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Xandria - Kill the Sun


Xandria -  CD Review
Kill the Sun
CD Info
2003
Drakkar Records
10 tracks - 39:58
Germany-English lyrics

Let me start by saying, I really like this album, as I do any number of Gothic Rock/Metal albums on the charts today. Before I really start. There is nothing different here, that we have not already heard before. A Gothic Rock/Metal band with a beautiful voiced female singer at the helm, and also from Germany. That country seems to have the market cornered these days in the Gothic genre. Along with Finland, the two countries have used up all of the energy that one genre of music can supply. This is the one genre where the ladies seem to shine the brightest. So as I've stated, I really like this band and album. I knew them when they were just putting out MP3's at MP3.com. At that time, they sounded rather rough. But with the release of their debut album "Kill the Sun" they seem to have perfected their sound rather well. And with their emotional front woman, Lisa, there is no telling how far they will go in the future. For there are allot of us out there, including me, who go nuts for this type of sound.

Lisa, (first name only) has a very smooth emotion in her delivery. I can liken her to allot of singers in the genre of Gothic Rock. Most notably would be Kemi Vita of "The Dreamside" or Nell from "The Crest" to name a couple, so you can see the direction I'm going in here. The music she sings to is melodic all the time. Every track has a nice chorus and some of the songs are even very bombastic and heavy in places, reminding of some progressive moments. Lisa is the only vocalist in the band, so I get the impression that she is the leader of the band. There is really no historic explanation in the liner notes or at the website, which is in German, mostly. Allot of what I read about her and the band seems to be in concise. Along with Lisa, there are first names only: Marco-guitars and keys, Phillip-guitar, Roland-bass, Gerit-drums. There is not much to write about the band, themselves.

The album begins with the title song, "Kill the Sun" which may be a reference to a darkness theme throughout the album. It is a very nice rocky ballad to open up with as I stated before, a beautiful chorus a bit on the poppy side. Guitars and keys play a prominent role. There is even some spacey moments half the way through. "Mermaids" the second track has to be one of my favorite songs. Starting out with a mellow piano intro. Lisa's voice in this song is very sensuous and spacey adding a nice affect. Either one of these first two tracks could be on a top ten music chart for being melodic and quite catchy. "Ginger" starts out with the bombastic I spoke of, but then turns into be a very beautiful Gothic Rock ballad. This is where Lisa's melodic mellowness comes into play. She is very good at creating an atmosphere with her voice. "She's Nirvana" starts off with a rocking beat and continues with the same bombastic chorusing as the previous tracks. There is another singer in here, but I cannot put my finger on male or female. Also has some weird guitar riffs and again, nice chorusing. And that is the theme for the whole album. The band seems to have a knack for good melodic chorusing. Whether it be slow songs, such as "Forever Yours" or "So You Disappear", or rockers such as "Casablanca" there is no shortage of melody and memorable chorusing. The songs are all in the three to five minute range, so this tells me they were made mostly for commercial play and possibly to gain a fan base right away.

All in all, "Kill the Sun" is a fine debut effort for Xandria and I'm sure with a beautiful voiced and talented singer in front, like Lisa, we will be hearing more from them in the future. If your into any number of melodic Gothic Rock bands such as "The Crest" or maybe even "Bladflowerz", then you won't go wrong with Xandria. There is not much more to say about them except that there is nothing breaking any ground here, just some very nice melodic Gothic Rock.