Borealis - World of silence 4/5
Reviewed: 12-19-08
Tracklist:
1. Lost voices
2. Midnight city
3. From the fading screams
4. Forget the past
5. Eyes of a dream
6. World of silence
7. The afterlife
8. Divine answer
9. The dawning light
10. Black rose
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Out of Canada, Borealis enters the metal world with their full-length debut 'World of silence'. Although this CD is self-released, it's been distributed decently and is easier to grab than self-released CDs usually are. I must say though, that I'm surprised they haven't gotten a record deal, as this is an excellent CD from start to finish and their career so far has been successful, having already toured with bands like Kamelot, Sonata Arctica, and most recently Edguy.
I would call Borealis' style melodic/progressive power metal with symphonic highlights, but they lean greatly towards power metal (as opposed to progressive metal). There is a lot of speed on the CD, and almost every song can easily be considered fast, but the band comparisons that have come to mind are Vanishing Point, Kamelot, Dream Steel, Evergrey, Platitude, Everfest and Serenity, though just like these other bands, Borealis has their own sound and isn't entirely identical to one particular band. This is a complimenting list too, but just know that Borealis is overall a bit faster than these other bands.
Vocally, Matt Marinelli (who's also the guitarist) can be lumped with the vocalists from the mentioned bands, and he's probably most similar to Tom England from Evergrey. Basically, as a whole, Borealis has obviously chosen to create music that's been successful by others thus far, as the bands mentioned are all popular and they seem to grab the attention of both progressive metal and power metal fans. A smart path to follow, indeed, but what's truly great is that Borealis' quality is high, and with this being just the band's debut, the future looks bright.
There is not even one song on 'World of silence' that I don't like, and with both the amount of speed and the similarities to the mentioned bands (all of which are some of my favorites, by the way), I've really been enjoying this CD. Special mention must be made of track 3 "From the fading screams" and track 8 "Divine answer", both of which are nicely done slow songs that remind me of some of the slower material from Vanishing Point and Evergrey. The many fast songs totally make this an exciting listen though, and there are many terrific choruses that are very memorable. So we've got an excellent new band here, in a popular style, and a debut that will appeal to many metal fans.
CLINT
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