|
Em Sinfonia
|
| By
Tate Bengtson
Fans of Theatre of
Tragedy and even Lacuna Coil should appreciate Em
Sinfonia's midpaced melodic doom rock, which smartly balances a few
constipated death metal grunts against a quite convincing female
vocalist, who nails some fine harmonies. I have read other reviews
comparing Em Sinfonia to the likes of My Dying Bride, but Em Sinfonia
certainly does not come close to matching the morose mood and
ultra-heavy guitar tones that makes MDB so wonderfully painful to listen
to. Instead, Em Sinfonia generally proceeds at a mid to slow pacing,
mixing some synth-generated atmospherics with rather sludgy guitars that
frequently sound like they are merely executing downtuned death metal
riffs at a slower-than-normal pace; sometimes that can work in the
band's favor, and other times it offers very little of remark. The music
does tend to get needlessly eclectic on certain tracks, particularly the
fifth number, where the mixture of slow motion death metal riffing,
glitzy keyboard work, female vocals, death gurgles, and a violin solo
all come across as being a rather disjointed attempt to incorporate
everything but the kitchen sink into the band's sound, while the song
structure does not seem to be flexible enough to accommodate these
different instruments or styles each vying for position. The following
track, one of the sparser, doomier, numbers, is perhaps the strongest
cut on Intimate Portrait, as a gentle piano refrain is matched against
an impassioned vocal delivery and some of the better doom riffing on the
album, even if the cookie monster death growls do little more than sound
ridiculous. While I have always found this brand of 'doom' to be a
little gimmicky when it's not executed with precision and strategy - two
things that Em Sinfonia still need to work on - this should appeal to
fans of Theatre of Tragedy ca. Aegis and the slower gothic doom aspects
of Lacuna Coil.
|
More from the Online Metal Journal |
|
|
|
|