Lapis Lazuli – A Justified Loss (2011)

Cranking out their second full-length release in 2011, today we have Lapis Lazuli and “A Justified Loss”. In this release the band delivers over 43 minutes of high-octane Symphonic/Gothic Metal graced by the beautiful vocals of Frida Eurenius. If you are a fan of Visions of Atlantis, Epica, Sirenia, and Xandria, you will love this release.

After the traditional instrumental opener “Facing Demons”, the band comes at us with the bombastic “Leaving Scars”. In this song the keyboards are cranked up to 11 and provide a lush background to Frida’s vocals. While the band’s approach to the genre is very typical and traditional, the songs presented in “A Justified Loss” are very entertaining and demand a high-replay count in order to fully digest them.

“High” features a more traditional Epica approach to things with some growls and choir-like sections. This song is very well crafted and the guitar work is excellent at offsetting the dynamic keyboards. With some electronic beats, “Angel without Wings” goes for more of a Gothic Rock edge (similar to Nemesea). In this song there are also clean male vocals that resemble the guy from Serenity but with a little bit less experience and range. Our favorite song of this release is the over the top “Burning Bridges”, a song that mixes nice melancholic vocals with lush keyboards and powerful guitars.

If you are a fan of Gothic Metal ballads, your knees will be weakened by the beautiful “Alive”. Both vocalists do a great job in this song. Rounding up this release, we have “Lies” and “Faith Forgotten”, two tracks that are a bit mellower than the first ones and that clearly show how talented the band is and their excellent song writing skills.

Gothic and Symphonic Metal are very saturated genres but we are sure that Lapis Lazuli will persevere and with their high-quality music they will get noticed by some labels. To be able to release such an excellent second full-length release in a one year period, it is clear that the band has great desire to make music and be heard, so go and check out this release for free from their website.

Release: November 11th, 2011

Country: Finland