| CD REVIEW Coronatus |
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Band: Coronatus Oh my f*ckin’ Lord of the Deep… I have never been a fan of this German act for being much too stupidly infantile. Remember 2009’s Fabula Magna, or Porta Obscura (2008) / Lux Noctis (2007) (all released through Massacre, by the way)? Good ideas (even though stolen from their Finnish and Dutch superiors), but pathetically performed and oh so dull in (almost) all aspects… Produced by Markus Stock again (think: Secrets Of The Moon, Marienbad, Midnattsol, Wolfchant, Nox Mortis etc.) – a shame for this guy getting involved with such a nonsense; being live on stage with acts like Within Temptation and Haggard… Formed in 1999, double-female-fronted (yet with an important difference between the vocal approaches of both singers – a surplus for sure (one of the very few positive elements) – even though this vocal line-up did change a lot, a lot, a lot, throughout this band’s history), subject to many line-up changes throughout the years in general, with lyrics in different languages (a first link to Leaves’ Eyes)… Hit-potentive, with providing our world with some new commercial hit-single stuff: September saw the light of the new single Fernes Land, available on TV and, of course, the internet. All together: hurray! No, seriously (just for a while): I’m not that hurray-ish again. But… in comparison to any former try-to-convince, Terra Incognita isn’t as pathetically boring as before. Wait, don’t start shouting, don’t begin to dance on your altar yet… But / because… this time the whole sounds a little heavier (slightly exaggerating), more mature (and again: don’t exaggerate with believing me too literally), less poppy (coming close to exaggeration) and therefore (much) more interesting (all right, I admit: this IS exaggerated completely). The equilibrium between the dual vocals and the interaction with the instrumental approach has been worked out more professionally (read: more technically built), yet at the other hand the poppiness does sicken me (again). This is Epica, Nightwish, Magica, Voices Of Destiny, Krypteria or Delain, yet many levels ‘lower’ (no, I beg to differ: acts like Voices Of Destiny, Magica or Krypteria do bore the Hell out of me too; only those Dutch bands seem to know how to combine Metal with Opera??? – Hup Oranje, hup Oranje! – and I’m not even from Holland…). It isn’t all that terribly annoying, because some parts, just a few, are nice, especially those few pieces comparable to bands like Epica, Leaves’ Eyes etc., or the Pagan-injected excerpts. But I guess those who can appreciate… 40/100 Ivan Tibos. |