Stream of Passion – Darker Days (2011)

The super talented Marcela Bovio returns with another outstanding Stream of Passion release. “Darker Days” as the title mentions, has a darker and more bombastic feeling than the band’s previous effort. This release shows a much more compact and well integrated band than the previous release as all 13 tracks are beautifully composed.

Never selling out, Stream of Passion has not dared to go into the more profitable (and popular) ‘Pop Metal’ realms, and with “Darker Days” they will surely establish themselves as one of the premiere Gothic Metal bands. With the emotional opener “Lost”, you quickly know this album will surely be a great trip. This song presents nice arrangements, hefty doses of powerful guitar riffs and (of course) beautiful vocals.

The piano/vocal combination of “Reborn” makes this track very effective; it also features some nice vocal layering. “Collide” starts off with a more ‘rock-ish’ feeling but it quickly shifts back to full Stream of Passion mode after a minute or so. Our next favorite track has to be “Spark”, a very nice ‘acoustic’ little piece that nicely changes the flow of the album and allows the listeners t just enjoy Marcela’s vocals. If you are a fan of Marcela’s early work (in Spanish) “Nadie Lo Ve” will cater to your aural needs.
 
Across the 13 tracks in this album we are given a bit of everything, from ballads, to full on Gothic Metal tracks, to experimental pieces. This to us is a bit confusing since the songs haven’t been completely well ordered and sound a bit convoluted at times when changing from one to the next. The short times of some of the tracks also left us a bit unsatisfied since they could have easily been a bit longer and be more effective. While these little quirks are minimal, we still enjoyed the complete album and loved each track individually.

If you are a fan of Stream of Passion and/or Gothic Metal with some Progressive touches, “Darker Days” is one of those releases that you can’t miss. Every song is nicely crafted around a very strong vocal foundation, but the little details in terms of drumming, riffing and keyboards makes this release excel well above all the others.

Release: June 26th, 2011 / July 5th, 2011 (USA)

Country: Netherlands