Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Celestial Ruin - Pandora (2016)

You might wonder why I'm covering a Vancouver based rock and Gothic metal band that has been tagged for fans of Nightwish, Evanessence, Delain, Kamelot, Within Temptation and others. There's a simple reason for that, which is mainly that I found the record very catchy and rather enjoyable. Aside from Larissa Dawn's potent vocal prowess on the microphone, we have the pounding drums of Adam Todd as well as some notable leads and solos from Eriz Crux. Ruben Wijga performs the keys here, which add much of the bombastic atmosphere you'll hear on the disc, far different than what you might expect on a regular female fronted rock record. These guys are actually taking the term “metal band” seriously, which definitely warrants the Kamelot comparison, regardless of how much the Delain tag fits as well. It's actually not too out of character to consider Celestial Ruin a more thrash-influenced and bombastic version of Evanessence, but not Nightwish. There's nothing operatic here, but there are about ten tons of sing-along choruses to be found on a disc that's surely just the start of something larger and more commercial. I would just hope that as Celestial Ruin matures as a band, they won't decide to sand down the metallic elements here in favor of giving people easier to digest fast food music with only the pop choruses intact. It's kind of funny that the single for the EP is “Sense Of Exile” even though “Nevermore” is about ten times more commercially viable and would make the band stick out far more among casual rock listeners. Then again, in listening to the two cuts side by side, I've noticed that the chorus numbers sound nearly identical to each other in tone. But whatever sells, right? In any case, this act is an absolute goldmine and I'm quite sure that it doesn't even need a small site like mine to promote it. After all, there was something of an interview with the frontwoman over at the AXS TV website, and that's Mark Cuban's channel. He has way more fans than I do here, or than I could ever dream of here. He's actually making money, and enough of it to sell me into slavery if he wished. In any case, I actually found this record extremely catchy and I'll bet my bottom dollar that this isn't the last we'll be seeing from this act. An EP today, a Grammy tomorrow... but to do that, they'd have to kill the metal, wouldn't they? Yep. It'll be interesting to see how much they're willing to sacrifice in the future.

(4 Tracks, 24:00)


8/10


3 comments:

  1. Thanks for the review , we are glad you liked it..and fyi we don't give a shit about grammy's .. we do the music we want to do..if people like it and it turns into a viable income stream then bonus :)

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  2. Nice review. Goldmine indeed. I absolutely love this record as well and am eager to see the band build on such a strong foundation.

    "there are about ten tons of sing-along choruses" LOL

    I never understood why this and other bands are indeed tagged for fans of Nightwish, Delain, Epica, etc. Do PR people just like to slap those names on any melodic act when the singer has ovaries? Musically, they couldn't be more different, and it's probably turning off a large group of potential listeners.

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  3. Yeah, probably. I don't want to trash these people though. They work as hard as anyone else in this industry. Probably even harder. Dealing with so many acts at one time means that you have to use blanket terms I suppose. I set the record straight in any case, as I am wont to do. :)

    Glad you liked the review. To be honest, I don't remember writing this one due to lack of sleep. I hope to be more conscious during future reviews!

    Thanks for taking the time to comment on my work. I really appreciate it.

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