AMBERIAN DAWN — Re-Evolution (review)

AMBERIAN DAWN — Re-Evolution album cover

Album · 2013 · Power Metal

3.5/5 · 2013-07-08
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Having released four full-length albums as of 2012, including that year's Circus Black, Finish symphonic power metal act Amberian Dawn surprised their fanbase with the announcement that they were parting ways with their lead singer Heidi Parviainen. The Amberian Dawn line-up has never been exactly stable but this was one change I don't think anyone, especially not me, was expecting. For me there had always been two key figures that made Amberian Dawn what they were, and Heidi Parviainen was one of them (Tuomas Seppälä being the other) due in part to being the group's lyricist, but also because her voice had a non-typical tone for female singers in this genre, which instantly set Amberian Dawn apart for me when I first heard them in 2008 and the debut album River of Tuoni. Although I did think Amberian Dawn needed to up their game after four albums, a singer change wasn't the thing I expected to see.

Re-Evolution is the first album to be released by the band with new singer Capri (real name Päivi Virkkunen) on board. It's one of those ambiguous albums where it's not really clear if it should be considered a full-length or a compilation, because although all new recordings, the contents of the album are all songs that were released before with Heidi across the previous releases. Consider it their fifth studio album or just a special compilation as you like, I for one go into this album with some trepidation either way.

Like with Heidi, Capri has a voice which is non-typical for this genre of metal. She's also very different to Heidi, who was operatic, whereas Capri tends to sing in a much rocky manner despite being classically trained herself. There's actually shades of Nightwish in this singer change although without the drama of that band. Capri is actually pretty good but much more of an acquired taste to my ears than Heidi ever was. I have to admit I didn't like her at all when the band first announced her with some samples of Re-Evolution, but she has grown on me somewhat now that the actual album is here.

I think the real problem with Re-Evolution as an album is not so much that the band has a new singer, but that introducing her by getting her to sing the songs written and sung by her predecessor isn't always the best approach to win existing fans over. I haven't been able to help myself thinking a few times during the course of the album "Who's this girl doing karaoke to Heidi's songs?". That's unfair, I know, because there are moments in re-Evolution that Capri does a good job as Heidi's songs, in fact I quite like her renditions of tracks like Valkyries and Incubus, but there are also songs where she just sounds wrong, such as River of Tuoni or Lily of the Moon.

Seems I've focused a lot of this review on Capri alone, but that should be expected with a release of this nature. The songs themselves are an excellent selection of past Amberian Dawn work. In fact the music has a tendency to sound more powerful than ever at times. I'm not sure how much exactly is rerecorded here, the band advertised it as something like 75% which given the ever changing line-up sounds about right. There's a great energy in their power metal sound and they only included one song from career weak point End of Eden (2010) which is a bonus for the flow of the material.

I'm left with mixed feelings on Re-Evolution. As a fan of their prior work it's been an interesting experience but also only rewarding on an on and off basis. Given time to grow I'm happy with the way it turned out for the most part. It's a good album, but perhaps also an unnecessary one. I prefer Heidi so far out of the two singers Amberian Dawn have had, but I'm hoping that Capri really comes into her own when they release some material that Heidi hasn't already left her mark on. This one feels transitional for the band, moving away from the majestic sound of Heidi's era into something new and more aggressive. I'm more interested to hear the results of that than I initially was, but I have to be honest, Amberian Dawn haven't quite won me back over yet.

74/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/amberian-dawn-re-evolution-t3030.html)