AVERLANCHE
“Life’s Phenomenon”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

8/10

Averlanche are a melodic metal band from Finland formed in 2017, releasing their debut album ‘Life’s Phenomenon’ in 2020.

Blending melodic metal with symphonic metal, newcomers Averlanche come floating out of Finland on the crest of an avalanche – an overwhelming rush of atmosphere and tension. For the bands brand of metal is not an all out, head banging fury, but rather a cinematic journey of awe and wonder, of theatre, folk, and Celtic influence. The eleven songs on offer run for just over half an hour, beginning with the spoken word (presumably in Finnish) intro ‘Kuvittelematta’, quickly followed by album opener proper ‘Imagined Nothing’. Taking flight immediately, ‘Imagined Nothing’ is an up tempo and energetic romp, with a superb and faultless female vocal performance, courtesy of the bands singer Rebecca Sporl. For Averlanche are a female fronted symphonic metal band in the vein of Nightwish. ‘The Diamond Hills’ takes the energy levels even higher, rocking along at a very infectious, and fast, pace. A crystal clear vocal performance from Sporl, and a much more power metal sound than the album opener, ‘The Diamond Hills’ is gonna appeal to a very wide array of fans.

The debut single from the band, ‘The Sounds Of Insomnia’, is the heaviest song heard so far, with the soaring voice of Sporl as angelic as ever, with all three opening songs building upon one another. Taking the album high in the realms of symphonic metal, ‘Circus’ sees the vocals reach new heights, the thunder of the music still as bombastic as the previous songs. Add a mid song break of a spoken word passage, the band offer a slightly different flavour and feel with ‘Circus’. Upping the pace, ‘Hate’ fairly steams forward, reaching into the power metal style, and blending in a little of the epic and glory styles too. And while to some, all songs heard so far may sound the same, there is a difference. You just have to listen close. And while I’m not gonna tell you all the differences, ‘Hate’ for example, has a quieter and much mellower passage sewn in. As I said – you just have to listen.

The serene balladry of ‘Flowers’ oozes a gargantuan amount of emotion, dropping the outright pace and power of the album so far. Sporl’s faultless vocals take front and centre here, as ‘Flowers’ wanders to a finish. ‘The Machinery Of Life’ comes to life with machine gun style riffing, quickly adopting the metal sound of earlier. Not as up tempo and energetic as some of the previous songs, ‘The Machinery Of Life’ is more of a “safe” heavy metal offering, preferring to remain within the metal masses than stand out on its own. That said, metal fans will lap this one up. A second spoken word song ‘Rakastuneet’ breaks up the flow of the album, leading straight into ballad territory courtesy of ‘Archives Of Love’. But it doesn’t stay there for long – picking up the thunder and hard rocking its way forward. Yes, hard rocking, as it doesn’t quite reach the metal sound of earlier. Bringing the album to a close, is ‘Ghost’, returning the earlier metal sound to the fore. Also, ‘Ghost’ features a more metal, rather than symphonic, vocal performance. Not a bad thing – just an observation.

Overall, a highly melodic and energetic symphonic metal album, full of infectious and entertaining songs.

TRACKLIST

Kuvittelematta
Imagined Nothing
The Diamond Hills
The Sounds Of Insomnia
Circus
Hate
Flowers
The Machinery Of Life
Rakastuneet
Archives Of Love
Ghost

https://www.averlanche.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Averlanche

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