Amaranthe – Amaranthe (2011)

After being constantly bugged by people to checkout this new amazing Gothic Metal band from Sweden called Amaranthe, we finally caved in and got a copy of their 2009 demo. To our surprise this was not totally bad, except from the fact that it was very pop-ish, and nothing really to ‘write home about’.

Fast forward to 2011 and the band finally releases their debut album “Amaranthe”. The first impression we had about this release is that a strong production can clearly improve things and that after a few years of working out the songs; the band has polished them to be highly effective pseudo-Gothic Metal anthems.  Before you go and close your browser and delete us from your favorites since you imagine we completely sold-out, bear with us and keep reading.

While we are strongly against anything close to ‘pop-metal’, we still like bands that border in that fine line: Deadlock, and more recently Within Temptation. Amaranthe really goes over that line and takes a big dump on it. All songs in this album feel like very polished products designed for mass consumerism, and sadly we think this album will sell like pancakes just because of this fact.

Starting with the song “Leave Everything Behind”, the band tries to keep it metal and feature pummeling guitars paired with very catchy clean vocal sections (male and female) and some harsh screams thrown in-between. The chorus section is ridiculously catchy and will stick on your head for quite a while (bad or good? You’ll decide). This song has been greatly upgraded from the demo version.

The band’s most catchy single of this album has to be “Hunger”, which the band shot an uber ridiculous video for (found here). In this song you will immediately find out what Amaranthe’s musical limits are: super catchy choruses and so-so song structures. The electronic elements are nice and will surely gain them all the kiddies following commercial bands in a heartbeat. We would be hypocrites if we didn’t admit that while as much pop-ish this song is, we found ourselves going back to it because of its catchiness.

By the time you hit the third song, you already have the band all figured out. There is an aggressive vocals part here, catchy chorus, clean vocal section, catchy chorus, the occasional guitar solo, and that is pretty much it. There are a lot of electronic elements and this is what the band thinks makes the songs different from each other, but we are not that easily fooled.

The only song we can say that truly haunted us (pop-metal shit and everything) is the romantic ballad “Amaranthine”. In this song Elize’s vocals sent chills through our spines and made for a great make-out session song with some chicks. The harsh vocals could have easily been removed and this song would be even more effective but then again, when you stick to a formula you have to follow it on every single song, right?

If you are a fan of the band, don’t get us wrong and think we have something against them because of their Pop elements. We just think that when you break down the elements behind this release (and band) they are all just too fake and lacking in the creativity department. While Elize and the drummer are probably the most talented musicians in the band, the rest of the elements are plan simple and repetitive.

There are a few nice guitar solos and effective drumming behind this big pile of polished mass produced songs, but the overlying ‘foundations’ of the band prohibits us to fully enjoy them. If you like catchy music to put on the drive to work or in a party full of alternative music listeners, you will worship this album. However, if you want something substantial and creatively crafted look somewhere else.

Release: April 13th, 2011

Country: Sweden/Denmark