Brave - Monuments
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I love the sound of female singing. But I generally hate it in metal, usually through no fault of the singers. Its usual context is what I’ll call “corset metal,” over-produced schlock with billowing hair and faceless male minions. It’s all drama and no nuance. Lacuna Coil were actually a good band before they became a Pro Tools plug-in farm.
If instead Century Media and Nuclear Blast signed more bands like Brave, the world would be a better place. This DC band has the chops, songwriting, and, yes, the polished production – Monuments needs only a label logo to go on shelves – yet it preserves its singer’s humanity. Michelle Loose has one of the most wonderful voices I’ve heard in ages. It’s technically adept, yet big and soulful. She knows exactly when to push her voice and make it “break up”; contrast, for example, Dolores O’Riordan’s histrionics in The Cranberries’ “Zombie.” Metal hasn’t had such an appealingly accessible female presence since The Gathering’s Anneke van Giersbergen.
Brave is that rare band where each instrument stands out. The guitars are robust, the bass is warm, and the drums burst with tasty fills and propulsive accents. Violinist Suvo Sor is Brave’s secret weapon, complementing Loose with mournful melodies. In “Sooner or Later,” he even breaks out a shredding solo with four-string arpeggios, the classical precursor to guitar sweep picking.
Many influences enrich Monuments. “Driven” is straight-up, fist-pumping Eurometal. “Stronger” swims in a sea of Pink Floyd echoing guitars. “Forgiveness” plumbs Katatonia’s moodiness, while “Hero” is a swirling stew of prog odd meters and Viking melodies. The poignant “Something to This” begs to be a video, in a good way. (But please leave the wind machine at home.) Monuments has more hooks than a UFC fight card, and will make my Top 20 this year.
Buy:
Brave (CD)
DigStation (MP3)
