There’s a lot of bands that want to capture that Nightwish sound – harnessing the symphonic power, sweeping female vocals and huge soundscapes. Sadly most that try don’t get close, either completely overwhelmed by the scope, or missing the real songs to perform at such a level. Even before you listen to this album you can tell that you’re in that ballpark. The only real question is how good and how close do we get with ‘Insatia’?
For those familiar with the Tuscon band the most interesting aspect of Insatia’s second album is the fact that only vocalist Zoe Marie Federoff remains from the line-up that recorded 2013’s debut, and sonically things have certainly changed. As Symphonic Power Metal goes I’d place this in the Eurovision division – at times it’s so slick it veers towards Pop if it wasn’t so rigidly backed by the usual guitar thrusts and shapes. Now for some that saccharin nature won’t of course be too off-putting, but the issue here at times is that the vocals and guitar completely relegate the other instruments to the shadows and it kind of hinders the listening experience. At the same time as saying that you can appreciate the angle and the fact that here the production budget may not have allowed for a full rich orchestration.
If you like your symphonic Metal this isn’t the worst album you’ll hear this year but it could well be one of the glossiest and most sugar-based calorie laden: indeed at times it does sound very much like style has conquered substance… completely.
The melodies here and there, let’s face it, are nice enough but in truth the vocal which sees the best of the mix isn’t the strongest and struggles at times when it gets out of the sweet Pop-like main body of most of the songs here. Saying that there are hints at something more: ‘Phoenix Aflame’ has more guitar and sounds more like rock band with even the mostly swamped drums coming through; and closing track ‘My Healer of Hatred’ also attempts to kick some ass, but sadly the are overwhelmed by the low points like the syrupy ballad ‘Not My God’ or worse the duet ‘Velvet Road’.
Hard to recommend,but not completely without merit.
