Ironica - Vivere 3.5/5
Reviewed: 8-21-09
Tracklist:
1. Dive
2. Stop me
3. So fades the memory
4. From the dark
5. Little princess
6. Dead hope
7. Suffer for you
8. The beast
9. Reflections
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Ironica is a heavy/power metal band from Finland that was surprisingly formed 10 years ago. After many demos, they released their full-length debut 'Consequences' (a few years ago), and now they bring is their 2nd full-length CD 'Vivere'. The band is female fronted, by the confident Elina "Iron" Järn, who is definitely a true power metal vocalist, so she's not of the operatic type. In fact, there are some aggressive vocals from Elina that pop up on occasion, and there are also some aggressive male vocals (from Ville Palin, who is the guitarist too).
Although Ironica's base style is heavy/power metal, there are some keys and they could be considered a lightly symphonic band. Still, the best comparisons I can make are Shadowside, Triosphere, Sinergy, Ocean Soul, Elements, Seven Angels and Thalion, though because of their lightly symphonic side, I'd throw in bands like Dawn of Destiny, Legenda Aurea, Evarest and Gwyllion. Plus, do in large part to the vocals, the group of bands that contains Crystal Viper, Seventh Seal, Phoenix Reign, Temtris and Twilight Odyssey needs to be mentioned. Basically, if you're at all interested in female fronted heavy/power metal, there's a very good chance you'll dig Ironica's style.
Just like with their debut 'Consequences', 'Vivere' is a consistently great CD and all of the songs are fairly catchy with enough hooks to keep the CD flowing, but at the same time, I think this CD is missing a spectacular highlight that would totally amaze power metal fans. Some of the songs come close however, and track 2 "Stop me" and track 7 "Suffer for you" are probably the best examples. I must admit that there are a few parts on the CD where the vocals are a bit too aggressive for me personally (some of track 8 "The beast", for example), but overall, the vocals are quite strong, especially since there's a good variety of vocals/backing vocals.
At this point, I don't know if I like 'Consequences' or 'Vivere' more, but 'Vivere' is surely the heaviest and most aggressive. Really, there's plenty of speed and nothing enters slow territory, so if you're someone that's into fast, heavy and aggressive power metal (with strong vocals), this a CD you should seek out, and since the debut is great too, you'd want to pick that up as well.
CLINT
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