Xandria is off course
one of many up- and coming bands that started to appear on the rear-end of the
huge success Nightwish had with Tarja. And just like the masters of symphonic
metal they are playing multi-layered, fast and powerful metal with an angelic
operatic female vocalist, who hits all the right note in the highest register.
But the genre is crowded and
the supply is big, demand has been going down, so in order to survive you really
have to bring something special to the scene. But I do not hear any vast
improvement from "Neverworld's End" (2012) to this new album. Not that this is a
bad album by any means, no you can't put a finger on any aspects of product; but
it will in my humble opinion not bring Xandria any further up the latter.
"Sacrificium" is a solid
effort with all the ingredients you would expect from a female fronted symphonic
metal release in 2014, and hard-core fans of the genre will swallow this like
warm milk, but to make me a bit more excited I simply need to be challenged
more.
Solid!
