AMBERIAN DAWN – Magic Forest [Japanese edition] (2014)

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AMBERIAN DAWN is a Finnish sympho / prog metal band that has been around since 2008, and despite some major lineup changes over the years, they show no signs of slowing down in terms of quality.
With new lead singer Capri they’re back with their fifth official full length album “Magic Forest”, released in Japan last week and ready to be edited in Europe.

Compared to their first four albums, “Magic Forest” has a much lighter tone, even commercial at places, with keyboards more prominently this time around and orchestrations making this easily their most epic sounding and most flavorful album to date.
Seems Amberian Dawn has been hard at work crafting new songs, making “Magic Forest” an entertaining album of melodic and sympho prog metal. But they still stay within the realms of what is expected in the genre, especially with a female vocalist.
Concerning the latter, Capri has a strong voice which, thankfully, does not go off into the ear piercing stratosphere. Excepting a song or two, her vocals are straightforward, singing what she’s supposed to sing with an even delivery.
The exception is the melodic rolling chorus of “Son of Rainbow” which, along with the groove and fine guitar solo, basically lifts the song above most ever other one here.

As with “Son of Rainbow”, Amberian Dawn is always better when they temper songs with groove and simple catchy accessibility, with “Dance of Life” – featuring the awesome Swede Jens Johansson on keys – and “Cherish My Memory” being best examples.
They also do better when they put a bit more complexity into their arrangements, leaning more towards progressive metal. You might here some of this within “Agonizing Night” or “Endless Silence”.

“I’m Still Here” is the perfect song to show what Amberian Dawn bring, catchy vocals, insane but not over the top instrumentals and a wicked keyboard to guitar solo. If there is any song to look up to decide if you are going to like this band or album this is it right here.
Other highlights include the regular edition closing track “Green-Eyed”, a ballad where Capri sounds absolutely stunning, and the Japanese bonus track “Firefly” featuring Northern Lights’ lead vocalist Peter James Goodman.

“Magic Forest” is a solid and effective sympho / prog metal record with catchiness in mind.
Amberian Dawn goes for simple melodies and arrangements full of hooks which makes the tunes very easy to digest, and the songs are short, to the point.
With a really good new singer and this fresh musical ‘approach’, more and better things are ahead for the band.
Recommended.

01 – Cherish My Memory
02 – Dance Of Life
03 – Magic Forest
04 – Agonizing Night
05 – Warning
06 – Son Of Rainbow
07 – I’m Still Here
08 – Memorial
09 – Endless Silence
10 – Green-Eyed
11 – Firefly (bonus track for Japan)

Capri – Vocals
Tuomas Seppälä – Guitar, Keyboards
Emil Pohjalainen – Guitar
Kimmo Korhonen – Guitar
Joonas Pykälä-aho – Drums
Markus Nieminen – guest Vocals on 8
Peter James Goodman – guest Vocals on 11
Jens Johansson – guest Keyboards

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www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/MICP-11164
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