that a lot of singers are missing and obviously she’s able to do it without, messing it up or sounding bad. Finally there are also moments were there's a more ballad-ic style where the folk influences come forth and the singing becomes sweeter, becoming more reminiscent of those folk ballads that Nightwish did, only better, I guess.
“Herons” (which is some sort of bird actually) itself is a short intro, with a beautiful melody and very few lyrics towards the end that seamlessly leads into the climaxing intro of “Drops of Amber”... the first proper song which is incredibly dramatic and very beautiful, with the flute actually piping the melody of “Herons” and some excellent heavy guitars coming up with some incredible riffs. It’s a two pronged opener that’s leaving very little to be desired! Most excellent!
For “Season of Decay” the band drops the speed and the tuning and goes for some more symphonic style, with mock orchestral strings and a more daring style as, Stefanoni, takes it upon it, to impress with a very extreme performance, where she almost oversings the operatic parts while singing normally creating a very “Medea” kind of effect. It’s really a “captivating” performance and an interesting idea to combine the vocals in that way, making a possibly ok song, really interesting.
“Love Enslaves” is a mid-tempo song, with quite a few modern elements and changes in mood, that initially seems to drag on a bit, which would have been a shame, but as soon as the chorus arrives it really becomes interesting as miss S, really goes for it! (Miss S, gosh, that really reminded me of the Stratovarius Miss K, debacle, was there ever a demo with that lady haha! Sorry had to say that!) Rare for Evenoire, there’s also a rather extended lead in here with subsequent frilly fills midway the song, nothing extremely fancy but it's nice and it fits well!
“The Newborn Spring” begins, with renewed vigor, as if the band was waiting for it, half the album – it’s funny how there’s a “lyric” – “I’ve waited, for so long…” (seriously?) mysteriously, here the band experiments with more guitaristic forms, and slightly and as soon as the initial “shock” from the change of tempo from a slower song changes, the song itself proves to be a groovy little thing of beauty. (with some flute thrown in for good measure and some guitars to antagonize it, just to rock things up too! Not bad at all!
The first minute of the rather folk inspired “When the Sun Sets” is rather placid… with soft melodies and the occasional splash of flute… here and there, there are short burst of more aggressive parts but they don’t last too long, the band also goes for a more “eastern” flavor as this is probably for some tale about “Jerusalem” from what I gathered, so I guess the style is not only excused but also highly sought to achieve here and rather well done.
In “Tears of Medusa” we get another cold as steel, dramatic, powerful performance that’s more geared towards symphonic/power metal, but it’s very controlled and refined in its execution, not mindless double bass drum... it’s just a little “overambitious” – with a couple of performances, being a little borderline… but, probably fine, but for them to have even attempted it… wow. I wonder how good these guys will be as a collective unit if they keep progressing and they get even better “backing”. Apparently there's also Linnéa Vikström sharing vocal duties here, who is none other than the daughter of “the” Thomas Vikström, we all know and love... I guess she must be doing all those crazy operatic, stuff, apparently? (But I might be wrong)…
“Devil’s Signs” is a little slower and goes more for the some dynamics in the background upon which the vocal melody plays. Here the singing is more ethereal, overall, but also changes and if I am not mistaken, there’s even for the “sole” time in the album a male brutal grunt?! Lol! Interesting! Poor Devil!
“The Lady of the Game” is a more rocking, with some nice more relaxed melodies and an overall more joyous atmosphere and some really celebratory guitars towards the end.
But it’s not until the very end that one of the best kept secrets of the album waits to be revealed… in “Wild Females” Evenoire pulls all stops with a compact yet excellent tune that’s extremely catchy, rocking, folky and sounds like some medieval fair song, metallized and given a flute and a couple of cups of wine! Well – I can see Blackmore, wanting to “rip this off” or at least cover it soon :D… it’s called re-arranging... lol, hell if “Game of Thrones” had a band, this could as well be it! It would kick ass! Really well done!
Did I mention, I really, liked this band album? No, well, I think It won’t be necessary, I’m off to investigate the debut too. And I suggest you do the same, too. I’m sure, they’ve got a future and it’s quite bright. Not your average (or just another), gothic/corset/female fronted metal band!
