The Nexus

 

The first track off the album is Afterlife, a high energy mix of the bands metal sound with pop hooks and three way vocal attack. It sounded a bit 8-bit right off the track with the usual metal edge with their trademark synth sound coming right along with it (for some reason I was instantly reminded of the Double Dragon video game?!). In any case it was a crash course introduction with the band for me that threw me for a curve.

 

The next track uses the tried and proved method of clean male and female tandem vocals. This method goes back to Lita Ford and Ozzy Osbourne to Amy Lee (Evanescence) and Paul McCoy (12 Stones). Though it has a hard rock edge it felt very radio built, offering up a repetitive lyrical construct with amore laid back sound then most of the album. 

 

As track three started up I was all but turned away. Electroheart is a combination of metal meets disco, almost Abba metal if there was such a thing. I began to wonder who thought it was a good idea to mix metal and pop together? I know music has taken a real downgrade lately with pop songwriters grabbing all kinds of talented artists and throwing them together in a faux band, but why metal and pop?

 

Later on in the day I hit my workout routine and figured I’d kill two birds with one stone and listen to the album while I worked out. You know what? That seemed to open the album up for me. Despite the fact that I had my reservations about the band, I managed to hear them in the contrast of a high energy workout and a high energy band. Strange, but I actually started to like them, well, after track three.

 

Track four, Future On Hold, seemed less like the band was attempting to reach out to radio listeners and just embracing their sound. Kind of a low frequency dark wave synth combined with a straight forward metal sound and operatic vocals from the bands female singer Elize Ryd along with male clean and hard vocals with the rest of the album following suit. 

 

Sure, there’s something to be said about a metal band coming this close to pop sentimentality, hell Elize even sounded a bit Kelly Clarkson at times, but beyond the third track the album really hits its stride. Blaring metal instrumentation, very driven operatic vocal performances, great guitar riffs, and that synth pop feel that comes and goes, giving the overall sound of the band something refreshingly new. Give it a shot, give it some time to wash over you, and enjoy.