Amaranthe
Amaranthe

By Todd Jolicouer

What happens when you take a strong female vocalist, a melodic male vocalist, a screamer, and mix it up with three very competent musicians? You get Amaranthe.

The story goes something like this: Jake E. Lundberg and Olof Morck teamed up to do something different. They brought drummer Morten Lowe and bassist Johan Andreassen on board. The final piece was adding Beauty (vocals) and the Beast (screams) - Elize Ryd and Andy Solverson.

What else do you get? You get one of the most powerful debut discs I have heard in a long time. From the opening notes of ‘Leave Everything Behind’ you just know this is going to be special. By time you are 60 seconds into the first track, you have heard female melody, great scream vocals, great male vocal range, and a beautiful blend of the three. Add to that the great musicianship and you have a great kick-off… and this isn’t even the lead single released from the disc. Next up is that single, ‘Hunger.’ The song was an obvious choice to grab attention for the band as iit seems radio friendly for melodic metal. The metal kicks back in on ‘1,000,000 Light Years.’ The lyrics won’t win any awards, but the blend of vocals cannot be denied.

Next up is ‘Automatic’ which sounds like it could be the intro to the next big pop hit… that is until Andrew stamps him scream all over the song. The musicianship demonstrated by Olof, Morten, and Johan are consistant and strong though out the tracks on this disc. ‘Amaranthine’ – the lone ballad-type song on the disc – really stands out. The melody and vocal prowess shown by Elize make one wonder why she hasn’t made it big before now. Jake adds to the fun and makes the song a beautiful duet through the second chorus. There is even something beautiful and emotional about Andy’s screams in the bridge. The next couple songs are capable fill tunes, but disc closers ‘Act of Desperation’ and ‘Serendipity’ bring the whole project full circle.

I can only hope they are able to bring this project stateside for a tour… would love to hear how these songs translate live.