XANDRIA – Sacrificium (2014)

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Germans XANDRIA have been around since the early ’90s but started to get more into focus from 2000 on, with their blend of symphonic metal often compared with Nightwish. But while the Finns bored me to death, Xandria have long stood out in the world of female fronted symphonic metal as having a little something more behind their sound.
As the latin title of their new album – “Sacrificium” – implies, Xandria tend towards the more epic sub-genres of metal. The mixture of symphonic and orchestral sounds blended with the progressive technicality of the guitars and drums and the pseudo-operatic sound of the female vocal creates a quite enjoyable soundscape of giant proportions.

Xandria has replaced their lead vocalist four times and yes, you know what most time happens when a band so often changes the main singers… Ok, not in the case of Xandria; they’ve had a fortunate hand this time as the gorgeous new frontwoman Dianne van Giersbergen (ex Libris) is one hell of a vocalist.
I have to say that I’m not the biggest fan of the operatic and dramatic female vocals, but maybe it’s in the incredible layers of sound to be found here, or simply the top notch songwriting that Xandria are greater than the sum of their parts and “Sacrificum” is an almost perfect proof of that.

Xandria is brave to kick-off the album with the longest composition, title track “Sacrificium”. With an epical length of 10 minutes the song is really special and also one of the highlights. It’s multi-faceted, with a lot of heavy riffing parts as well as slower elements, including some spoken word sections. The choruses add even more bombast to the song, and while they are not always fist pumping, they are certainly catchy and engaging.
More in the ‘song format’ are driving “Nightfall” and “Dreamkeeper” combining flamboyant symphonic elements and catchy pop melodies in an addictive, commercial way.

Also the rest of the album has its magnificent moments, like the epic semi-ballad “The Undiscovered Land” can’t be ignored as its adventurous vibe is a fairytale on its own and can easily take you out of this time and space. Or “Come With Me” with its delicate melodies and tender closing, piano and viola driven song “Sweet Atonement”, are all real beauties.
Another aspect that I really dig about this record is the voice overs. They give a very dramatic and epic flare to pieces like the heavy “Betrayer”. Toss in some soaring keyboard lines and you start to realize just how special Sacrificum really is, anyone who loves bombastic metal, will find something to enjoy here.

As said, I am not a big fan of this kind of sympho metal with pseudo-operatic approach, however Xandria’s “Sacrificium” gave me back the faith in this specific subgenre.
Dianne van Giersbergen owns a nice timbre and her vocals are not over-blowing your ears all the time, this is basically prog metal and as such you need potent guitar riffs, keyboard runs and pounding drums, and you will find it in abundance on “Sacrificium”. The metal edge finds a quite organic symbiosis with the greatly arranged orchestral parts crowned with a crystal clear production.
Recommended.

01 – Sacrificium
02 – Nightfall
03 – Dreamkeeper
04 – Stardust
05 – The Undiscovered Land
06 – Betrayer
07 – Until The End
08 – Come With Me
09 – Little Red Relish
10 – Our Neverworld
11 – Temple Of Hate
12 – Sweet Atonement

Dianne Van Giersbergen – Vocals
Marco Heubaum – Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards
Philip Restemeier – Guitar
Steven Wussow – Bass
Gerit Lamm – Drums

Pre-Order:
www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=9162076
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