|
Review:
|
This German band's origins go back to 2001 and a musical
theatre project called Krypteria, then in 2004 stunning
Korean singer Jo-In Cho was invited to sing on the charity
single 'Liberatio' for the Indian tsunami and they became
a fully fledged band, this being their 4th album in this
incarnation. With their ancestry they have a more commercial
ear that most metal bands and have never been afraid of
the tag 'pop-metal', and why should they be, there's nothing
wrong with trying to appeal to as many people as possible.
***
Their sound lies somewhere between Lacuna Coil at their
most catchy, Nightwish at their most groovy and HB at their
most anthemic, with massed choirs helping Jo-Lin to belt
out immense, colossal, humongous choruses that have a touch
of musical theatre about them, just listen to the thumping
refrain of 'Fly Away With Me'. This is like the soundtrack
to the next James Bond film, dramatic, theatrical and with
song titles like 'You Killed Me', 'Live to Fight Another
Day' and 'Turn The World Around', I half expected Daniel
Craig to suddenly crash through the window. They belt through
ten thrillers ranging from the more emotive alt-metal 'As
I Slowly Bleed' to the almost sword waving power metal polka
'Thanks For Nothing' at the other end of the spectrum, and
the Queen of Metal Doro Petch makes a guest appearance on
the symphonic stomper 'Victoria'. Then you get the classic
lighter waving ballad 'Hurt So Bad' and finally the pièce
de résistance, the creepy eleven minute 'Eye Collector',
which throws anything and everything including Beethoven's
Moonlight Sonata into the pot. Jo-Lin deliciously sings
“Hello, lovely, follow me, Step into my parlour please,
Take a slice, I must insist, Come inside now, don't resist”,
well, how can I turn down such an invitation? Jo-Lin is
also a talented classical pianist and this is the first
album where time all the band members get a turn at the
mike. The three bonus tracks are well worth the extra admission,
they include two new versions of songs dating back to their
musical theatre days, the totally awesome 'Get The Hell
Out of My Way' and a piano version of 'Liberatio', plus
'Come Hell or High Water' which is set to the tune of Elgar's
'Land of Hope and Glory' made famous by the British annual
classical music concert The Last Night of the Proms, I was
waving my Union Jack and blowing my party poppers with gusto.
Krypteria have really ramped everything up on this one and
you will be dying to get you hands on this beauty, their
website is http://www.krypteria.de/
, a theatrical 9 out of 10.
|