Stefanoni, offers a variety of vocal performances ranging from typical passionate FF power metal that’s reminiscent of early Nightwish, with the occasional foray into the semi operatic style (the metal faux operatic stuff) and she’s pretty good at it. There are also times things get more tempestuous and that’s quite interesting cause she really goes for it and that shows some grit and passion that a lot of singers are missing and obviously she’s able to do it without, messing it up or sounding bad. Finally there are also moments were there's a more ballad-ic style where the folk influences come forth and the singing becomes sweeter, becoming more reminiscent of those folk ballads that Nightwish did, only better, I guess.
“Herons” (which is some sort of bird actually) itself is a short intro, with a beautiful melody and very few lyrics towards the end that seamlessly leads into the climaxing intro of “Drops of Amber”... the first proper song which is incredibly dramatic and very beautiful, with the flute actually piping the melody of “Herons” and some excellent heavy guitars coming up with some incredible riffs. It’s a two pronged opener that’s leaving very little to be desired! Most excellent!
For “Season of Decay” the band drops the speed and the tuning and goes for some more symphonic style, with mock orchestral strings and a more daring style as, Stefanoni, takes it upon it, to impress with a very extreme performance, where she almost oversings the operatic parts while singing normally creating a very “Medea” kind of effect. It’s really a “captivating” performance and an interesting idea to combine the vocals in that way, making a possibly ok song, really interesting.
“Love Enslaves” is a mid-tempo song, with quite a few modern elements and changes in mood, that initially seems to drag on a bit, which would have been a shame, but as soon as the chorus arrives it really becomes interesting as miss S, really goes for it! (Miss S, gosh, that really reminded me of the Stratovarius Miss K, debacle, was there ever a demo with that lady haha! Sorry had to say that!) Rare for Evenoire, there’s also a rather extended lead in here with subsequent frilly fills midway the song, nothing extremely fancy but it's nice and it fits well!
“The Newborn Spring” begins, with renewed vigor, as if the band was waiting for it, half the album – it’s funny how there’s a “lyric” – “I’ve waited, for so long…” (seriously?) mysteriously, here the band experiments with more guitaristic forms, and slightly and as soon as the initial “shock” from the change of tempo from a slower song changes, the song itself proves to be a groovy little thing of beauty. (with some flute thrown in for good measure and some guitars to antagonize it, just to rock things up too! Not bad at all!
The first minute of the rather folk inspired “When the Sun Sets” is rather placid… with soft melodies and the occasional splash of flute… here and there, there are short burst of more aggressive parts but they don’t last too long, the band also goes for a more “eastern” flavor as this is probably for some tale about “Jerusalem” from what I gathered, so I guess the style is not only excused but also highly sought to achieve here and rather well done.
In “Tears of Medusa” we get another cold as steel, dramatic, powerful performance that’s more geared towards symphonic/power metal, but it’s very controlled and refined in its execution, not mindless double bass drum... it’s just a little “overambitious” – with a couple of performances, being a little borderline… but, probably fine, but for them to have even attempted it… wow. I wonder how good these guys will be as a collective unit if they keep progressing and they get even better “backing”. Apparently there's also Linnéa Vikström sharing vocal duties here, who is none other than the daughter of “the” Thomas Vikström, we all know and love... I guess she must be doing all those crazy operatic, stuff, apparently? (But I might be wrong)…
“Devil’s Signs” is a little slower and goes more for the some dynamics in the background upon which the vocal melody plays. Here the singing is more ethereal, overall, but also changes and if I am not mistaken, there’s even for the “sole” time in the album a male brutal grunt?! Lol! Interesting! Poor Devil!
“The Lady of the Game” is a more rocking, with some nice more relaxed melodies and an overall more joyous atmosphere and some really celebratory guitars towards the end.
But it’s not until the very end that one of the best kept secrets of the album waits to be revealed… in “Wild Females” Evenoire pulls all stops with a compact yet excellent tune that’s extremely catchy, rocking, folky and sounds like some medieval fair song, metallized and given a flute and a couple of cups of wine! Well – I can see Blackmore, wanting to “rip this off” or at least cover it soon :D… it’s called re-arranging... lol, hell if “Game of Thrones” had a band, this could as well be it! It would kick ass! Really well done!
Did I mention, I really, liked this band album? No, well, I think It won’t be necessary, I’m off to investigate the debut too. And I suggest you do the same, too. I’m sure, they’ve got a future and it’s quite bright. Not your average (or just another), gothic/corset/female fronted metal band!