WHITE EMPRESS
Following his somewhat muted departure from Cradle of Filth, which was unpublicised at the time and later announced by Dani Filth during an interview in an almost stoical and matter-of-fact manner, guitarist Paul Allender seems to have refocused all of his efforts Stateside with new band White Empress. Releasing an eponymously titled four track EP at the beginning of the year, here we have their crowd-funded full-length debut eight months later, 'Rise of the Empress'. Featuring ex-Coal Chamber bassist Chela Harper and Luna Mortis singer Mary Zimmer, alongside Damnation Angels' keyboardist Will Graney, Silent Civilian sticksman Zac Morris and December's Silence guitarist Jeremy Kohnmann, this metal collective have succeeded in creating a symphonically-charged, dark metal beast. Traces of Allender's Cradle tremolo-picking idioms rear their head sporadically, although his thrash inspirations and trad-metal swayings shine through far more. Although that is not to say this is a trad-metal or thrash-based album; rather, those influences combine with sympho flavours and quasi-death extremities to good effect in an overall sound that, while aurally engaging, lacks that little extra spark to make this a truly magnificent album. And I'd pinpoint that deficiency with the vocals.
While Zimmer's death growls are largely full of character, it's her clean voice that mars the overall effect. Her ever so slightly dissonant punk-edged, almost shouting, delivery is jarringly mismatched with some of the music. And her non-punk clean vocals are not as strong as you'd perhaps want or expect for music adorned with such a strong sympho metal backbone. With a press blurb claim that her voice ranges "from operatic to death metal screams".... well, this is simply misleading. Operatic? There's very little that could be rightfully construed as operatic in Zimmer's voice (save for some minor, almost unnoticeable, low-in-the-mix, soprano backing vocals here and there). However, vocals aside (which are not all bad, just inconsistent), 'Rise of the Empress' is a fine debut release from Allender's post-Cradle band. If some of the vocals could be refined into a more apposite delivery, then they can build on this most promising of starts to deliver an album that is really worthy of your attention. A sound effort nonetheless, though.
While Zimmer's death growls are largely full of character, it's her clean voice that mars the overall effect. Her ever so slightly dissonant punk-edged, almost shouting, delivery is jarringly mismatched with some of the music. And her non-punk clean vocals are not as strong as you'd perhaps want or expect for music adorned with such a strong sympho metal backbone. With a press blurb claim that her voice ranges "from operatic to death metal screams".... well, this is simply misleading. Operatic? There's very little that could be rightfully construed as operatic in Zimmer's voice (save for some minor, almost unnoticeable, low-in-the-mix, soprano backing vocals here and there). However, vocals aside (which are not all bad, just inconsistent), 'Rise of the Empress' is a fine debut release from Allender's post-Cradle band. If some of the vocals could be refined into a more apposite delivery, then they can build on this most promising of starts to deliver an album that is really worthy of your attention. A sound effort nonetheless, though.
LABEL:
FORMAT:
Peaceville
Album
RISE OF THE EMPRESS
Review by Mark Holmes
RUNNING TIME:
43:06
RELEASE DATE:
29th Sept 2014
TRACK LISTING
1) Rise of the Empress
2) The Congregation
3) A Prisoner Unleashed
4) Darkness Encroaching
5) Sven's Tower
6) Erased and Rewritten
7) The Ecstatic and the Sorrow
8) Dethroned
9) Obsession with the Empress
10) Ours to Burn
2) The Congregation
3) A Prisoner Unleashed
4) Darkness Encroaching
5) Sven's Tower
6) Erased and Rewritten
7) The Ecstatic and the Sorrow
8) Dethroned
9) Obsession with the Empress
10) Ours to Burn
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
USA
"...a symphonically-charged, dark metal beast."
