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Behind the Black Veil (2015) is the debut full-length album by Finnish symphonic metal act Dark Sarah. Dark Sarah is the new musical outlet of former Amberian Dawn singer Heidi Parviainen, formed after her exit from that band in 2012 and is considered her solo project. The album still features a full band however as well as a few notable guest performers including former Xandria singer Manuela Kraller, Van Canto's Inga Scharf and Sonata Arctica's Tony Kakko.
Compared to Amberian Dawn Dark Sarah offers up a more traditional based symphonic metal sound, though it's interlaced with more pure classical based symphonic parts than the typical artist of the genre employs as well. It's the sort of symphonic metal album that is clearly all about the singer's voice and therefore the music itself seems very standard and safe, with the other musicians rarely given time to stand out and do their own thing. There are instrumental breaks in the songs here and there but the music is never really anything to write home about. The most exciting thing that ever really happens with the guitars for example is a couple of times where the speed pushes more towards power metal, but even that never really goes anywhere. I suppose you could say that Behind the Black Veil has more in common with pop than metal in this respect, it's all about the voice, although this isn't exactly poppy music like Within Temptation's newer work. Classical Crossover would be a more accurate and fairer term to use, I think.
I can't help but feel that the overall appeal of the album, which is still a metal album for the most part, rests less with the metal crowd than it does elsewhere, strange as it may seem to say it. In some ways the metal elements of the album even seem a hindrance to the songs, as if they're there because Heidi already built up a fanbase with Amberian Dawn who expect them. This is quite noticeable with my personal favourite song of the album, Memories Fall, of which two versions are featured, one of them a classical version (a bonus track) which comes out pretty epic to my ears and the metal be damned, though I do still really like the 'real' version of course. The duet between Parviainen and Manuela Kraller makes for some powerful singing.
Of course I have to rate Behind the Black Veil as a metal album at the end of the day and although I do like the album for Heidi's vocals there's a lot more aspects of a metal album to consider than just the singing. It does unfortunately come across as lacking in other areas while the quality of songwriting isn't as high across the twelve main tracks as it could be based on the album's highlights. I like it, because I happen to just enjoy female voices regardless of the musical context, but as a metal album I can't really go with more than 3 stars, objectively speaking.