CD Info

2011
Self Released / Sweden

9 Tracks

English Lyrics

This is the second release by Swedish symphonic metallers Lapis Lazuli, the first one reviewed here introduced the sound, this one seems to embellish it a bit but still makes use of the base components for the most part. Those would include the strong keyboard skills of Timo Hautamaki and the soaring vocals of gorgeous, long blond haired Frida Eurenius. The band seems to have found a formula that works and have not strayed far from it. It’s certainly symphonic, first and foremost. This is the sound you expect when someone tells you its "European Symphonic" music. Frida doesn’t have a typical soprano delivery; it’s a little more metal in flavor, but a haunting metal, not a screaming metal. Guitars and drums provide a customary background sound, and it’s a good one, but the driving components here are the symphonics, keyboard delivered, not samples, and the vocals, both male and female. Those male vocals, by the way, are also done by Timo and include both clean and harsh interpretations. Not necessarily a lot of either style, but enough to qualify the CD as a B & B interpretation of the Gothic sound. But, the central theme is the keyboard symphonics, and they are very nicely done, as was the case with the last release.

I have the lyrics for the CD and, like last time, they’re pretty interesting. You gotta figure with a title like "A Justified Loss" you’re not going to get a bunch of boy band happy babble. You can actually understand most of the lyrics as well as you listen, but, beyond that, the band does have some published comments regarding the lyrics, what they mean, what the intention of the song was, etc. I guess we can go with both to get a feel for what the music is talking about, although you get much of that just from listening; this is Gothic, make no mistake about it. And the descriptions provided seem to validate that assessment. So, it’s a corollary kind of thing with the music reinforcing the dark direction of the lyrics. And even that’s done several ways. Symphonic metal, when done correctly, is a haunting musical direction to begin with, but with the metal components seeming to reinforce that darkness. And, with Lapis Lazuli, you get two vocal components that are equally reinforcing of that dark lyrical component. Frida has a voice that is hard to describe, and harder to forget, even given the playful nature of that video. It can be quite beautiful and, at times, reflect a metal style. But, there’s a part of that voice that haunts, it comes from places that touch us in a different, and sometimes, frightening way. When you combine that with Timo’s vocal, especially his harsh death metal vocal, you get one of the darker B & B sounds you’re going to hear. Perfect for this kind of music. And finally, there’s some choral components, on songs like High which just add the finishing touch. Not sure how they are created but they do add something significant.

The CD begins with Facing Deamons and we immediately go with that full tilt symphonic sound. Every time I hear this I keep wanting to send it to American bands so they can get a feel for how it should sound. We go from a pounding symphonic to a soothing sound in a Miami minute, the keys take a quiet direction but it’s a classical moment that provides an epic introduction to the music.

The metal begins with the next track, Leaving Scars. Here we get the guitars and drums over the signature symphonic and it leads to an abrupt transfer to the vocals. The entire sound alters and the lyric takes us immediately to a Gothic message:

Nothing more than a hollow shadow, nothing left but a fragile being
Is this what I am doomed to become, is this all that is left behind for me?
This will not take my spirit from me, they will not be the ones to break me
Standing tall in the roaring fire, they can burn but the fire can’t touch me, no
I won’t fall, I will not drop down

The afore mentioned High is, to my way of thinking, a highlight of the CD. We begin with that choral thing, reminiscent of a Nightwish track from another time. But here, we get a truly dark component from Timo that sets the track apart. Frida sings like a wisp from beyond time here as the symphonics pound, the sound is eternal, the lovely blond at her best. But, this one belongs to the darkness, Timo owns this track, this trade off of the beautiful with the darkness is Lapis Lazuli at their best, it’s the old Nightwish but with a dark harsh vocal to take us to a new level.

One of the strengths of Lapis Lazuli is their ability to do the ballad, if in a dark, remorseful kind of way. Alive gives us a duet between the vocalists that is both lovely and haunting. This one puts the symphonics in the background, for the most part, and gives us time to listen to the vocals over a subdued instrumental background. Lies also takes this direction but with a harsh vocal, it’s like we took the previous track and made the second one meaner. Again, this one has a focus on the male vocal, the only one with no female vocal on the CD. Timo does both a clean and harsh vocal on this track. The guitars provide a crunching subtitle to the material and the symphonics lend a bit of beauty, but this one is darkness in the harshest sense.

Angel Without Wings takes us back to the heavy symphonics, where Lapis Lazuli lives. We get both vocalists here and the sound takes us to a Northern European place, one where the music soars, where multiple musical directions are the norm, where the lyrical direction leaves so much of the American musical landscape in the dust. There is a desperate interplay between the vocalists that provides a signature component to the music, and it’s set over the dramatic symphonic that seems to be owned by the musicians in Western Europe. The message is equally desperate:

I can see trouble up ahead, I can also see us overcoming it all
All of my fears will be laid to rest, and I know you will stand there by my side cause
You saved me / From the darkest of voids in my life
I cant explain what I feel / All I can tell is that you
Are an angel without any wings

The track, like several others, is relatively long, some 7 plus minutes, with multiple musical twists and turns, a first rate Gothic selection.

Burning Bridges is another tour de force that captures pretty much all this band has to offer. The symphonics are killer, the vocals top drawer, the background material absolutely over the top. You can almost see Timo on this one, crushing the keyboards while the guitars pound, and our lovely blond sings it at the top. This is Lapis Lazuli, a semi precious stone that provides a thoroughly precious sound.

I’ve read that the bands next production will add significant sounds, things we haven’t heard before. I guess we all would like to think that’s a good idea. I’m not so sure. Some things sound right the way they are. I may be alone in this assessment but I truly hope they don’t change too much. Maybe a little twitch here and there, but not too much deviation. When the model works, stick with it, and Lapis Lazuli has a model that works. Oh, and Frida, please don’t cut the hair. I couldn’t stand that much deviation in the model.

9.5 / 10

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