EVENMORE – “Last Ride”
Release: 2016-10-01
Label: self released
Genre: Power Metal
Duration: 46 minutes
Once upon the time, there was a little Steffi who loved Power Metal. The classic kind. With dragons and witches, pathetic vocals and keyboards, … Well, nowadays, this sub-genre is maybe the worst for me. Too cheesy, too pathetic, too hymn-like – too much of everything.
So I was happy to find EVENMORE. I had heard about this Swiss band before, especially because their front-woman Melissa Bonny has performed as the live guest singer of SERENITY. But to be honest, already the band name “EVENMORE” and the Lord-Of-The-Rings-style album cover was dissuasive in my eyes. I thought they would play the classic, cliché Power Metal.
A few days ago I listened to their album “Last Ride” by accident (thank you, YouTube!) and it’s great!!! I didn’t see the band’s name and album cover until I heard the first two songs and already fell in love with their style. And yes, it IS Power Metal. But it’s good Power Metal.
EVENMORE is different from other Power Metal bands.
So what is different from other albums of this genre?
- Melissa Bonny’s voice! It’s strong and she does not try to use pseudo-operatic vocals. Instead, she uses growls (one more band to manifest the hypotheses that women need to be able to growl nowadays).
- The folky parts. There are no artificial keyboard sounds – instead, they use real instruments. Anna Murphy (Cellar Darling, ex-Eluveitie) was featured in two songs (‘In The Forest’ and ‘The Last Breath’) with her famous hurdy-gurdy and band member Matthieu Bopp plays whistles and bagpipes (check out ‘Valhalla’ or ‘The Throne Room’ for a taste). So there are a lot of instrumental parts that invite you to dream away.
- The storyline. In the concept album, a mother tells her daughter stories about adventures and forgotten kingdoms.
- The music in general. Melodic? Yes. Catchy? Yes. Pathetic? No. Cliché? Not that much.
You might compare it to ELUVEITIE. There is the same epic and mysterious feeling while listening to this music – close your eyes and you are in a different world (hey, is that a dragon???). The modern way in which EVENMORE plays folky Power Metal allows you to sing about princesses and knights, battles and castles without being embarrassed.
Tell us: Is there any band for you, you never listen to, just because of an ugly album cover?