Finland seems to produce metal
band with female singers like Jamaica
produce track and field sprinters.
Shear is a rather new acquaintance for
me and differs from the regular
so-called Scandinavian melodic metal.
They play more in the modern, aggressive
style with quick, sharp guitar riffs and
technical, semi-progressive drumming,
but are nevertheless very much melodious
and symphonic. It sounds pretty exciting
with the delightful voice of Alexa
Leroux.
With magnificent and powerful
strokes are pushing the sextet through
the great tracklist, I'm astonished and
taken in by the mature sound environment.
Classic rock tones and big brushstrokes
of modern metal with a fanciful Finnish
folk musical touch. Shear released their
debut EP in 2009 and in 2012 the
debut full-length album 'Breaking the
Stillness' was
released. I've got big
problems putting Shear in a specific
metal genre, because they travel across
many styles. They have created a dense
and solid metallic piece of art, where they
have taken the whole hog and broken new
ground, creating a sphere of their own in the
tough music industry. I'll be honest, I like this
very much. There's
imagination, great technical talent,
melodic and appealing rhythms, proud
attitude, brilliant lyrics and a
wonderful singer who stands at the front
and lightens my world up.
The first real song 'Last
Warning' is a kick ass track and it is a
heavy progressive metal song with
powerful vocals from Alexa. She sings
with assertiveness and authority, no
modesty or girl romanticism here. In
'Home', the guitar loops are very
strong and tasty and the proud Finnish
metal heritage is evident. Dazzling
melodies and wonderful blend of hard,
sharp guitars and female vocals
providing connections to Nightwish's sound.
Shear plays in a more modern metal style as in the
best track on the album 'Heaven Into Hell', with
diverse tempi and mix softer parts with harsh
metal anvils!! The radio friendly
'Hollow, Black & Cold' is a song in
Amaranthe vein, very melodic and has
toned down the darker side. 'I Care' is
a symphonic ballad with big black, dark
brushstrokes.
The melancholic monster track 'A
Hopeless Tragedy' is owned by Alexa's
wide and magnificent vocal abilities and Lari's keyboard is a very important
element in this nice metal song. Next
big track is the epic progressive song
'Whispers Follow You' with Dream Theater
taste and this is also one of my
personal favourites on 'Katharsis'. 'For
the Restless' is a melodic/symphonic
metal song with big emotions and the
transition to the next track was barely
audible and the progressive song 'Not
Myself' has by far the best vocals on
the entire disc. Awesome song with magic
guitars.
This album ends with a stunning
song 'Turmoil', which is another monster
song with high class performances.
'Katharsis' is probably one of the
biggest positive surprises from our blue
and white neighbors this year. An album you must
check out!!
Shear:
Alexa Leroux – vocals
Mikael Grönroos – guitars
Lauri Koskenniemi – guitars
Silver Ots – bass
Lari Sorvo - keyboards
Juhana Karlsson – drums
Guest:
Jens Johansson - keyboard
