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What usually happens when you mix two genres of music which are known to be incredibly cheesy? You would expect to get generic, boring, and of course, cheesy material out of the mix, and in most cases this happens. Our ingredients this time are Gothic Metal and Symphonic Black Metal, genres hated by many due to the lack of variety or pretentiousness. Several bands with the same formula like Cradle of Filth, Theatres des Vampires, Graveworm, have at least some albums that fall into what was said above. This album blends those same styles, but the band still manages to sound special and unique. Never have I heard a band that has imitated Darzamat’s newer sound exactly or very similarly. Although repetitive, Semidevilish has interesting and worthwhile material on it.
This particular record falls more towards the Gothic Metal side with hints of symphonic black influence. The band adopted the style with this particular album and has retained it ever since. Their debut was much more blackened and theatrical, their second dropped all the black metal influences and adopted a gothic metal approach. On Semidevilish, the band opted for a more aggressive gothic metal style with symphonic black metal influences, which would eventually increase on the future records.
Semidevilish has some unique musical elements featured on it which should keep the listeners attention and interest. The best thing Darzamat has going for them are Nera’s female vocals, which constitute about half of the vocal performance. She has a thick polish accent that gives the music a very nice twist, and her voice is not something heard very common with its contemporaries.
The keyboards, while not being the dominating instrument, are also a vital point of this album, giving the music that dark touch it needs and supplementing the guitars nicely. The guitars are a mixed blessing; while they are the main focus of the music and are also quite enjoyable to the ears, they are terrible at varying riffs. The lack of variety doesn't necessarily hurt the album though, as most songs still have a hook or supplementary element in them, meaning they are able to keep the listeners attention. In addition, technicality is something the album is not pursuing, and it can be overlooked. Solos are used sparingly, but the main riffs are quite catchy.
The production is quite pleasing, since every instrument, note, vocal, and riff can be well understood. The mixing keeps an excellent balance between the guitars and vocals. Never do the vocals become too loud to overshadow the guitars, but drumming and keyboards do take a background role most of the time. However, the thing that listeners are most likely to complain about are the other half of the vocals, the male performance by Flauros. Despite the fact that both vocalists are very attractive, Flauros’ voice may become irritating to those not used to his voice. Flauros’ voice is raspy and fits the music perfectly, but is still an acquired taste definitely. Other than this factor, there are nothing but enjoyable moments to be found and be entertained with. The intro and outro tracks are alright, with the intro being slightly better. The outro, In its Cobweb, has lots of eerie and screeching noises, and becomes boring quickly. The more savory tracks include the aggressive A Fistful of Ashes, and the “cheesy” The Darkest One. The best part of the album is the middle portion, with the beginning and ending being a little weaker.
So what does Semidevilish offer in its 50 minutes? It offers a great time for your ears and pleasurable, easy, listening experience.
It must be said, though, that despite the album's great replay value and the fact it's solid as a whole, there are moments where the songwriting feels sloppy. The creative force behind the band needs to step it up a little more in their next album. The evolution it has taken with the following two albums after this is still short of something, and that is better creativity. Probably many fans of the band will agree with me, that many ingredients are there for a better tasting dish of food, its just an issue of organization and creativity, rather than skill.
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Liked a song or two from their last album. Good review.
Digging: Path of Giants - Melted Ice on the Coast of Destiny | | | Album Rating: 2.5
The female vocalist just released a solo album called NeraNature that is really good. It's like proggy modern rock with just a bit of heaviness. Good stuff.
As for this band. They did have a few good songs on the last album, but nothing too special (although their debut wasn't bad... just under-produced).
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
pretty good brutal vox, also the guitar-work is fairly decent.
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
If you haven't heard their latest album, that one is easily their best. This is ok.
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You do some pretty solid reviews, they deserve waaaay more attention.
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Hey man, sorry for the late response.
Today’s album blends those same styles, and outputs something that is at least unique to the band. This album blends those two styles, but the band still manages to sound uniqueAlthough repetitive, Semidevilish has interesting and worthwhile material. Although repetitive, Semidevilish has interesting and worthwhile material on it.This particular style was adopted by the band with this album to the current present. The band adopted the style with this particular album and has retained it ever since.Semidevilish has a couple of unique gems in their music worth your interest This reads awkwardly, maybe reword to something like Semidevilish has some unique musical elements featured on it which should pique the listeners interest.The best thing the band has going for them are Nera’s female vocals, which constitute about half of the vocal performance. "band" is singular. Band names can go either way, but band as a unit is singular. So just change "the band has" to "Darzamat have".Another gem are the keyboards, although they are not as prominent in the mixing, they still give the music that dark touch it needs, additional to accompanying the guitars. The keyboards, while low in the mix, are also a vital point of this album, giving the music that dark touch it needs and supplementing the guitars nicely.The guitars are a mixed blessing, they are the main focus of the music, they are quite enjoyable to the ears and are also terrible at switching riffs. This is an example where lack of variety does not necessarily make the album unmistakable, since somehow, the songs have something fresh in them somehow and are incredibly pleasurable. The guitars sound great in the overall mix and are also the focal point of this band, although the riffs do sound quite repetitive. The lack of variety doesn't necessarily hurt the album though, as most songs still have a hook or supplementary element in them, meaning they are able to keep the listeners attention.
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The production is amazing, since every instrument, note, vocal, and riff can be well understood. The production is great (I'd refer from using overly glorifying adjectives like "amazing", unless you're dishing out a 4.5 or a 5 score, since they look a little unprofessional), as every instrument, note, vocal line and riff is brought out marvelously.I can’t compare it to any other vocalist, not even our buddy Danni Filth, but others may differ irrelevant sentence that can easily be deleted.Other than this factor, there is nothing but enjoyable moments to be found and be entertained with. Other than this factor, there are nothing but enjoyable and entertaining moments to be found for the listener.The best part of the album is probably the middle, the beginning is not so strong and neither is the ending. The best part of the album is the middle portion, with the beginning and ending being a little weaker. Be sure in yourself, don't be afraid to say what you want to say out loud. If you think the middle is the best part, then say that out. There's no need for "probably"s and "maybe"'s.Even though this can be listened a lot and still be pleased with the work, there are times when the songwriting feels sloppy. It must be said, though, that despite the album's great replay value and the fact it's solid as a whole, there are moments where the songwriting feels sloppy.
Ok now that looks like a lot, but the key part is that you definitely have ideas, you just need to express yourself a bit better and cut down on the awkward sentences by reading your work out loud (it helps a lot, trust me). Oh and definitely and always proofread, it's vital. This is not a bad review at all, just kind of choppy. Anyway, I hope this helps you dude and good luck for the future.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Thanks dude, fixed the mistakes. Just wandering what you mean by "choppy". I was trying to add a couple of interesting statements to make it more fun to read, but maybe they came as choppy. Or do you mean adding more transitional sentences between ideas and such?
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
I wrote this in word and did spellcheck and everything, but I didn't know that about the singularity of band. I need to revise that on my other reviews. Meanwhile I will keep reading and writing more, hopefully my writing style will keep improving gradually.
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Just wandering what you mean by "choppy" Choppy as in some of the sentences read awkwardly. You had the ideas, but you didn't flesh them out and your sentence structure, at times, suffered from it. Basically it was just that I knew what you meant, but you worded it in a weird manner.
And I'm also sure you'll improve, just keep reading and writing :]
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