Lunatica is on their second outing here, and showing improvements quite dramatically since their debut release. The songs are tighter, the production is much cleaner, no doubtedly helped out by the mixing and mastering in the hands of Sascha Paeth (Kamelot, Rhapsody, etc), in fact, all aspects are taken to the next level. It is a giant leap from the almost demo feel of the first to this professional sounding release. Of course none of that means that the band is ready to compete on the level of the bigger bands yet, and it certainly doesn't ensure a musical trip down the road of originality.
Lunatica is Switzerland's answer to America's fascination with Evanescence and the Finn's original female fronted juggernaut,
Nightwish. From these two starting points, the band picks out the elements they seem to like the most and throws them at the listener with wild abandon. "Fables & Dreams" comes off sounding more like an offshoot of Rhapsody,
Nightwish and their ilk. Originality is hard to come by in this genre nowadays.
Andrea Datwyler has a nice enough voice, likening her more on the level of Sabine from
Edenbridge but with a focus more on the straightforward, a'la
Candice Night from Ritchie Blackmore's little (and seemingly neverending) medieval project. She doesn't keep things in the higher range for long, likely due to personal handicap rather than going easy on the listener's ears, but the middle of the road approach works well at least for the first few songs before it starts to become boring, but it does manage to keep the music from getting out of hand for being too shrill. Andrea sounds warm throughout but doesn't have the kind of range or unique twist to support an entire album on her own little frail shoulders. The rest of the band is made up of Alex Seibert on keyboards (which are used quite extensively), Sandro D'Incau and Andre Leuenberger on guitars, and Ermes Di Prisco and Olaf Retmeyer on drums and bass respectively. A solid backing band, the guitarists especially taking on their share of difficulties, but none of these guys have really proven themselves enough to stand out from among the crowd of millions of other musicians that make this type of music the focus of their life.
Unfortunately the disc gets a kickoff that is laughable and embarrassing especially if you are previewing this for a crowd of people. It's one of those things you don't want anyone ever to catch you listening to, it's that depressingly horrid. Nothing wrong with the music itself, it's on a very high horse, sure of itself, an incorrigibly pompous classical arrangement. But there's the dreaded narrator to contend with. I don't know who originated the whole "this album needs a narrator" trend, but what I do know is that it was brought most famously to light by one of the outfits this one is so desperately trying to copy, Rhapsody.
So they follow in the Italian powerhouse's footsteps by enlisting a narrator who starts babbling on in this sterilized voice, devoid of any intensity and his tone reeks of not giving a crap about the cheesy dialogue he's being forced to spew, stuff about "The book of Fables and Dreams" and other such nonsense. Apparently we need an explanation about how Atlantis was found on the last album and now these valiant metal explorers are now out looking for a book that leads to heaven or some such. It's the narrator's only appearance and just seems kind of sad in a ridiculous way.
The opening abomination aside, the disc seems to fly fairly steadily, as long as you aren't expecting a revolution of the genre.
"Avalon" shows Andrea's
Candice Night colors showing through, with a softness that the keyboards never seem too far behind. They seem to lurk there to beef up her end of the spectrum, which is a bit on the weak side. The rhythm is nice and rolling, not unleashing too quickly or taking off into double-bass drum cookie cutter hell. The crunchiness in the guitars are a bit surprising, but give the song a bite it would not have had otherwise. It all feels overwhelmingly epic, yet the combination of elements come together nicely in a tight package that doesn't drone on so long that it loses intrigue. Keeping it compact, allows it to remain fresh for frequent listenings. One of the best the album has to offer.
"Elements" tosses all restraint out the window and clocks in at almost seven minutes, officially letting it be branded with the epic banner. Too many repetitions in the music, but there are some seriously cool elements here, especially in the guitars. However that light, wavering voice often seems lost within the dramatics here.
"Fable of Dreams" is a fluff ballad with some extremely cheesy backing vocals. I think this would have worked better if the male singing along in the background was pulled into the mix on an equal level as Andrea, but instead he sounds as if he's just parroting her from another dimension. His voice is infinitely more powerful even when seemingly held back, so perhaps they didn't want to overwhelm her dreamy, softening pipes. They do reverse roles towards the end, with him coming in stronger, but for some reason she creeps up in the mix louder and louder as the song pans out. The overall track is very well put together however, and has an ethereal feel that really sets in when the synth-orchestra kicks into full fledge flying mode and takes over the production. The single from the album, and a good one at that, perhaps the highlight of the cd, even.
"Still Believe" is simply more of what we've already heard. Crunchy brittle guitars contrasting against the symphonic atmosphere, with nice twisting solos in a completely different flavor, applied for added garnish. It sounds like
Nightwish with a non-operatic singer. Not bad at all, but not groundbreaking.
"The Spell" borrows the same orchestral doodlings that
"Still Believe" forced on us, and frankly some of this is starting to get tiring, it's just too similar. Then the shock kicks in of how very different and on another planet this particular song is. Effects warp the sound in this brooding gothic manner (Evanescence!) and then. AND THEN. oh my gawd, what have they done??? Why is there some guy in here rap-yelling about losing his breaks (brakes?), or whatever he's getting all uppity about. This is abysmal, and an absolute, complete and 100% rip-off of Evanescence, since they pulled the same card for a hit a year or so ago and I guess
Lunatica figures they might gain some respect and airplay for replicating the same stunt. I'm sorry but it bombs. Kid Rock type rock rapping went out of style and good taste before it even started and plopping this in the midst here isn't helping matters any. Sure, the song would have probably succumbed to the me-too pattern without it, but at the very least would have been listenable. As it is, stay far away. This is tragic and pathetic and those two words should never be separated when mentioning this blasphemous piece. If you can stomach it, then more power to you, but here it seems so out of place.
Respect for "Fables & Dreams" or
Lunatica in general falls off from there, and while
"The Neverending Story" pulls off some cool
Megadeth type riffs in a lush Rhapsody structure, and
"Hymn" is a decent cover tune,
"Silent Scream (2004)" is a copy of
Nightwish minus the operatic vocals. Andrea just can't handle it.
"Fables & Dreams" will never be singled out as a revolution in power metal, in fact, it is more likely to be forgotten in another few month's time as just another band doing what everyone else is doing, with little that is remarkable going their way. They do have a female vocalist, which was once a rarity in the genre, but is now a fashionable addition, so therefore doesn't give the cd much weight to pull itself into the realms of uniqueness with.
Lunatica, for the most part, does offer up a very safe power metal album on the symphonic side of the road, that keeps itself to a couple of sounds and rehashes them frequently, the embarrassing opener, and horrid
"The Spell" aside. If you are into
Nightwish and are looking for more of the same, minus the operatic vocals, then don't hesitate to pick this up. It is generic, but pulls off the style nicely. But if you need something fresh and inventive, then stay clear, because this one is neither.
Written by
Alanna Wednesday, December 8, 2004
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