Sinergy - Beware the Heavens

Brace yourselves, all...for yet another melodic power metal album has come out of...Europe. Yes, by now this may initiate a gag reflex for some, while more or less curiosity for others (such as myself). I am by no means tiring of this whole Euro-metal 'trend', if it can be called that, and as long as I like what I hear, I got no qualms about buying it. Screw the whole concept of originality and all that...:-)

So now we have Sinergy. It may be a bit surprising that while the band consists of members of melodic death metal bands (namely Children of Bodom and In Flames), the music is anything but. Think more along the lines of Hammerfall, Stratovarius, Gamma Ray, Hellowe.....yeah, yeah, now you get the idea. One of the several things that seperates the band from the majority its European brethern are the vocals which are sung by a girl. Kimberly Goss, the founder of the band (and for being the founder of the band, she certainly does a pretty underwhelming amount of songwriting here) delivers some nice, solid vocals in vein of, perhaps, Joacim Cans...just, well, in a female variation. While she may not have the ultra range of, say, Tarja of Nightwish, her vocals are surprisingly pleasant throughout.

And speaking of pleasant...well, so are the songs. There are two great standouts here in form of the title track (a ripping mid-tempo with a great solo, all very much in vein of old Warlock) and the super power ballad "Razor Blade Salvation" which just oozes emotion from every pore. The other stuff is good as well: "Swarmed" is highlighted by some folksy, neoclassical stylings; "Virtual Future" is strong and catchy. Also two great instrumentals in way of "Pulsation" (a grrreat one) and "Born Unto Fire and Passion." Musically, every song has something going for it more or less...

Now, you notice how I didn't mention some of the other songs? Well, believe it or not, there is a definite reason for this, that being the porous, old Swiss-cheese quality of the lyrics here. "Venomous Vixens", "Fourth World", "Warrior Princess"...oy!! While definitely being good musically, these manage to violate just about every lyrical rule of decency I can think of...and then some. No offense to the band, but these have got to be some of the stupidest, cheesiest lyrics I have ever read - this probably constituting as the album's biggest flaw. Well, that and the total, ABSOLUTE lack of originality (I kid you not - there ain't a drop of that here) for those who care, and the relatively short time-span (34 or so minutes)...