Solisia - UniverSeasons
Scarlet Records
Progressive/Power/Symphonic
11 songs (48:04)
Release year: 2012
Scarlet Records
Reviewed by Rob

Having been familiar with Solisia's debut album, I was fairly curious to see how this one turned out. An Ordinary Fate was an extremely impressive piece of work for a new band, but I wanted to see how Solisia could further define themselves in the sea of similarly styled female-fronted acts. While they've certainly taken a different direction, it looks like separating themselves from the stigmatic femme-metal sound wasn't much of a concern of theirs.

You're not going to pause UniverSeasons at any point to take a moment to digest any overdoses of originality. The album is very coherent and has a solidly dark and heavy sound to it compared to the last one, but it's missing that extra creative kick to make it unique. This is fairly tragic as I feel it could have lifted the material above and beyond, but even without the experimentation, the tunes here possess a great raw emotion and deserve a good listening to.

Before I start on how much I appreciate new frontwoman Elie Syrelia, I must say that her Italian accent is obtrusively thick. It's barely possible to understand nine out of ten words, which is a pretty serious issue. That said, she sings the absolute shit out of every song and you can tell that she means every single mispronounced lyric. Her ability is quite exceptional. The rest of the band knows it and takes a back seat for the most part, supporting her quest to capture our hearts, but they do show themselves for a sweet technical interval or epic guitar solo or two.

I should point out that the mood of the album leans more towards melodramatic angst rather than uplifting power. There's a perverted pop influence here that threatens to molest the purest of metal souls but if you can handle a vocalist that sounds ridiculously like Celine Dion on occasion then you're well able for this stuff. It's true that UniverSeasons tends to sound samey at times and slips into dangerously redundant territory, so I wouldn't quite go so far to say that it's a cut above. I would say that with some elocution lessons and the will to grow a pair of some seriously creative balls, Solisia will certainly become a big name within the genre. They haven't re-invented the wheel with this album, but they have proven their ability and desire to write catchy songs and deliver them with passion and sincerity.

Killing Songs :
Kiss the Sky, Mind Killer, Dirty Feeling
Rob quoted 78 / 100
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