Ocean Soul - Letter of a suicidal 3/5
Reviewed: 12-21-07
Tracklist:
1. Stronger than me
2. Stormy nightmare
3. Sad angel
4. Losing it all
5. Desperate dreams
6. Fight for life
7. Under your spell
8. Letter of a suicidal
9. Now it's over
10. Vincent and the crows
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Ocean Soul is a new power metal band from Brazil and their debut 'Letter of a suicidal' (which was actually released in 2006) hasn't really been recognized in the metal world, and it's a shame, as I think the CD would appeal to a good amount of power metal fans. The band is female fronted, but trust me, this is far from the popular symphonic/gothic metal style, and instead, is in line with power metal bands like Thalion, Heavenfalls, Fading Starlight, Triosphere, Wizards' Hymn (without the keyboards), Seven Angels, Saeko, and especially Sinergy, as both bands share the same lyrical subject.
The similarities between Ocean Soul and the aforementioned bands don't stop at the musical portion though, as vocalist Andrea Pietro has a mid-to-high voice somewhere in the middle of these other bands. I don't think she's quite as good as Kimberly Goss (Sinergy) and Ida Haukland (Triosphere) at this point, but she's definitely better than Deborra Serri (Seven Angels) and Kimiko Shirao (Wizards' Hymn). Plus, she fits the music very well and, overall, I'd say she's a competitive female vocalist with a metal future, for sure.
The CD start's out with the great and fast-paced "Stronger than me", which features an excellent guitar solo too. Track 2 "Stormy nightmare" is more of a mid-paced/bouncy song, is quite good, and this change in tempo (regarding the 2 seperate songs) is typical of the entire CD, as it fluctuates between mid-paced songs and fast-paced songs, which works quite well. I must mention that track 3 "Sad angel", track 5 "Desperate dreams" and track 7 "Under your spell" all contain slow parts, but I feel that this is actually when Andrea is at her best. I also like the frequent guitar solos that pop up, as they're always fantastic and let's be honest, I'm a sucker for guitar solos. Unfortnately, the CD doesn't have a strong finish, as track 9 "Now it's over" is just okay, and the somewhat slow-paced "Vincent and the crows" (which ends the CD) is probably my least favorite song. Most of the CD is very good though, and it's an enjoyable listen overall.
So the decision of whether or not you should pick this CD up may be a difficult one, but if you're a fan of the previously mentioned bands, especially Sinergy, this will probably be a worthwhile purchase. The best part for me is the variety of tempo, as there's enough faster parts to satisfy and the slow parts are nice too. The band still has some work to do, regarding consistent songwriting, but this is a promising start and I hope to hear more from them.
CLINT
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